2014-03-26
Explanation
The Joke
This is a long-form comic exploring the Fermi Paradox -- the question of why, given the vastness and age of the universe, we have not detected any signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life. A man engages in a philosophical discussion, systematically going through various explanations for why we haven'''t encountered aliens.
He considers and discusses multiple hypotheses: perhaps civilizations destroy themselves, perhaps interstellar travel is too hard, perhaps intelligent life is exceedingly rare. He works through each possibility with increasing frustration. Eventually he arrives at the dramatic question: "WHERE ARE THE NON-HUMANS?"
The final panels deliver the punchline: it turns out the man is an alien himself, and he'''s been searching for non-human (i.e., non-alien) life -- meaning he'''s looking for humans. The comic ends with the alien frustrated that after searching the galaxy, he can'''t find humans, while we see a view of Earth (or a human settlement) that he has apparently overlooked or hasn'''t reached yet. There'''s also a gag about paying "0,000" for something, with a final note suggesting the alien civilization'''s search mirrors humanity'''s own Fermi Paradox frustrations.
The Humor
The comic executes a classic perspective flip. The reader assumes throughout the comic that a human is pondering the absence of alien life -- the standard framing of the Fermi Paradox. But the punchline reveals the speaker is actually an alien wondering where the humans are, creating a perfect mirror of the paradox. The humor comes from the realization that the Fermi Paradox works both ways: if we'''re wondering where the aliens are, the aliens might equally be wondering where we are. This symmetry makes the paradox feel even more absurd and unsolvable.
The comic also pokes fun at how seriously people take the Fermi Paradox by showing that the same overwrought philosophical hand-wringing could be happening on the other end.
References
- The Fermi Paradox: Named after physicist Enrico Fermi, who reportedly asked "Where is everybody?" during a 1950 lunch conversation about extraterrestrial life. The paradox highlights the contradiction between the high probability estimates for extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence for them.
- The Drake Equation: The comic implicitly references the various factors in the Drake Equation (rate of star formation, fraction of stars with planets, etc.) as the alien works through the logical chain of why intelligent life should exist elsewhere.