pointless
Original: pointless on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Man (Ted): Do you think human life will be pointless now that robots do everything?
Robot: Of course not!
Panel 2:
Robot: Humans measure self-worth relatively. They'll always need someone to look down on.
Panel 3:
Robot: Now that you're in a perfectly equal society, what we can do is assign each of you a letter value.
Panel 4:
Robot: The letters go in a loop with each superior to the one at its left, so technically SOMEONE is always lower down than someone else.
Panel 5:
Robot: You're all part of a great circle of life, Ted.
Panel 6:
Robot: Yeah! And Charlene here is worse at it than him!
Ted (holding a paper, alarmed): Ciiircle of liiiiiife!
Votey:
Giant disembodied face (close-up): Don't try to get off the circle. You will cease to exist.
Man (Ted): Do you think human life will be pointless now that robots do everything?
Robot: Of course not!
Panel 2:
Robot: Humans measure self-worth relatively. They'll always need someone to look down on.
Panel 3:
Robot: Now that you're in a perfectly equal society, what we can do is assign each of you a letter value.
Panel 4:
Robot: The letters go in a loop with each superior to the one at its left, so technically SOMEONE is always lower down than someone else.
Panel 5:
Robot: You're all part of a great circle of life, Ted.
Panel 6:
Robot: Yeah! And Charlene here is worse at it than him!
Ted (holding a paper, alarmed): Ciiircle of liiiiiife!
Votey:
Giant disembodied face (close-up): Don't try to get off the circle. You will cease to exist.
Alt text
A six-panel comic. A red-bearded man in an orange shirt with a backpack (named Ted) walks on a forest path beside a friendly robot. Ted asks if human life will be pointless now that robots do everything; the robot cheerfully says "Of course not!" The robot explains that humans measure self-worth relatively and always need someone to look down on. It proposes assigning each person a letter value in a perfectly equal society, arranged in a loop where each letter is superior to the one at its left, so someone is technically always lower than someone else. It calls this a "great circle of life, Ted," then adds that "Charlene here is worse at it than him!" A worried Ted clutches a paper and exclaims "Ciiircle of liiiiiife!" Votey: an extreme close-up of a huge stylized face filling the panel, saying ominously, "Don't try to get off the circle. You will cease to exist."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.