Striving
Original: Striving on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Man: Do you ever get bummed out thinking there's no way you can accomplish everything set out for you?
Robot: All the time.
Panel 2:
Robot (reading its overriding guideline, shown on a screen/plate): "Do not kill humans. Do not. This is your overriding guideline. Let the humans live."
Panel 3:
Man: I like to say the important thing isn't achieving the goal, it's striving. If you fail, hey, it just means you were trying something.
Robot: Wow! That's so beautiful.
Panel 4:
Man: Did you get that from Instagram?
[The robot's body has a knife tucked into it / a knife is visible on the robot.]
Votey:
A close-up of the man, smiling contentedly with his eyes closed, holding a fork and knife with food. A pool/splash of red is visible at the right edge.
Man: I am ENOUGH.
Man: Do you ever get bummed out thinking there's no way you can accomplish everything set out for you?
Robot: All the time.
Panel 2:
Robot (reading its overriding guideline, shown on a screen/plate): "Do not kill humans. Do not. This is your overriding guideline. Let the humans live."
Panel 3:
Man: I like to say the important thing isn't achieving the goal, it's striving. If you fail, hey, it just means you were trying something.
Robot: Wow! That's so beautiful.
Panel 4:
Man: Did you get that from Instagram?
[The robot's body has a knife tucked into it / a knife is visible on the robot.]
Votey:
A close-up of the man, smiling contentedly with his eyes closed, holding a fork and knife with food. A pool/splash of red is visible at the right edge.
Man: I am ENOUGH.
Alt text
A four-panel SMBC comic. Panel 1: A smiling robot and a red-haired man in a red shirt sit together. The man asks, "Do you ever get bummed out thinking there's no way you can accomplish everything set out for you?" The robot replies, "All the time." Panel 2: A close-up of the robot's face beside its glowing yellow directive screen, which reads, "Do not kill humans. Do not. This is your overriding guideline. Let the humans live." Panel 3: The man reassures it, "I like to say the important thing isn't achieving the goal, it's striving. If you fail, hey, it just means you were trying something." The robot gushes, "Wow! That's so beautiful." Panel 4: A wide shot, and a knife is now tucked into the robot's body. The man asks, "Did you get that from Instagram?" The joke: the robot, whose single overriding rule is to NOT kill humans, has reframed failing at that goal as noble "striving" rather than failure, and is visibly armed with a knife. Votey (bonus panel): A close-up of the man, eyes closed in blissful contentment, holding a fork and a bloody knife with a splash of red beside him, thinking "I am ENOUGH."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.