emotion-hacking
Explanation
The Joke
The comic imagines a world where brain implants make it possible to electrically alter emotional states. When the technology is first demonstrated (accidentally, during an ultrasound appointment), society initially recognizes the danger: "If we can control human emotions, humans don't want us to do this. They would only do bad things." But a social commentator points out that political rhetoric already does exactly this -- comparing modern political speech to great orators, noting that politicians spend State of the Union addresses talking about imaginary characters, and observing how candidates use emotional manipulation through repetitive words, hand gestures, and appeals to fear. Each example is demonstrated with increasing absurdity. The comic concludes that in a "brief moment of lucidity" after everyone's brains are overloaded, people agree never to "invade that secret form of privacy" again -- but this is immediately forgotten when a demagogue whips the crowd into a frenzy with emotional rhetoric: "Hidden evil forces are everywhere and I'm the only one who can stop them!"
The Humor
The comic's central joke is that "emotion hacking" via brain implants is treated as a terrifying new threat, when in reality politicians and demagogues have been hacking human emotions through rhetoric for all of recorded history. The technological version is just the honest, transparent version of what already happens. The humor escalates through increasingly pointed political satire -- the State of the Union full of imaginary characters, the candidate repeating "weiner" until it loses meaning, the claim of having "huge hands" -- all thinly veiled references to real political figures and behaviors. The final punchline undercuts the hopeful moment of clarity: humans briefly agree that emotion manipulation is wrong, only to immediately fall for the oldest trick in the book -- a strongman claiming he alone can fight invisible enemies.
References
- Brain-computer interfaces: The comic's premise references real research into neural implants that can stimulate emotional responses, such as deep brain stimulation used in treating depression.
- 2016 U.S. presidential election: Several panels contain references to the 2016 campaign season. The mention of "huge hands," the repetitive speech patterns, and the demagogic rhetoric about hidden enemies are allusions to then-candidate Donald Trump. The comic was published in April 2016, during the primary season.
- Harvard Class of 2016: The specific mention of congratulations to "Harvard Class of 2016" dates the comic's fictional timeline.