2012-02-04
Explanation
This comic explores the well-known idea that science fiction inspires real scientific innovation. An interviewer asks an older inventor what led him to create so many amazing inventions, and he explains that he read a lot of science fiction as a boy, and as an adult, he wanted the things from those books, so he built them. The interviewer is charmed, waxing poetic about the "beautiful" ecosystem where "fiction begets science which begets newer fiction which begets more science."
The inventor nervously agrees, saying "Yeah... yeah, it's mostly beautiful..." The punchline comes in the final panel, captioned "Twice a day every day for the last 25 years..." which shows the inventor at his computer browsing a website called "ALIENPORN." The joke is that while the virtuous cycle of sci-fi inspiration makes for a lovely narrative, the inventor's actual primary engagement with science fiction concepts has been far less noble. It subverts the romantic vision of sci-fi-inspired innovation by suggesting that a significant driver of technological progress might be more prurient interests.