Difference between revisions of "1046: Skynet"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Jump to: navigation, search
(nav header; headings; links; title text explanation)
m (Waldir moved page Skynet to 1046: Skynet: Mass-moving pages to 'number: title' format, per discussion at explain xkcd:Community portal/Coordination#Page names)
(No difference)

Revision as of 18:07, 7 August 2012

Template:ComicHeader

skynet.png

Image text

'YOUR CLOTHES. GIVE THEM TO ME.' 'Shit, uh ... you are now breathing manually!' 'I AM ALWAYS BREATHING MANUALLY.'

Description

This comic's use of Skynet is a reference to the main antagonist in the Terminator franchise. Skynet is a fictional artificial intelligence system which becomes self-aware and decides to terminate humanity, its creators. Skynet is rarely seen onscreen, with its actions often performed via robots, cyborgs (usually a Terminator), and other computer systems.

The final frame is a reference to that strange time when you say or think about a word too much, it stops sounding like a real word and instead starts sounding like nonsense. As it continues Skynet appears to come to self-aware realizations that usually are the result of drug usage.

The title text is a reference to one of the Terminator's first lines upon arrival in the 20th century. It combines this with a self-awareness statement of the type that's often used to annoy or distract someone: "You are now breathing manually." (Similar statements include things like "You clothes are touching your skin and you can feel it" and "[Name of earworm song] is playing in your head.")