2012-03-28
Explanation
This comic presents a neuroscience-meets-theology scenario at the gates of heaven. A man arrives and asks St. Peter "Did I make it?" St. Peter responds: "Partially." He then proceeds to judge the man not as a whole person, but by individual brain regions. The hindbrain, which focused mostly on sex and aggression, will be sent to hell. The midbrain, which was simply doing its duty to keep the body running, shall enjoy eternal life in heaven. And the forebrain -- the seat of personality -- "intended to commit all manner of deviant sex and violence," so it goes to hell too.
The man protests: "But the rest of my body didn'''t get to act out any of it!" St. Peter concedes the point and grants the man'''s "extracranial body" a place in heaven. The final panels show the consequences: the hindbrain and forebrain burn in hell, while the man'''s headless body lounges peacefully in a heavenly paradise.
The joke draws on the real neuroscience concept that different brain regions are responsible for different functions and impulses. The hindbrain (brainstem and cerebellum) handles basic survival functions and primitive drives; the midbrain processes sensory information and motor control; and the forebrain (particularly the prefrontal cortex) handles higher-order thinking, planning, and personality. By judging each region separately, St. Peter creates an absurd situation where most of a person'''s "self" goes to hell while their body relaxes in heaven.
The votey adds a philosophical twist: the man asks "Where does the soul go?" and St. Peter responds "The what?" -- implying that in this theological framework, the soul doesn'''t actually exist, and only physical brain structures matter. This undercuts the very foundation of the afterlife scenario the comic just depicted.