2009-10-23
Explanation
This comic features a scientist showing off a teleportation machine to a visitor. The scientist explains that the machine works by making a duplicate of you in a far away location, calling it "basically like lightspeed travel." The visitor immediately raises the obvious problem: to avoid having two copies of the same person, doesn't one have to die? The scientist explains that after the transport, they determine which copy is "more ambivalent about that problem" and let that one survive. He then notes that over time, small transmission errors accumulate, resulting in individuals who are not interested in the ethical problem at all. The visitor asks whether they are worried about evolving a race of sociopaths who care more about rapid transportation than human lives. The scientist delivers the punchline: "We prefer 'engineers,' sir."
The comic satirizes the classic teleportation thought experiment from philosophy of mind -- the idea that a teleporter that works by destroying the original and creating a copy is essentially a murder-and-cloning machine. The twist is that rather than solving this ethical dilemma, the scientists have embraced a form of artificial selection: by always keeping the copy that cares least about being killed, they have gradually bred out moral concern entirely. The final joke lands by equating this amoral optimization mindset with the stereotypical engineer's personality -- someone who prioritizes functional results over ethical hand-wringing.
The votey panel shows the scientist character (Kelly's creator Zach Weinersmith) talking about how since Kelly started acting in videos, she is as stat-addicted as he is, obsessively refreshing view counts. He compares it to "secretly being a heroin addict, then finding out that your wife is one too" -- a self-deprecating joke about the compulsive nature of checking online metrics.