flatten-2

A five-panel SMBC comic. In the office, a woman at a laptop tells a man, "We need to find finer categories for people to improve ad-clicks." The man replies, "No. There's an easier way." He explains: "We convince them that they belong to a simplistic category, no matter how arbitrary," then, "we can define the features of the category, and watch as they reshape their own sense of self, simplifying and flattening their personalities, making our algorithms more effective." The woman, wide-eyed and skeptical, says, "Nobody would fall for something that stupid." The final panel, labeled "Elsewhere," shows a red-haired man eagerly holding up his phone, which displays "This t-shirt is for millennials only," as he exclaims, "I am that!" Votey aftercomic: the same red-haired man, now satisfied, thinks, "Now to read articles about non-me categories doing things wrong."