2010-10-26
Explanation
This comic presents two graphs illustrating parallel "laws" about exponential growth outpacing human capacity. The first graph describes "The Law of Computer Bloat," which states that no matter how fast a CPU gets, new software will have so much unnecessary bloat that your computer will never run as fast as it could. The graph shows two exponential curves -- Processing Speed (red) and Bloat (blue) -- with Bloat always slightly ahead, creating a persistent "Productivity Gap." This is a humorous restatement of Wirth's Law, the real observation that software tends to get slower faster than hardware gets faster.
The second graph applies the same logic to a cruder domain, calling it "The Law of Porno Bloat." Here the two curves are "Available hours of porno" (red, growing exponentially) and "Maximum human lifespan" (blue, growing much more slowly), again with a labeled "Productivity Gap." The joke is that the amount of pornographic content available on the internet is growing so fast that no human could ever watch it all, framed as though this were a tragic inefficiency comparable to the software bloat problem.
The votey panel shows a couple where one says "We need a new terabyte drive" and the other asks "Why?" only to be told "Shutup, that's why" -- implying the drive is needed for the obvious but unspoken purpose suggested by the second graph. The comic works by applying the dry, analytical language of technology criticism to an absurd subject, treating an obviously trivial "problem" with the same gravity as a genuine engineering concern.