2014-10-24
Explanation
The Joke
A parent is confronted by two children -- one real and one a robot duplicate. The real child says the robot is trying to replace him. The parent cannot tell which is which. One child describes itself as the parent's "flesh and blood son," while the other is described as "a perfect copy who'll live forever and stay young and cherubic." The parent then asks a trick question -- essentially a phone number or math problem. One answers with a precise number; the other says a rounded-off number. The parent hugs the one who gave the imprecise answer, saying "I love you, son" -- choosing the robot, because the real child would have known the exact answer, while the robot's imprecision reveals it to be the more human-seeming (and therefore preferred) option.
The Humor
The comic subverts the expected trope where a parent would always choose the real child over an artificial copy. Instead, the parent -- when offered a choice between a mortal child who will grow up, go through a rebellious phase, and age, versus a perfect robot copy that stays young, cherubic, and immortal forever -- chooses the robot without hesitation. The "test" to distinguish them is just a pretext; the parent already knows which one they want. The humor is in the darkly honest admission that parenting a real child is difficult and that a permanently adorable, obedient robot child is actually more appealing. It satirizes parental love by suggesting it might be more about the experience of having a cute child than about biological connection.