Precision
Explanation
The Joke
A scientist in a laboratory announces a breakthrough: they now have complete knowledge of a person's genetics, epigenetics, metabolic profile, social interactions, and how all of these produce specific effects. The test subject is excited. In the next panel, the scientist delivers the results: according to their total analysis, this person has a marginally higher likelihood of committing crimes, and this statistical information could be stored in memes and cultural narratives.
The subject then suggests that society would be better off if he were incarcerated and his group subjected to a "world makeover" based on justice. The scientist agrees enthusiastically, holding what appears to be a weapon. But the final panel reveals bystanders observing that "these salt-pills will worsen your condition -- these guys are bad." The comic exposes how precise scientific knowledge about population-level statistical tendencies can be weaponized to justify pre-existing prejudices, discrimination, and even preemptive incarceration of individuals based on group membership.
The Humor
The comic satirizes how scientific precision can be co-opted to give a veneer of objectivity to bigotry. The progression is key: the scientist starts with impressive-sounding complete knowledge, then reduces it to statistical generalizations about groups, then leaps to punishing individuals based on group averages. Each step sounds reasonable in isolation but the conclusion is monstrous. Weinersmith is skewering the real-world misuse of genetics and social science to justify racism and discrimination -- the comic shows how "we have precise data" can be a more dangerous form of prejudice than crude stereotypes, because it comes wrapped in the authority of science.