maximization
Explanation
This single-panel comic shows a group of aliens standing on what appears to be their home planet (or a moon), looking at Earth in the distance. A large sign or display reads "CAT MAXIMIZATION." One of the aliens says, "Dammit, I was gonna guess that." The caption below explains: "Before making First Contact with a civilization, Zorblaxians make informed guesses about their local theory of ethics."
The joke plays on the philosophical concept of "utility maximization" -- the idea central to utilitarian ethics that moral action should maximize some quantity (happiness, well-being, preference satisfaction, etc.). The comic suggests that if aliens studied humanity's actual behavior (particularly internet culture's obsession with cats), they would reasonably conclude that humanity's core ethical framework is "cat maximization" -- that our civilization is organized around producing and appreciating as many cats as possible.
This is a pointed satire of internet culture, where cat content has been dominant since the earliest days of viral media. It also gently mocks utilitarian philosophy by suggesting that what a civilization claims its ethics are and what it actually optimizes for can be very different things. The aliens, being outside observers, cut right to what the data actually shows.