2014-11-04
Explanation
The Joke
A woman at a computer is making the philosophical argument that "you cannot prove reality was not created five seconds ago" -- a reference to the "Last Thursdayism" or "Omphalos hypothesis" thought experiment, which posits that the universe could have been created very recently with the appearance of age and all our memories implanted.
Her conversation partner responds with a reductio ad absurdum: "What sort of creator would inhabit a universe in which conscious creatures are running into his face for no reason five seconds after she is informed of the nature of the universe?" This is a clever counter-argument suggesting that if a creator did make everything five seconds ago, the fact that conscious beings are immediately questioning that creator within seconds of creation makes for a very strange and implausible design choice.
In the final panels, one person calls this "a unique approach to epistemology" (the study of knowledge and how we know things), and someone else cheerfully announces "I can disprove utilitarianism with a mango!" -- suggesting that in this world, people casually use absurd everyday objects and scenarios to topple major philosophical frameworks, treating deep philosophy with the same casualness as a bar conversation.
The Humor
The primary humor comes from the escalation of philosophical absurdity. The initial premise (Last Thursdayism) is a legitimate philosophical thought experiment, but the rebuttal -- essentially arguing against it based on how silly the scenario would look from the creator's perspective -- is hilariously informal for such a deep topic. The final punchline about disproving utilitarianism with a mango caps off the joke by suggesting an entire world where fundamental philosophical positions are casually demolished using the most mundane props imaginable.
References
The comic references the philosophical concept known as "Last Thursdayism" or the Omphalos hypothesis, proposed by Philip Henry Gosse in 1857, which suggests the universe could have been created recently with the appearance of age. The comic also references epistemology (the branch of philosophy dealing with knowledge) and utilitarianism (the ethical theory that the best action is the one that maximizes overall well-being, associated with Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill).