We programmed a program to program new programs (2011)

An old SMBC comic about a program making new programs has resurfaced with the kind of energy the internet lives for: equal parts genius, confusion, and show-off comment section theater. The joke itself is simple and wonderfully nerdy: humans build tools, then build tools that build more tools, and suddenly everyone is staring into the abyss asking whether the computer is now the one doing the homework. Even in comic form, that idea still hits a nerve in today’s age of chatbots and code helpers.

And the community? Oh, they did what communities do best: turn one joke into a full-blown intellectual cage match. The loudest reaction came from a commenter trying to connect today’s language-model coding assistants to a famously brain-melting computer science concept called the Futamura projection—basically, a fancy way of talking about programs that transform other programs. For normal humans, this is where the comments become a spectator sport. Some readers would likely see that as a brilliant insight; others would absolutely read it as the classic internet move of bringing a flamethrower to a birthday candle.

That contrast is the real entertainment here. One side is laughing at the comic’s timeless "we made a thing that makes things" absurdity. The other is diving headfirst into theory, trying to prove the joke accidentally predicted modern artificial intelligence coding tools. It’s funny, a little chaotic, and very online: a comic strip turned into a philosophy seminar nobody asked for, but everyone peeked at anyway.