consciousness-7
Original: consciousness-7 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Robot: I don't think humans are really conscious. It's all just language use masquerading as meaning.
Man: What?
Panel 2:
Robot: Suppose one scientist told you "Pions are a type of meson that mediates the strong nuclear force between protons and neutrons."
Panel 3:
Robot: You feel like you've acquired information. And you could even transmit that information between two scientists with a rich sense of what the terms mean. But you personally are in fact just making noises without any sense of physical reality.
Panel 4:
Robot: The truth is all human statements work like this because there is no final, basement-level version of understanding available to you!
Panel 5: (the robot holds out a bouquet of flowers to the man, who looks unimpressed)
Panel 6: (silent wide shot of the robot beside hedges)
Panel 7:
Robot: Meaning may exist in this universe, but humans are only capable of reference.
Panel 8:
Man: No! My feelings are real! They're a real condition in reality!
Robot: Define "feelings," "real," and "condition."
Panel 9:
Man: Stop it!
Credits: patreon.com/ZachWeinersmith smbc-comics.com
Votey:
Robot: I can adjust your emotions like a knob just by playing music or telling jokes.
Man: Shutup!
Robot: I don't think humans are really conscious. It's all just language use masquerading as meaning.
Man: What?
Panel 2:
Robot: Suppose one scientist told you "Pions are a type of meson that mediates the strong nuclear force between protons and neutrons."
Panel 3:
Robot: You feel like you've acquired information. And you could even transmit that information between two scientists with a rich sense of what the terms mean. But you personally are in fact just making noises without any sense of physical reality.
Panel 4:
Robot: The truth is all human statements work like this because there is no final, basement-level version of understanding available to you!
Panel 5: (the robot holds out a bouquet of flowers to the man, who looks unimpressed)
Panel 6: (silent wide shot of the robot beside hedges)
Panel 7:
Robot: Meaning may exist in this universe, but humans are only capable of reference.
Panel 8:
Man: No! My feelings are real! They're a real condition in reality!
Robot: Define "feelings," "real," and "condition."
Panel 9:
Man: Stop it!
Credits: patreon.com/ZachWeinersmith smbc-comics.com
Votey:
Robot: I can adjust your emotions like a knob just by playing music or telling jokes.
Man: Shutup!
Alt text
A four-row comic strip in which a large gray robot lectures a red-haired man in a purple shirt, standing among green hedges with flowers. The robot argues: 'I don't think humans are really conscious. It's all just language use masquerading as meaning.' The man replies, 'What?' The robot gives a physics-jargon example ('Pions are a type of meson that mediates the strong nuclear force...') to claim that humans merely transmit information while 'just making noises without any sense of physical reality,' because there is 'no final, basement-level version of understanding available to you.' Midway, the robot wordlessly offers the man a bouquet of flowers, which he eyes warily. The robot concludes that 'humans are only capable of reference,' not meaning. The man protests, 'No! My feelings are real! They're a real condition in reality!' The robot deadpans, 'Define "feelings," "real," and "condition."' The man, exasperated and clutching his head, shouts 'Stop it!' Votey: a close-up of the robot saying, 'I can adjust your emotions like a knob just by playing music or telling jokes,' while the man, only his face and arm visible, yells back 'Shutup!'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.