2012-08-31
Explanation
This comic presents a series of discipline-specific euphemisms for saying "I'''m not dating anyone," organized into three categories: the sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. Each profession rephrases the simple statement through the jargon and worldview of their field. The Computer Scientist says "I'''m having an off-by-one error" (a common programming bug where a count is one unit off from expected). The Physicist says "I'''m occupying my ground state" (the lowest energy configuration of a system). The Engineer says "Well, I'''m workin''' on the sex-bot again." The Doctor says "Amorectomy complete" (as if love were a body part that was surgically removed).
For the social sciences, the Economist describes a "disequilibration" in relationship status with a "linear regress running back to August 1995." The Sociologist talks about a "pervasive culture of monoamory" that has "hegemonized my self-imaginary via external (i.e. non-internal) discourse." The Psychologist references a study of "one wealthy American college-aged Caucasian who knew in advance what I wanted to hear," satirizing the well-known problem of psychology studies relying on narrow, non-representative samples (sometimes called WEIRD subjects).
For the humanities, the Philosopher asks "Can a person ever love another person?" and the Artist asks "Can a person ever love another person?" -- the same words with different emphasis ("ever" vs. "another"), reflecting how philosophy questions the possibility of love while art questions the nature of selfhood and otherness.
The votey panel adds a final category: "Actual Artist," who simply says "I'''m an artist" -- the joke being that being an artist is itself sufficient explanation for why one is single, needing no further elaboration.