2012-12-09
Explanation
This comic is titled "My Fantasy: Build an A.I. Smart Enough to Misunderstand Puns." In the single panel, a red-haired person tells a pun to a dark-haired woman: "Why are florists great kissers? They have tulips." The pun works because "tulips" sounds like "two lips." However, the woman (representing the hypothetical AI) responds with an annoyed, hyper-literal analysis: "Lips are necessary but not sufficient for good kissing."
The humor lies in the specific fantasy described. Rather than dreaming of an AI that understands puns (which would be an impressive feat of natural language processing), the cartoonist fantasizes about an AI that is smart enough to grasp the literal content of the pun but deliberately refuses to appreciate the wordplay. The AI treats the pun as a logical proposition to be evaluated rather than a joke to be enjoyed, pointing out that merely having lips (or "tulips") does not guarantee kissing ability. This is funnier than simply not understanding the pun at all -- the AI comprehends the surface meaning but rejects the humor with cold, analytical disdain.
The votey continues the joke with a note that reads: "Two lips are standard and confer no kissing advantage, fool." This doubles down on the AI'''s pedantic, condescending response, treating the pun'''s premise as a falsifiable claim and dismissing it with contempt, adding the insult "fool" for good measure.