feeling-stupid
Explanation
The Joke
The comic begins with a seemingly inspirational message: "Whenever you feel silly or stupid... whenever you feel like a lot of people are smarter than you..." This sets up the expectation of a comforting platitude. Instead, the comic delivers an unexpected reassurance: "Just remember, on January 1, 2016 at 3PM, according to Google Scholar... there were 77 academic citations for a journal called 'Experimental Brain Research.'" The final panel shows the journal's cover, which bears the title "Can Brains Drive Cars?" with a picture of a brain sitting on top of a car, implying that real academics have spent time and citations on a hilariously absurd-sounding research question.
The Humor
The humor operates on multiple levels. First, there is the subversion of the inspirational meme format -- instead of generic encouragement, the comic offers a very specific and oddly researched factoid. Second, the joke targets the sometimes absurd-sounding nature of academic research, where papers with seemingly ridiculous titles can accumulate serious citations. The title "Can Brains Drive Cars?" sounds like a child's question but likely refers to legitimate brain-computer interface or neural control research. The comedy lies in the gap between how serious academic citation counts are as a measure of scholarly impact and how silly the research question sounds when stripped of its technical context. The specific date and time (January 1, 2016 at 3PM) adds an unnecessary level of precision that enhances the absurdity.
References
Google Scholar is a freely accessible search engine for scholarly literature. The journal "Experimental Brain Research" ("EBR") is a real peer-reviewed neuroscience journal published by Springer. The specific article referenced may be a humorous exaggeration or composite, but brain-computer interfaces for vehicle control are a genuine area of research.