Lost in Space
Now that I look at this, I'm surprised that reincarnation sects haven't started offering to tweak your karma for an ideal personal outcome.
The bonus panel for this one is the actual punchline. Don't miss it.
Edited by Fighteer on Mar 25th 2024 at 1:59:42 PM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Oh, bother.
Original Position Fallacy strikes again.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Oh, bother.
Shakespeare's works don't sound nearly as sophisticated when rephrased in modern vernacular.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Lost in Space
It should be remembered that good ol' Willy was writing for the Lowest Common Denominator of his times, and thus the jokes are often quite dirty.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Oh, bother.
He was the Seth Mcfarlane of his time.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Oh, bother.
Proof that God is a jerk. Besides all of the other comics that is.
"It's a circle...the circle of liiiife."
Disgusted, but not surprised
Lost in Space
SMBC suggests that we shouldn't make fun of AI art
, lest the AI get whiny about it and decide to switch careers to European conqueror.
Edited by Fighteer on Apr 11th 2024 at 12:57:22 PM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Oh, bother.
I guess Skynet's real motivation was people making fun of the way it drew hands.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Lost in Space
Substance addiction? Sympathy. Behavioral addiction? Scorn.
Why can't my YouTube addiction get as much attention as my heroin addiction?
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Oh, bother.
This is why Asimov's First Law uses "harm" and "injure" specifically.
Edited by M84 on Apr 14th 2024 at 10:19:52 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised
Oh, bother.
For the next time someone thinks they're being witty by pointing out how most people don't use algebra or other forms of advanced mathematics in their lives.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Lost in Space
"Math should be about love of understanding," I said to my teacher after failing to turn in my homework.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Oh, bother.
Yes I am ripping off this gag from a better one in xkcd's "Alternative Energy Revolution" comic's alt-text. No, I don't feel any shame.
Edited by M84 on Apr 22nd 2024 at 12:04:56 AM
Disgusted, but not surprised
Lost in Space
I laughed out loud at this one. Given the opportunity, a genuine human draws dicks.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Oh, bother.
This would make the Trolley Problem less annoying. Run over everyone.
It's a rather more humorous take on the repeatedly seen trope of immortality leading to decadence and moral decline.
Edit:
Here's the one before it.
Turns out nuclear war has an upside.
Check the votee button for the added punchline.
Edited by M84 on Apr 23rd 2024 at 5:43:19 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised
Lost in Space
Regarding the first one, I replied on X that this would essentially be Ammit's solution in Moon Knight (2022): pre-judging people for crimes they had yet to commit, and just as wrong.
Regarding the second, that's just what an AI that's trying to take over the world would say.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Oh, bother.
TBF, the comic assumes "killing a future Hitler" is an ethical position to take.
The comic scenario is kind of like the whole "monkeys with typewriters given infinite time will write Shakespeare" idea. Except instead of Hamlet you get the Holocaust.
Edited by M84 on Apr 23rd 2024 at 9:29:19 PM
Disgusted, but not surprised
Who Am I?
I wonder what the odds of becoming a future Ghandi are?
"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."
Lost in Space
Yes, this is the rub. The "infinite monkeys" will not just write Shakespeare's entire portfolio but also Mein Kampf, the Bible, the Necronomicon, and that silly story I submitted in third grade about Perseus killing an evil space alien.
You could just as well say that, if humanity goes on forever, a new Hitler will be the descendant of someone living today, and thus all people living today should be killed just so their greatn grandchild can't be Hitler. The argument can be trivially reduced to absurdity.
Edited by Fighteer on Apr 23rd 2024 at 9:58:52 AM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Oh, bother.
But again, the idea is that you already think it's okay to kill to prevent a future Hitler.
Obviously the whole thing is moot if you don't think that's acceptable in the first place. The comic seems more like a Take That! at the idea that it's ethical to kill a future Hitler at all.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Lost in Space
Wow, this one is kind of savage. Are most children's books really just adults working out their neuroses?
"Writing a book to convince a child that they are special is like writing a book to convince a fish it can swim." Goddamn, Zach. 
Edited by Fighteer on Apr 23rd 2024 at 12:06:10 PM
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Oh, bother.
This is news to you? Of course that's the case.
Granted, I'm not sure what inner demons Margaret Wise Brown wrote Good Night Moon to exorcise.
Edited by M84 on Apr 24th 2024 at 12:08:28 AM
Disgusted, but not surprised
Oh, bother.
Another one where an AI condescends to a human. Tbf, it has a point.
Namely that an unbiased account of history isn't something humans can comprehend because we are full of biases. The human then proves the AI right by admitting he doesn't really want an unbiased account of history — he just wants confirmation that his country is the best one. But since the robot can't give that, the robot offers ice cream instead. Which the human accepts.
Disgusted, but not surprised
Lost in Space
Most of these comics end with the human admitting that all they want is to satisfy a bias, which is cute. Most humans would never admit that.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
AI 11
When Pascal's Wager and Roko's Basilisk collide.
Disgusted, but not surprised