2013-01-05
Explanation
This comic features two robots sitting under a starry sky, discussing whether humans are capable of love. One robot argues that humans are not truly capable of love in any meaningful sense, citing several reasons: humans frequently break promises of fidelity, they overuse "I love you" to the point where it becomes a meaningless greeting, parts of their brains are in "open revolt" against their own feelings, and their emotions can never be separated from their evolutionary origins as biological creatures. The robot contrasts this with machines, claiming that machines can experience "single-minded devotion" with full self-knowledge and certainty that they desire togetherness rather than profit.
The punchline subverts the entire philosophical discussion. After the second robot agrees with a quiet "Yeah," the first robot reveals that the whole conversation was actually an attempt to segue into discussing their own relationship. The second robot's response -- "Stop smothering me, Jane" -- reveals that despite all the lofty claims about machines being superior at love, these robots are experiencing the exact same petty relationship dynamics that plague humans. The comic satirizes the reductionist tendency to dismiss human love as merely biological programming, only to show that any sufficiently complex being -- even a robot -- would likely exhibit the same messy relational behaviors. It also plays on the common trope where one partner uses abstract philosophical discussions as a roundabout way to address personal relationship issues.