tech
Original: tech on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Man with brown hair: Why do you spend so much time working on your VR setup?
Man with flame-like orange hair (sitting on the floor): I'm trying to use less technology.
Panel 2:
Orange-haired man (now wearing a VR headset): But- People are always talking about tuning out of life-invading modern tech, but there's a collective action problem.
Panel 3:
Orange-haired man: Like if I drop off a network I'm literally losing friends if they don't drop out then reconnect elsewhere.
Orange-haired man: The only way to make a better society would be for everyone to drop out at once and prefer networks not controlled by corporate cultures that refuse to observe a difference between engagement and community!
Panel 4:
Brown-haired man: So... I'm existing in a virtual world where everyone ACTUALLY drops out.
Panel 5:
Orange-haired man: Everyone in REAL reality has a phone connected to 400 other phones using twelve billion apps that constantly distract. In THIS universe I'm using ONE device I control, and I'm not even aware of it most of the time!
Panel 6:
Brown-haired man: But... but it isn't a genuine experience.
Orange-haired man (now wearing the VR headset, smiling, arms raised): Today, inside this device, I'm 22 and I'm going fishing with friends. We tell stories around a campfire and then I have a chaste but hinting beach stroll with a girl who laughs at my jokes.
Panel 7:
The brown-haired man's phone buzzes with notifications.
Phone: BING! You have 47 messages in your inbox
Phone: This crime will SHOCK you
Phone: Are you [low?] IQ? If so...
Phone: Your friend[s]...
Panel 8:
The brown-haired man, now also wearing a VR headset, sits on the floor beside the orange-haired man, both content.
Votey:
Caption: (One of them is a virtual person)
Man with brown hair: Why do you spend so much time working on your VR setup?
Man with flame-like orange hair (sitting on the floor): I'm trying to use less technology.
Panel 2:
Orange-haired man (now wearing a VR headset): But- People are always talking about tuning out of life-invading modern tech, but there's a collective action problem.
Panel 3:
Orange-haired man: Like if I drop off a network I'm literally losing friends if they don't drop out then reconnect elsewhere.
Orange-haired man: The only way to make a better society would be for everyone to drop out at once and prefer networks not controlled by corporate cultures that refuse to observe a difference between engagement and community!
Panel 4:
Brown-haired man: So... I'm existing in a virtual world where everyone ACTUALLY drops out.
Panel 5:
Orange-haired man: Everyone in REAL reality has a phone connected to 400 other phones using twelve billion apps that constantly distract. In THIS universe I'm using ONE device I control, and I'm not even aware of it most of the time!
Panel 6:
Brown-haired man: But... but it isn't a genuine experience.
Orange-haired man (now wearing the VR headset, smiling, arms raised): Today, inside this device, I'm 22 and I'm going fishing with friends. We tell stories around a campfire and then I have a chaste but hinting beach stroll with a girl who laughs at my jokes.
Panel 7:
The brown-haired man's phone buzzes with notifications.
Phone: BING! You have 47 messages in your inbox
Phone: This crime will SHOCK you
Phone: Are you [low?] IQ? If so...
Phone: Your friend[s]...
Panel 8:
The brown-haired man, now also wearing a VR headset, sits on the floor beside the orange-haired man, both content.
Votey:
Caption: (One of them is a virtual person)
Alt text
An eight-panel SMBC comic. A brown-haired man asks a flame-haired man, who sits on the floor, why he spends so much time on his VR setup; the flame-haired man says he's trying to use LESS technology. Wearing a VR headset, the flame-haired man explains there's a collective action problem with quitting modern tech: dropping off a network means losing friends, so the only way to a better society would be for everyone to drop out at once and prefer networks not controlled by corporate cultures. The brown-haired man dryly summarizes: so he's existing in a virtual world where everyone ACTUALLY drops out. The flame-haired man enthuses that in REAL reality everyone has a phone connected to 400 other phones and twelve billion distracting apps, but in this universe he uses ONE device he controls and isn't even aware of most of the time. The brown-haired man objects that it isn't a genuine experience; the flame-haired man, arms raised joyfully, describes being 22 inside the device, fishing with friends, telling campfire stories, and a chaste beach stroll with a girl who laughs at his jokes. The brown-haired man's phone then buzzes with spammy notifications (BING! 47 messages, clickbait, etc.). In the final wide panel, the brown-haired man has also put on a VR headset and sits contentedly beside the flame-haired man. Votey caption: (One of them is a virtual person.)
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.