2012-02-05
Explanation
This comic riffs on the famous Socratic paradox "I know that I know nothing," attributed to the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. Socrates proudly declares himself the wisest man because he alone recognizes his own ignorance. But a bystander immediately undermines his claim by pointing out that "Frank" knows how to make armpit noises -- meaning Frank objectively knows at least one thing, which is more than Socrates claims to know.
Frank then demonstrates his skill with enthusiastic armpit fart sounds ("frbt! frbtbh! frbth!"), leaving Socrates dumbfounded and exclaiming "Dammit!" In the final panel, a defeated Socrates asks someone to "Bring me the hemlock" -- a reference to his historical death by drinking poison hemlock. The joke reframes the famous philosophical declaration as a literal competition, where Socrates loses to the most trivially useless skill imaginable. It suggests that claiming to know absolutely nothing is harder to maintain than it sounds when anyone with even the most absurd talent can refute you.