Comic #2339: 2011-10-09
Description
Here's a detailed description of the comic, including its text:
Panel 1:
- A character says: "I’m a vegetarian because I don’t like the idea of killing conscious beings for food."
- The character has short dark hair and is wearing a blue shirt.
Panel 2:
- Another character replies: "But plant cultivation kills lots of small animals. Ranching destroys a smaller amount of large animals."
- This character wears glasses and has short, messy hair.
Panel 3:
- The first character thinks and says: "I guess the issue would be which approach kills the fewest neurons."
Panel 4:
- The second character questions: "But are all neurons equal? If a million roundworm neurons die, you don’t feel too bad. If a million monkey neurons die, you do."
- The first character has a contemplative expression.
Panel 5:
- The second character continues: "So, let’s see… we want the best ratio of meat to consciousness, so take the quantity of neurons killed, but weight each neuron on how complex of a system it’s in. So, we’d want a large animal, preferably fatty, who’s stupid…"
- They have a thoughtful expression, and they are gesturing with their hands.
Panel 6:
- The first character, looking concerned, says: "We’d want… we’d want… oh god no…"
- This character’s facial expression shows alarm.
Panel 7:
- A graph is shown at the bottom:
- X-axis: "Cuteness of that animal"
- Y-axis: "Ethicalness of eating an animal"
- The graph indicates that as cuteness increases (Charlie with a panda, baby walrus, overweight koala), the ethical issues of eating the animal decrease.
The characters are depicted in a humorous, exaggerated comic style, and the text includes a combination of philosophical and comedic elements regarding vegetarianism and ethics.