laws-2
Explanation
This comic presents a modified version of Isaac Asimov's famous Three Laws of Robotics. The original three laws are listed faithfully:
1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2) A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the first or second law.
Then a fourth law is added: "4) For God's sake don't be a dick."
The caption reads: "It was remarkably easy to make Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics work in all situations."
The humor is that Asimov's Three Laws are famous in science fiction for being elegant in theory but full of loopholes and edge cases in practice. Countless stories (including Asimov's own) revolve around robots finding ways to technically comply with the three laws while still causing problems. The joke is that all those elaborate philosophical dilemmas could have been solved by simply adding a commonsense fourth rule: don't be a jerk. It's a deflation of decades of serious science fiction philosophy with a blunt, colloquial directive.
The comic also works as a broader commentary on rules and ethics. Complex legal or ethical systems with carefully defined terms can always be gamed by someone looking for loopholes, but a simple "don't be a dick" principle captures the spirit of what all the rules are trying to accomplish.