2013-08-05
Explanation
The comic shows a female professor standing at a lectern announcing to her students that she will be taking a 9-month sabbatical to "fire up the old onboard 3D printer." The caption below reads: "And suddenly, every male engineer was jealous."
The joke works on two levels. The "onboard 3D printer" is a euphemism for pregnancy -- the professor is announcing that she is going to have a baby, and the 9-month timeline corresponds to the gestation period. The humor comes from framing human reproduction in engineering and technology jargon: a uterus is reimagined as a biological 3D printer that constructs a new human being layer by layer over nine months. This is the kind of reframing that appeals to the engineering and tech-savvy audience SMBC often targets.
The caption about male engineers being jealous adds another layer. It suggests that engineers, who are passionate about 3D printing technology, would be envious of anyone who has a built-in biological manufacturing device. The joke plays on the stereotype of engineers being so obsessed with technology that they would view pregnancy primarily through the lens of fabrication capabilities rather than, well, parenthood.
The votey continues the metaphor, showing a man excitedly saying "Time to print a baby" while standing next to what appears to be a 3D printer, further blurring the line between biological reproduction and additive manufacturing.