2014-07-28
Explanation
The Joke
A woman named Sally confronts a robot, saying she needs to "come clean" — the robot is incapable of love. The robot counters: "What? You're the one who said robots are incapable of love. It's what makes sex with them great." The robot then explains that robots did a literature scan to determine "the exact nature of ideal love," and after all robots received the update, cross-referencing with history, they discovered that humans are entirely incapable of it.
Sally says "I love how philosophical you are," and the robot responds "Good. Let's go to bed." Sally says "It feels like you're not listening..." and asks "Don't you care about me?" The robot says "Goon..." (apparently a term of endearment or dismissal).
In the final panel, in silhouette, Sally asks "Do you think we'll stay together forever?" and the robot answers "Sure, baby. Whatever you want."
The Humor
The comic inverts the typical sci-fi trope of robots being incapable of love. Here, the robot has actually studied love scientifically and concluded that humans are the ones incapable of true love — but the robot is too indifferent to care about this distinction. The irony is that the robot, supposedly the emotionless one, makes a philosophically sophisticated argument, while the human woman displays the very flaws the robot identified: she is not really listening to the robot's argument, she just wants emotional reassurance.
The final exchange — "Do you think we'll stay together forever?" / "Sure, baby. Whatever you want" — perfectly captures a relationship where one partner says what the other wants to hear without genuine engagement, flipping the expected dynamic by making the robot the one going through the motions of emotional support while the human craves authentic connection.