ethics-6
Original: ethics-6 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Two people walk and then sit in a snowy, twilight landscape under a starry sky: a person with curly dark hair, round glasses, and a green sweater, and a person with curly orange hair, freckles, and a yellow jacket. The comic reads left-to-right, top-to-bottom across six panels.
Panel 1 (freckled person): What do you think is the right ethics system for humans?
Panel 1 (dark-haired person): Hybrid.
Panel 2 (dark-haired person): When a scientific study comes out showing that my pre-existing beliefs would produce the happiest outcomes, I am a utilitarian.
Panel 3 (dark-haired person): When a scientific study comes out showing that my pre-existing beliefs would NOT produce the happiest outcomes, I keep my old position and insist my values are founded in iron moral law.
Panel 4 (dark-haired person): It's impossible to know what philosophy is best, which means SOME perspective always justifies me in changing nothing about myself in response to new information.
Panel 5 (freckled person): If your moral standards are openly self-contradictory, how can they be the right ones for humans?
Panel 6 (dark-haired person): God knows we are hypocrites and wants us to be happy.
(In the final panels the pair stand on a snowy ridge under the stars; two tiny snail-like figures are silhouetted in the distance.)
Votey:
The dark-haired person, now in an orange sweater, speaks while a thought bubble above shows the face of a sleeping baby.
Dark-haired person: I'm a virtue ethicist who believes human flourishing is based on ego-preserving bad logic.
Panel 1 (freckled person): What do you think is the right ethics system for humans?
Panel 1 (dark-haired person): Hybrid.
Panel 2 (dark-haired person): When a scientific study comes out showing that my pre-existing beliefs would produce the happiest outcomes, I am a utilitarian.
Panel 3 (dark-haired person): When a scientific study comes out showing that my pre-existing beliefs would NOT produce the happiest outcomes, I keep my old position and insist my values are founded in iron moral law.
Panel 4 (dark-haired person): It's impossible to know what philosophy is best, which means SOME perspective always justifies me in changing nothing about myself in response to new information.
Panel 5 (freckled person): If your moral standards are openly self-contradictory, how can they be the right ones for humans?
Panel 6 (dark-haired person): God knows we are hypocrites and wants us to be happy.
(In the final panels the pair stand on a snowy ridge under the stars; two tiny snail-like figures are silhouetted in the distance.)
Votey:
The dark-haired person, now in an orange sweater, speaks while a thought bubble above shows the face of a sleeping baby.
Dark-haired person: I'm a virtue ethicist who believes human flourishing is based on ego-preserving bad logic.
Alt text
A six-panel SMBC comic, read left-to-right and top-to-bottom. Two people walk and then sit in a dim, snowy, starry landscape: one with curly dark hair, round glasses, and a green sweater, and one with curly orange hair, freckles, and a yellow jacket. The freckled person asks, "What do you think is the right ethics system for humans?" The dark-haired one answers, "Hybrid," then explains the hybrid: "When a scientific study comes out showing that my pre-existing beliefs would produce the happiest outcomes, I am a utilitarian," and conversely, "When a scientific study comes out showing that my pre-existing beliefs would NOT produce the happiest outcomes, I keep my old position and insist my values are founded in iron moral law." They continue, "It's impossible to know what philosophy is best, which means some perspective always justifies me in changing nothing about myself in response to new information." The freckled person presses, "If your moral standards are openly self-contradictory, how can they be the right ones for humans?" and the dark-haired one replies, "God knows we are hypocrites and wants us to be happy," as two tiny snail silhouettes sit on a distant snowy ridge under the stars. Votey: the dark-haired person, now in an orange sweater, says, "I'm a virtue ethicist who believes human flourishing is based on ego-preserving bad logic," while a thought bubble above shows the face of a sleeping baby.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.