pr
Explanation
The Joke
A person explains his depressing life philosophy using a series of graphs plotting power and responsibility against time. He starts by noting that "power divided by responsibility" defines how depressed he becomes. As a child, you have little power but also little responsibility, so things are okay. As you age, you gain responsibility for things you cannot fully control — bills, insurance, and similar obligations — while your power does not increase proportionally. By middle age, you have heavy responsibilities with only a little more control over your life, putting you at "the bottom of the trough." You then spend the next 30 years gaining more power while responsibilities slowly decline. Finally, in old age, your power drops off while responsibility insignificantly approaches zero. His conclusion: "I don't think the entirety of human happiness can be reduced to two variables, but your power-to-responsibility ratio will be greater than one for only a very brief period."
The Humor
The comic is a characteristically SMBC blend of humor and genuine insight. The character presents a mathematical model of life satisfaction based on the ratio of power (autonomy, capability) to responsibility (obligations, things you must manage). The graphs trace a recognizable life arc that many adults would find painfully relatable: the carefree nature of childhood, the crushing burden of middle age, and the bittersweet decline of old age. The humor comes partly from the absurd formality of reducing all human happiness to a power/responsibility ratio plotted on graphs, and partly from the bleakness of the conclusion — that the ratio is favorable for only a tiny window of your life. The final caveat ("I don't think the entirety of human happiness can be reduced to two variables") is a classic move of acknowledging the oversimplification while still standing by the depressing conclusion.