a-simulation
Explanation
The Joke
A woman asks a man if he ever wonders whether the whole world is a simulation. He dismissively replies "No. Never. Why?" She explains the philosophical argument: if simulations are possible, it is likely we are in one, since simulated realities would outnumber real realities. But she adds that this has always felt flawed to her, because people don't make complete universes for no reason -- if you are in a simulation, you should be able to find a reason for it to exist.
She continues: "So far, nothing. So far, just--" and then turns to another woman and asks "Sally, do you love me?" Sally awkwardly replies "Ha, what? Oh, you're serious. I mean, I think you're nice, but I--" The final panel reveals someone wearing VR goggles at a computer console, saying "Delete. Reload."
The Humor
The comic sets up what seems like a philosophical discussion about the simulation hypothesis, then reveals that we are indeed watching a simulation -- and it is essentially a dating sim. The person running the simulation created an entire universe just to simulate a romantic scenario, and when it doesn't go well (Sally doesn't reciprocate), they simply delete and reload like a player save-scumming in a video game. The joke is that the profound question of "why would someone simulate an entire universe" has the most banal possible answer: to get a date. It also parodies the behavior of gamers who repeatedly reload saves to get their desired outcome in romance-oriented games.
The votey ("This time, humans evolve less impulse control!") shows the simulator tweaking the parameters of the entire simulation -- adjusting human evolution itself -- just to improve their chances at romance, escalating the absurdity even further.
References
- The simulation hypothesis is a philosophical argument, notably discussed by Nick Bostrom in his 2003 paper "Are You Living in a Computer Simulation?", which argues that at least one of three propositions is likely true, one being that we are almost certainly living in a simulation.
- Save scumming is a video game term for repeatedly reloading a saved game to achieve a desired outcome.