Dial

A seven-panel SMBC comic. A woman with curly orange hair prays, looking upward. Panel 1, woman: "God, is it ok that I cause a small amount of pollution every day? Even though it results in some small but real increase in the incidence of cancer?" Panel 2, God replies (offscreen, caption over her smiling face): "Of course. The harm is infinitesimal." Panel 3, woman: "Ok, now suppose I work with a million other programmers, each contributing a tiny bit of code to create a torture button on Reddit." Panel 4, woman: "Pain starts at 0, and can go up to 10 million. Each person can only press the button once. And we can prove that any press of the button causes no detectable increase in pain." Panel 5, woman (gesturing triumphantly): "By your logic, NOTHING IMMORAL has happened! There must be some quantum threshold for sinning, and below that, it's open season!" Panel 6, God (offscreen): "Have you been reading Derek Parfit again?" Woman: "It's the handbook for tactical villainy!" Final wide panel (captioned "And so..."), an angel descends from clouds over a blue sky toward a falling golden droplet/object below. A voice from the clouds: "Another flood then, Lord?" God: "Yeah, but have each angel deliver a single drop" — turning the parable's logic back on humanity by inflicting catastrophe one imperceptible increment at a time. Votey (bonus panel): God's speech balloon reads "Then throw some flaming rocks at them. Have some fun with it," above an image of a flaming comet plunging toward Earth seen from space.