2010-11-04
Explanation
This three-panel comic humorously depicts the discovery of natural gas by prehistoric humans. On Day 1, two cavemen observe strange fumes seeping from a hole in the earth. One immediately declares it must be "the spirits of the vengeful dead" -- a superstitious explanation typical of pre-scientific thinking. On Day 2, a caveman notices that if he catches these "spirits of the vengeful dead" on fire, the fire persists, while another caveman strokes his chin and says "Hrmmm..." On Day 3, the scene has rapidly transformed into a bustling marketplace, with a caveman hawking "Hot soup!" and "Low prices!" to a gathered crowd.
The caption below reads: "This is the best thing about humans." Weinersmith is celebrating a particular human trait -- the ability to go from supernatural terror to commercial exploitation in record time. The comic compresses thousands of years of human progress into three days, showing how quickly we pivot from fear and superstition to pragmatic innovation and capitalism. The fumes that were terrifying spirits on Day 1 become a business opportunity by Day 3.
The votey panel adds a darkly funny culinary twist: a caveman reveals that "the secret ingredient... is hate," suggesting that the hot soup being sold is seasoned not just with the mysterious fire but with the animosity that drives competitive commerce. This undercuts the optimistic reading of human ingenuity with a cynical joke about what really fuels entrepreneurship.