Aliens
Explanation
The Joke
Aliens visit Earth and are puzzled by human civilization. They note that humans have enough food to feed everyone but don't, enough medicine to treat most diseases but can't afford to distribute it, and enough knowledge to solve most of their problems but can't agree on the solutions. The aliens conclude that humans' biggest obstacle isn't technological — it's political and organizational.
The Humor
Using aliens as a lens to examine human civilization is a classic satirical device (Swift, Voltaire), but SMBC's version focuses specifically on the coordination problem. The alien perspective reveals that most human suffering isn't caused by insufficient technology or knowledge — it's caused by the inability of 8 billion people to cooperate effectively. This is simultaneously the most obvious and most intractable observation about the human condition.
Context
This connects to the concept of "coordination failures" in game theory and political economy. The tragedy of the commons, prisoner's dilemmas, and collective action problems all describe situations where rational individual behavior produces irrational collective outcomes. The comic suggests that solving coordination is the meta-problem of civilization.