repugnant
Explanation
This comic tackles a real concept from population ethics known as the "Repugnant Conclusion," formulated by philosopher Derek Parfit. The Repugnant Conclusion states that, under certain utilitarian frameworks, a world with a vast number of people whose lives are barely worth living could be considered "better" than a world with fewer people living excellent lives, as long as the total sum of happiness is greater.
In the comic, one character explains this to another: utilitarian reasoning seems to suggest that a society of a trillion slightly happy people is preferable to a society of a thousand blissfully happy people. The second character immediately responds, "Pfft, that's dumb."
The comic then explores why the conclusion is harder to dismiss than it first appears. The trillion-person society is described as a galaxy-spanning civilization with incredible technology, long lifespans, and near-magical capabilities -- they just happen to have a slightly lower average happiness than the smaller group. Meanwhile, the thousand-person society of "blissed-out" people might achieve their happiness through something as simple as sitting on comfortable couches and ignoring the suffering of others. This reframing makes the "repugnant" conclusion seem much more reasonable and the "intuitive" preference for fewer, happier people seem more suspect.
The punchline comes when the character who initially dismissed the idea complains, "When you put your logic in my philosophy, it makes me feel gross," to which the other responds, "Grow up." This captures the tension at the heart of philosophy: our intuitions often conflict with rigorous logical reasoning, and dismissing a valid argument because it "feels wrong" is intellectually lazy. The comic is a compact, funny introduction to one of the most debated problems in modern ethics.