Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

## The Joke An alien recounts to a human couple how, 50 years ago, the aliens sent billions of attractive, intelligent, self-sacrificing infiltration robots to Earth to blend in with humanity. The al

## The Joke A man muses, "I wonder if moon hoaxers are as pessimistic as they are." He then proceeds to lay out the moon-hoax conspiracy theory's implications in a way that actually makes it sound in

## The Joke A child asks a parent, "What's the matter, Mom?" The parent (or another adult) says, "Is the tooth fairy real?" A second adult responds, "If you love her in your heart, then she's as real

## The Joke A politician is giving a speech, trying to use the classic inspirational rhetoric: "I'm not so sure about this new proposal. You know, they said maybe you can put a man on the moon. Surel

## The Joke A character claims to have a strong moral compass. When tested with increasingly difficult ethical dilemmas, their moral compass turns out to point wherever is most convenient for them pe

## The Joke One person confronts another who is drinking three milkshakes for lunch: "You're having three milkshakes for lunch?!" The milkshake drinker calmly responds, "Actually, the data says you s

## The Joke A person holds up their phone showing "stupid old advertisements" and mocks how past generations didn't even know basic science -- people were drinking beer and didn't expect it to harm t

## The Joke The comic presents a four-panel guide titled "How to Organize Your Life." In Step 1, the person makes a list of sensible goals: attend required events, start eating healthy, and check if

## The Joke A woman remarks that a man has been studying "a lot of rocket science lately," to which he modestly replies "sorta." He then explains that he has actually built about 40 rockets and is cu

## The Joke One person asks another, "What was your biggest dream as a kid?" The bespectacled woman answers: "Fusion-powered space rocket bound for interstellar space." When asked "And now?" she give

## The Joke An elderly woman tells her partner, "I haven't got long, darling. I love you." She then says, "I want to show you something that's been a part of me all these years." The scene builds emo

## The Joke A man stands in front of a chalkboard explaining his "proposal": a restaurant that is "not a combination pizza/taco bell" but rather "a superposition of them." He explains that once you g

## The Joke A child eagerly asks a parent, "Hey! Wanna hear a fun fact about space?" The parent says "Sure!" The parent then says, in an aggressive tone: "On one of the rocky planets in the solar sys

## The Joke The comic is set in a medieval apothecary shop. A customer complains: "Thy tincture of virgin's hair goes for thrice ye price! And ye price hath trebled since Martinmas last!" The apothec

## The Joke The comic is titled "Mathematicians Are Weird." In the first panel, a person (depicted resembling a historical mathematician, possibly Leibniz or Newton given the period attire) excitedly

## The Joke The comic is titled "How to Learn Orbital Mechanics" and follows a student through escalating stages of distress. In Step 1, "Gaudy Optimism," the student declares orbital mechanics is "N

## The Joke The comic shows a person sitting at a computer, apparently working on a "Where's Waldo?" book (or helping a robot/AI with one). A robotic or computerized voice declares: "He's not here. I

## The Joke The comic depicts a conversation about the classic "Nigerian Prince" email scam. In the first panel, someone points out that this scam is run over the internet, and you'd have to be gulli

## The Joke The comic imagines a first contact scenario between humans and an alien probe, but frames it as an awkward first date. The probe greets its "matches" and says "Welcome to our first date."

## The Joke The comic shows a scene from the Garden of Eden with God shooing Adam and Eve away, shouting "Go on, git! Dang it! My apple patch!" in the manner of an angry farmer chasing pests off his

## The Joke The comic opens with a triumphant announcement on what appears to be Mars: "Finally, Mars! Mankind are now multiplanetary! We have saved ourselves for all time!" A crowd cheers this achie

## The Joke The comic is a self-referential graph. The Y-axis is labeled "Amount of Time Travel in This Graph" and the X-axis is labeled "Time." The red line on the graph starts at zero and moves for

## The Joke The comic tackles the classic theological question "What existed before God?" A man asks God: "Dear God, what was there before you?" God responds that this is a nonsensical question, beca

## The Joke The comic shows a single-celled organism (or early microbe) discovering two other cells in the act of sexual reproduction, exclaiming: "Oh my God, what is happening?! You told me you were

## The Joke The comic features a conversation between three people about political rhetoric. One person asks: "Do you think having some giant enemy gives politicians a way to avoid concrete proposals

## The Joke The comic opens with a religious man stating the classic philosophical argument: "I believe in God because without God, anything is permitted." A woman challenges him: "Like murder?" He r

## The Joke The comic shows a man standing at the gates of Hell, engulfed in flames, pleading his case to (presumably) God or a divine judge. He cries: "Oh come on! Grant me that I was within an orde

## The Joke This is a long-form bonus comic related to the "Open Borders" book launch. The comic appears to depict a multi-panel narrative about public discourse and debate around immigration policy.

## The Joke The comic depicts the first meeting of the "Society for the Technically Accurate." The speaker at the podium opens the meeting by saying, "In this important new moment, I wish to paraphra

## The Joke The comic takes place in the world of high-speed trading algorithms. A man in a suit welcomes a new hire, saying "Welcome to the world of high-speed trading algorithms! Here's your briefc

## The Joke The comic shows a man being interviewed on what appears to be a news program. He declares, "Modern 'schools' are just pushing their agenda instead of education. I mean, look at me. I went

## The Joke The comic depicts a person arriving in the afterlife and meeting God, who turns out to be a Freudian psychoanalyst. When the person asks "Heaven? Me?" God responds that as a Freudian, he

## The Joke The comic shows a man giving a public speaking presentation. The title card reads "Public Speaking Tip: Start off by wowing your audience with some big numbers." The speaker then says, "F

## The Joke An anthropologist addresses an audience, saying she has been an anthropologist for 40 years and that there is one thing that explains how humans are brought together: religion. However, s

## The Joke Two parents are in bed discussing fairy tales. One parent exclaims, "Oh gosh, have you read these old Grimm's fairy tales? Modern stories are so pleasant!" and asks if the other has read

## The Joke The comic depicts a group of acne bacteria (drawn as squiggly yellow organisms against a blue-green background) having a conversation about their situation. One bacterium announces that i

## The Joke The comic shows a man who appears to be Jesus — long blond hair, beard, wearing a tuxedo with a red bow tie — standing at what looks like an awards ceremony podium. He's holding a trophy

## The Joke The comic is titled "Realistic Pokemon Evolution" and shows a Pokemon trainer in a red cap observing what would actually happen if Pokemon evolution followed real biological evolution rat

## The Joke The comic shows a man at a podium passionately proposing that all rich people be forced to live in skyscraper penthouses, where — according to Einstein's theory of general relativity — th

## The Joke The comic is titled "Ben Jonson's Most Beautiful Sonnet Lines, Adjusted for Other Locations in Space." It takes the opening of a famous poem — "This grave partakes the fleshly birth, whic

## The Joke The comic shows a Buddhist monk on a dock telling a story to a mollusk (clam or oyster) in the water. The monk recounts that "when the great master died, amidst his funeral pyre we found

## The Joke The comic shows a scene in the afterlife where a man stands before God, who announces: "In the afterlife, now hey God made beings are conscious which once gave ammunition, souls worthy of

## The Joke The comic shows God sitting at a computer, having a conversation with someone off-screen (possibly an angel or another deity). The other person exclaims "It's real! For real!" and God res

## The Joke The comic shows a vampire confronting a human who has apparently come to kill him. The vampire delivers an impassioned monologue pointing out the hypocrisy of the situation: "I never kill

## The Joke The comic shows a couple on a couch where one person says they can't watch soap operas because they're "too realistic." The other person responds with surprise ("Oh?"), and the first pers

## The Joke A child excitedly presents a card to their parent, explaining that the whole family made cards where they wrote their favorite things about "Daddy." The card is opened to reveal a list of

## The Joke A parent is advising their child not to tell other kids that Santa is real, warning that eventually they will find out the truth, realize they were lied to, and then become skeptical of e

## The Joke A man in bed tells God that the Trinity confuses him. He asks about "the Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost." God, appearing alarmed, clarifies that it is not the Holy Ghost but the Holy Spi

## The Joke A father is trying to explain entropy to his child using an analogy. He explains that if you have a sheet of random numbers, it is packed with information -- if you want to convey it, you

## The Joke A man at a podium (seemingly a politician or public figure) delivers a carefully worded non-apology. He says he'd like to "apologize" but immediately qualifies that "the real problem is"