Chapter 17 | Page 8: Emotion-Reading Technology Backfires... in the Best Way! (Patreon)

Dr. Muskiday tries to turn feelings into data. His emotion-reading technology translates emotions into glowing clouds. As the experiment spirals, it becomes clear that understanding emotions is much messier than measuring them.

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Transcript

Panel 1: Dr. Muskiday, presenting excitedly: "Behold! Project SMILE: It's my Synaptic Mood Indicator and Linguistic Emulator."

Panel 2:Dr. Muskiday, holding a perfume atomizer, sprays mist toward a lab rat in a cage: "I spray micronanos in a 'mood mist' that bond with the subject's synaptic receptors."

Panel 3: Muskiday continues as a close-up of the mist forms a pink bioluminescent cloud above the lab rat: "They translate the subject's emotions into a bioluminescent cloud emitted through the skin."

Panel 4:Dr. Muskiday observes the glowing rat in the cage: "And now we know everything happening in the subject's mind!"

Panel 5: Lab rat, standing and speaking from inside the cage: "You coulda just asked." Holo-Clone Miss Match, surprised: "Wow! It can TALK?!" Dr. Muskiday, resigned: "Sigh Yes..."

Panel 6: Dr. Muskiday slumps, disappointed: "That's the result of my transgenic intelligence transfer system. A total failure."

Panel 7:Holo-Clone Miss Match, curious: "Inconsistent results?" Dr. Muskiday, irritated: "There were about three hundred mad scientists ahead of me, trying to patent the same acronym."

Panel 8: Holo-Clone Miss Match: Oh, Musky! I’m so PROUD of you! Dr. Muskiday: You are?

Panel 9: Holo-Clone Miss Match: Sure! And I’ll prove it to you. (She sprays Dr. Muskiday’s “Project: SMILE” mist onto her chest with a “Pft Pft Pft.”)

Panel 10:Holo-Clone Miss Match: That’s odd. I’m definitely experiencing a twenty-five percent increase in admiration. (He looks at her as she stands confidently in front of him.)

Panel 11: Dr. Muskiday: (sighs) I know. I wrote your approval algorithm. (He buries his head in his hands.)

Panel 12: Computer (stylized): Disappointment detected. Initiating emotional buoyancy protocols. (She stands looking at the dejected Muskiday.)

Panel 13: Computer (stylized): Activating file: hold_and_squeeze_those_big_puppies.exe (She touches her lips in contemplation.)

Panel 14:(Two holographic dogs appear — Oso the Pug and Digby the Dachshund from the ‘Sheldon’ comic strip— to a now overjoyed Muskiday, who grabs and cuddles them gleefully.)