How
Original: How on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Two aliens float in space near Earth, watching a human spacecraft (a flying saucer). They discuss humans throughout.
Panel 1:
Alien (purple): But then how do they have spacecraft?
Panel 2:
Alien (green): Well, there are humans that do little parts of the design, then ones that look at bigger parts, and bigger parts.
Alien (purple): What?
Panel 3:
Alien (green): That's just the start. Like, the humans that build the engines don't know how to make engine metal. That's a whole different set of humans.
Panel 4:
Alien (green): And then for the propellant it's another set of humans. The computer has its own humans, but they're not the same humans who code.
Panel 5:
Alien (green): There are whole teams who just think about spacecraft shape! No single human knows how to make anything. The information is latent in the organizational structure.
Alien (purple): Like a slime mold.
Panel 6:
Alien (green): Exactly.
Panel 7:
Alien (green): This is why we can't negotiate with it. There's no leader. They don't even have 'a spacecraft.' They're budding off multiple spacecrafts in different areas that don't communicate.
Panel 8:
Alien (purple): So what do we do?
Panel 9:
Alien (green): Quarantine. We don't need it spreading, but it's too interesting to annihilate.
Panel 10:
Alien (purple): They're gonna wonder where all the other life in the universe is.
Panel 11:
Alien (green): The aggregate might appear to wonder, but it's an illusion.
Votey:
Alien (green): The good news is that chemically, they are a great source of candle grease.
Panel 1:
Alien (purple): But then how do they have spacecraft?
Panel 2:
Alien (green): Well, there are humans that do little parts of the design, then ones that look at bigger parts, and bigger parts.
Alien (purple): What?
Panel 3:
Alien (green): That's just the start. Like, the humans that build the engines don't know how to make engine metal. That's a whole different set of humans.
Panel 4:
Alien (green): And then for the propellant it's another set of humans. The computer has its own humans, but they're not the same humans who code.
Panel 5:
Alien (green): There are whole teams who just think about spacecraft shape! No single human knows how to make anything. The information is latent in the organizational structure.
Alien (purple): Like a slime mold.
Panel 6:
Alien (green): Exactly.
Panel 7:
Alien (green): This is why we can't negotiate with it. There's no leader. They don't even have 'a spacecraft.' They're budding off multiple spacecrafts in different areas that don't communicate.
Panel 8:
Alien (purple): So what do we do?
Panel 9:
Alien (green): Quarantine. We don't need it spreading, but it's too interesting to annihilate.
Panel 10:
Alien (purple): They're gonna wonder where all the other life in the universe is.
Panel 11:
Alien (green): The aggregate might appear to wonder, but it's an illusion.
Votey:
Alien (green): The good news is that chemically, they are a great source of candle grease.
Alt text
A SMBC comic in which two big-eyed green aliens float in space near Earth, observing a human flying saucer. The purple-clothed alien asks how humans have spacecraft. The green-clothed alien explains that no single human knows how to build one: different humans handle design, engine metal, propellant, code, and spacecraft shape, so the knowledge is 'latent in the organizational structure' rather than in any individual. The purple alien compares humanity to 'a slime mold.' The green alien agrees, saying there's no leader to negotiate with and humans are 'budding off' multiple uncommunicating spacecraft, like a distributed organism. They decide to quarantine humanity rather than annihilate it because it's 'too interesting.' The purple alien notes humans will wonder where all the other life in the universe is; the green alien replies that 'the aggregate might appear to wonder, but it's an illusion.' Votey panel: the green alien adds that, chemically, humans 'are a great source of candle grease.'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.