language-5
Explanation
This comic is about the potential of language and communication. In the opening panels, one character tells another that they're going to give them a gift: "You'll be smarter, but don't expect to see anything tomorrow besides what's already around you." The other person asks, "Are you stupid? Seriously?"
The comic then presents a grandiose thought experiment: "Imagine a being with Shakespeare's poetic power, a being who's also visited other worlds, learned every language including animal languages, and who has no fear or vanity." Such a being could communicate with any human, reaching them emotionally and intellectually regardless of their barriers. But then it notes: "None of us are distracted by hunger, anger, fear, or lust."
The punchline comes in the final panel: "Sorry, turned out too much of it was right" followed by "The only reason we don't all fall on you is pity."
The comic explores the gap between the theoretical power of perfect communication and the messy reality of human interaction. It suggests that even if we had access to transcendently beautiful and powerful language, the practical barriers of human psychology -- ego, fear, distraction, basic biological needs -- would prevent it from working. The humor is characteristically SMBC in its blend of genuine philosophical insight with self-deprecating absurdity, suggesting that superior beings would pity rather than envy us for our communicative limitations.