2012-12-31
Explanation
The comic shows a couple on what appears to be a date. The woman asks why her partner is so quiet tonight, and he deflects with "Don't worry about it." When she presses him, he finally reveals what's on his mind: her laugh reminded him of a chimpanzee, which led him to reflect on the fact that humans are evolved creatures, and therefore even our most sublime feelings might be "merely the expression of a procreative urge."
The punchline comes when the woman, after a beat of silence, suggests they go back to talking about how neither of them used to believe in soulmates -- implying they had previously bonded over their shared romantic skepticism. But now he replies, "Well, not now!" -- meaning her insistence on hearing his thoughts has killed the mood entirely. The comic captures a very specific kind of intellectual self-sabotage: the person who can't stop their analytical mind from deconstructing romantic moments. It satirizes the reductionist view of love found in evolutionary psychology, where every emotion is explained as an adaptation for reproductive fitness. The irony is that by reducing their connection to mere biology, the character has actually undermined the very relationship he was analyzing. It also plays on the common relationship dynamic where "What are you thinking about?" never leads anywhere good.