2010-08-19
Explanation
In this comic, a child prays at her bedside, asking different domains for help with her sick father. First she prays to God, who responds that he can't cure her daddy but would like credit if things work out anyway. Then she prays to philosophy, which responds with abstract musings about how "reality is inscrutable" and the concept of "Dad" is not clearly meaningful. Finally, she prays to science, which declares "It is done!" -- only for science to then admit, "Yeah, I'll probably be able to say that in 50 years."
The comic is a characteristically Weinersmith comparison of religion, philosophy, and science. God is portrayed as unhelpful but eager to take credit, philosophy as lost in abstraction and useless in practical matters, and science as genuinely capable but frustratingly slow. Each discipline is gently mocked for its shortcomings: none of them can offer the child what she needs right now. The punchline suggests science is the most honest and promising of the three, but its timeline is cold comfort to someone suffering in the present.