Just
Original: Just on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
A young man with orange/red hair (red jacket) stands talking with an older man with a long gray beard and glasses (green coat).
Young man: Do you think justice is a notion outside human behavior or merely the rules that the powerful impose and the weak endure?
Panel 2:
Close-up of the bearded man, agitated.
Bearded man: Bah! No discussion. We need science!
Panel 3:
The bearded man, thoughtful, hand on chin, with the young man beside him.
Bearded man: Let's take some random people, give them massive and arbitrary power, and watch to see if Platonic justice pops out!
Panel 4 (caption banner): 14 SECONDS LATER...
The scene is now a hellish, fiery red wasteland of ruined buildings. The young man sits dejected on the ground; the bearded man stands with arms raised triumphantly.
Young man: Well, I guess that theory's out.
Bearded man: Science is magic!
Panel 5:
The two stand in the smoldering ruins.
Young man: Too bad about the collapse of civilization and ensuing murder of all our loved ones though.
Bearded man (pointing): Are you a empiricIST or an empiricISN'T?
Votey:
Extreme close-up of the bearded man's wild-eyed, deranged face with round glasses.
Bearded man: I am answering the question empirically as we speak.
A young man with orange/red hair (red jacket) stands talking with an older man with a long gray beard and glasses (green coat).
Young man: Do you think justice is a notion outside human behavior or merely the rules that the powerful impose and the weak endure?
Panel 2:
Close-up of the bearded man, agitated.
Bearded man: Bah! No discussion. We need science!
Panel 3:
The bearded man, thoughtful, hand on chin, with the young man beside him.
Bearded man: Let's take some random people, give them massive and arbitrary power, and watch to see if Platonic justice pops out!
Panel 4 (caption banner): 14 SECONDS LATER...
The scene is now a hellish, fiery red wasteland of ruined buildings. The young man sits dejected on the ground; the bearded man stands with arms raised triumphantly.
Young man: Well, I guess that theory's out.
Bearded man: Science is magic!
Panel 5:
The two stand in the smoldering ruins.
Young man: Too bad about the collapse of civilization and ensuing murder of all our loved ones though.
Bearded man (pointing): Are you a empiricIST or an empiricISN'T?
Votey:
Extreme close-up of the bearded man's wild-eyed, deranged face with round glasses.
Bearded man: I am answering the question empirically as we speak.
Alt text
A four-panel SMBC comic. Panel 1: A red-haired young man in a red jacket asks an older bearded man in a green coat, "Do you think justice is a notion outside human behavior or merely the rules that the powerful impose and the weak endure?" Panel 2: Close-up of the agitated bearded man shouting, "Bah! No discussion. We need science!" Panel 3: The bearded man, hand on chin, says, "Let's take some random people, give them massive and arbitrary power, and watch to see if Platonic justice pops out!" Panel 4, captioned "14 seconds later...": The setting is now a fiery red apocalyptic wasteland of ruined buildings. The young man sits dejected on the ground while the bearded man stands with arms raised in triumph. Young man: "Well, I guess that theory's out." Bearded man: "Science is magic!" Panel 5, in the smoking ruins, the young man says, "Too bad about the collapse of civilization and ensuing murder of all our loved ones though," and the bearded man points and demands, "Are you a empiricIST or an empiricISN'T?" The joke: a thought experiment about justice and power is taken literally, destroying civilization, while the scientist remains gleefully unbothered. Votey: An extreme close-up of the bearded man's wild-eyed, deranged grinning face behind round glasses, saying, "I am answering the question empirically as we speak."
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.