crabs
Explanation
This comic explains the concept of "carcinization" — the tendency of media and information systems to converge on outrage-driven content — by analogy to the biological phenomenon of carcinization, where unrelated crustacean species independently evolve crab-like forms.
The first panel introduces the concept: "Have you noticed that every piece of media now tries to start by convincing you that you'll lose your mind when you actually see what's in it?" This is called "carcinization" — like how natural selection causes all crustaceans to converge toward being crabs, media selection causes all information presentation to converge toward outrage bait: "You will not BELIEVE..."
The comic then lists the effects: "You will not BELIEVE that everyday items are made with a large amount of cheese. You will not BELIEVE that this is how governments operate. You will not BELIEVE that sometimes you can see the whole universe in discrete photons."
It then broadens the critique: "Scientists, entertainers, mathematicians, artists, philosophers, educators — all of them eventually converge on the same outrage-bait format." And: "Don't blame the algorithm. The algorithm is that the true, ineluctable result of hypercommunication is that apes at keyboards all converge on the same emotionally provocative expressions."
The final panels deliver the punchline with two people on a date: "Wanna have sex?" / "I never do on a first date." / "Okay but you're not gonna BELIEVE this weird trick."
The comic draws a clever parallel between biological convergent evolution (carcinization, where many crustaceans independently evolve into crab-like forms) and cultural convergent evolution, where all forms of communication independently evolve into clickbait. The biological term "carcinization" literally means "becoming crab-like," and the comic repurposes it to describe how all media is "becoming clickbait-like." The final joke shows that even personal romantic interactions aren't immune to this convergence.