2011-04-03
Explanation
The comic riffs on the simulation argument, popularized by philosopher Nick Bostrom. A scientist reasons that since humanity is capable of simulating reality, it is statistically likely that we ourselves are living in a simulated reality. She then takes this to its logical (absurd) conclusion: if everything we feel, think, and want is just part of some experiment, the only meaningful act of rebellion is to "ruin the experiment."
The final panel reveals the perspective of the beings running the simulation -- two alien-like creatures watching monitors. They remark that "This one only took 14 billion years for everyone to moon us," calling it "a new record." The joke works on multiple levels: the grand existential rebellion of the simulated beings turns out to be something as juvenile as mooning their creators, and from the simulators' perspective, this is a routine and expected outcome that they track for speed records. It deflates the philosophical grandeur of the simulation hypothesis by suggesting that even cosmic rebellion is petty and predictable.