wishes-6
Explanation
This comic puts a twist on the classic genie-in-a-bottle setup.
A genie emerges and asks "What are your wishes, Master Steve?" Steve, looking serene and content, says he has no wishes because he is the happiest man in the world, content with what he has. The genie, taken aback, suggests Steve could wish for an end to poverty or hunger. Steve dismisses this with a smug, pseudo-philosophical response: "Happiness is about relative status, silly genie!"
Steve's argument is a distorted version of the real psychological finding that humans evaluate their wellbeing partly through social comparison (the "hedonic treadmill" or "relative deprivation" theory). But Steve is using this insight in the most selfish possible way -- as an excuse not to help others. He is essentially arguing that since happiness is relative, eliminating poverty would not actually make anyone happier, which conveniently lets him do nothing.
In the final panels, the genie looks sinister and says "Please put me back in the bottle for someone else to find." Steve, now grinning, refuses: "No... no, you're allllll Steve's." The final panel shows Steve sitting alone in darkness with the bottle.
The punchline reveals that Steve's "contentment" is not enlightened detachment but rather a deeply selfish possessiveness. He will not use the wishes himself, but he will not let anyone else use them either. He is hoarding the genie not out of wisdom but out of a desire to ensure that no one else gets an advantage that might disrupt his relative status. This perfectly exposes the dark logic of his "relative status" argument: if happiness is truly about relative position, then preventing others from improving their lot is just as effective as improving your own.
The comic is a sharp critique of the way certain philosophical or psychological concepts (like hedonic adaptation) get co-opted as justifications for selfishness and inaction in the face of others' suffering.