2012-08-29
Explanation
This comic imagines a geopolitical scenario where India sues the United States for half of its data. An aide rushes in to tell the President: "Mister President! India is suing for half of our data!" The President asks, "Half our data? On what basis?" The aide and President exchange worried looks, and the President concedes: "Damn. Damn, that'''s pretty good." The final panel, captioned "Some centuries prior...," shows an ancient Indian mathematician presenting his invention: "I call it zero."
The joke hinges on the fact that India historically developed the concept of zero and the decimal numeral system (including the digits 0-9), which form the foundation of all modern digital data. Since all digital data is stored as binary (zeros and ones), and the concept of zero originated in India, the comic imagines India claiming intellectual property rights over half of all digital information -- specifically, every zero in every binary sequence. The President'''s reaction ("Damn, that'''s pretty good") acknowledges that India would have a surprisingly compelling case if mathematical concepts could be owned like intellectual property.
The votey panel shows a block of binary code (zeros and ones), which serves as a visual representation of the "data" that India is claiming. It reinforces the punchline by reminding the reader that all digital information is ultimately just strings of zeros and ones, and that without the Indian invention of zero, none of it would be possible.