altruism-2
Original: altruism-2 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Person with orange hair (yellow jacket): Who's the better superhero— Batman or Superman?
Person with dark hair (green sweater): Obviously Superman.
Panel 2:
Person with dark hair (green sweater): If you go back just 5,000 years, all humans have a common ancestor. We're closely related. If Batman saves an entire city — especially one where most of his family is from — he's basically just doing kin selection.
Panel 3:
Person with dark hair (green sweater): Superman is an alien. His genetic code gets no benefit from saving Metropolis. Therefore he is acting from pure altruism.
Panel 4:
Person with dark hair (green sweater): Maybe evolution isn't the best framework for ethics.
Person with orange hair (yellow jacket): Batman is just trying to bat-propagate his bat-genes!
Credit line: patreon.com/ZachWeinersmith smbc-comics.com
Votey:
Person with orange hair (yellow jacket): Unless Superman is just farming us.
Person with orange hair (yellow jacket): Who's the better superhero— Batman or Superman?
Person with dark hair (green sweater): Obviously Superman.
Panel 2:
Person with dark hair (green sweater): If you go back just 5,000 years, all humans have a common ancestor. We're closely related. If Batman saves an entire city — especially one where most of his family is from — he's basically just doing kin selection.
Panel 3:
Person with dark hair (green sweater): Superman is an alien. His genetic code gets no benefit from saving Metropolis. Therefore he is acting from pure altruism.
Panel 4:
Person with dark hair (green sweater): Maybe evolution isn't the best framework for ethics.
Person with orange hair (yellow jacket): Batman is just trying to bat-propagate his bat-genes!
Credit line: patreon.com/ZachWeinersmith smbc-comics.com
Votey:
Person with orange hair (yellow jacket): Unless Superman is just farming us.
Alt text
A four-panel SMBC comic. Two people walk and talk on a snowy hillside: one with orange hair and a yellow jacket, the other with dark hair, darker skin, and a green sweater. Panel 1: The orange-haired person asks, "Who's the better superhero— Batman or Superman?" The dark-haired person replies, "Obviously Superman." Panel 2: The dark-haired person explains that all humans share a common ancestor within the last 5,000 years, so when Batman saves a city full of his relatives he's basically just doing kin selection. Panel 3: She continues that Superman is an alien whose genetic code gains nothing from saving Metropolis, so he acts from pure altruism. Panel 4: She concludes, "Maybe evolution isn't the best framework for ethics," while the orange-haired person bursts out, "Batman is just trying to bat-propagate his bat-genes!" Votey (after-comic): A close-up of the orange-haired character's face as they add, "Unless Superman is just farming us."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.