Cave
Original: Cave on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Plato: Imagine there's a cave. Men have been inside so long, they mistake the shadows on the wall, cast by light from above, for ACTUAL reality.
(Three chained men sit in a dark cave with their hands shackled above them.)
Panel 2:
Plato: And if one cave-dweller were to break his shackles and ascend—
Man with orange hair: Sorry, Plato, can we stop the allegory for a sec? What exactly are the truths that regular people don't see?
Panel 3:
Plato: Obvious stuff. Like how there are four elements arranged as eeny weeny regular polyhedra.
Panel 4:
Plato: Or how knowledge of geometry proves reincarnation.
(The orange-haired man in a red shirt looks unconvinced.)
Panel 5:
Plato (walking ahead): Also, in a perfect city, anyone who writes poetry, epic, or tragedy should be expelled.
Panel 6:
Plato: And society needs a rigid class structure sustained by eugenics.
Panel 7:
Plato: Also being female is a punishment against men who weren't sufficiently virtuous in a previous life.
(The orange-haired man stands beside Plato, looking troubled.)
Panel 8:
Man with orange hair: Nevermind, please stick with the allegory.
Plato (in silhouette, gesturing): Anyway, point is the dummies in the cave don't realize they're dumb.
Votey:
Plato: Now, let's talk about the slaves in the perfect republic.
(A grinning, sketchily drawn bearded face.)
Plato: Imagine there's a cave. Men have been inside so long, they mistake the shadows on the wall, cast by light from above, for ACTUAL reality.
(Three chained men sit in a dark cave with their hands shackled above them.)
Panel 2:
Plato: And if one cave-dweller were to break his shackles and ascend—
Man with orange hair: Sorry, Plato, can we stop the allegory for a sec? What exactly are the truths that regular people don't see?
Panel 3:
Plato: Obvious stuff. Like how there are four elements arranged as eeny weeny regular polyhedra.
Panel 4:
Plato: Or how knowledge of geometry proves reincarnation.
(The orange-haired man in a red shirt looks unconvinced.)
Panel 5:
Plato (walking ahead): Also, in a perfect city, anyone who writes poetry, epic, or tragedy should be expelled.
Panel 6:
Plato: And society needs a rigid class structure sustained by eugenics.
Panel 7:
Plato: Also being female is a punishment against men who weren't sufficiently virtuous in a previous life.
(The orange-haired man stands beside Plato, looking troubled.)
Panel 8:
Man with orange hair: Nevermind, please stick with the allegory.
Plato (in silhouette, gesturing): Anyway, point is the dummies in the cave don't realize they're dumb.
Votey:
Plato: Now, let's talk about the slaves in the perfect republic.
(A grinning, sketchily drawn bearded face.)
Alt text
An eight-panel SMBC comic. Plato delivers his Allegory of the Cave to an orange-haired man in a red shirt. Panel 1 shows three chained men in a dark cave; Plato narrates that they mistake shadows on the wall for actual reality. As Plato continues, the man interrupts to ask what truths regular people fail to see. Plato cheerfully lists increasingly absurd or disturbing 'truths': the four elements arranged as tiny regular polyhedra, geometry proving reincarnation, expelling all poets from a perfect city, a rigid class structure sustained by eugenics, and being female being a punishment for past insufficient virtue. The unsettled man finally says 'Nevermind, please stick with the allegory.' In silhouette, Plato concludes: 'Anyway, point is the dummies in the cave don't realize they're dumb.' The joke skewers how Plato's famous allegory sits alongside his many less-admired ideas. Votey: a grinning sketchy bearded face says, 'Now, let's talk about the slaves in the perfect republic.'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.