iusasw
Explanation
The Joke
The comic features a conversation between two characters about the appeal of abstraction. One character asks: "Why are you attracted to me?" The other responds: "I guess I've always had an attraction to abstraction." This sets up the idea that the character is drawn to abstract, theoretical concepts rather than concrete things.
The next panel elaborates: "By 'abstraction' I mean something that is fundamental, component-wise, that you can generalize, then apply universally." The other character says: "Yes, that's it. I've never heard it expressed so beautifully." The final panel reveals a building labeled "Welcome" which appears to be a university mathematics department, implying their "attraction to abstraction" is literally about mathematics rather than romantic attraction to each other.
The Humor
The joke plays on the double meaning of "attraction" -- romantic attraction versus intellectual fascination. What initially seems like a conversation about why two people are drawn to each other turns out to be a discussion about the beauty of mathematical abstraction. The punchline, reinforced by the hover text ("Incidentally, this explains why all of your math professors wear socks and sandals"), suggests that mathematicians are so deeply invested in abstract thinking that their social and romantic lives are entirely subsumed by their love of pure mathematics. The title "IUSASW" likely stands for some acronym related to the comic's theme.
References
Mathematical abstraction is the process of extracting the underlying structure from specific examples to form general concepts. This is a foundational principle in pure mathematics, where the goal is to find universal patterns that apply across many specific cases.