Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for November 06, 2015

The grown-up Calvin must be in seventh heaven with Amazon and Netflix.

Most of your problems are because of human interaction. So computers are the solution, huh?

But it needs much knowledge to bring the computers to work! There we’ll have some very teached people, who know to work with the computers and others, who only use them!!

Life sucks. Bring on the digital overlords. I need a foot massage.

This strip is a good example of what I never liked about the last years of Calvin & Hobbes. The social critiques not only were often very preachy——and I say that as someone who AGREED with most of them——, they often felt forced and shoehorned to me.

Calvin essentially became a mouthpiece for any idea Watterson wanted to ridicule or express disagreement with. To that end, the most gratuitous, strawman statements would be put into his mouth to be held up as things for the reader to shake their head at.

For a writer like Watterson who championed the importance of character integrity, it’s especially jarring because it comes off to me as forced and unnatural. This strip in particular feels wrong. Calvin LOVES physical activity. He LOVES getting his hands dirty and making things happen. To put gratuitous stuff in his mouth just doesn’t work, from my point of view.

It’s amazing how quickly Calvin’s prophesies came true. I do all of my shopping, except for groceries, on line, all of my banking,, online. Retired, I literally don’t have to leave the house. I can take courses, on line, get another degree, online, even volunteer, online, talk with friends, online, find a partner, online. There is very little I can’t do online. When I was recovering from surgery I even ordered groceries online. I can research symptoms and know what I need online. If I could write my own prescriptions, I wouldn’t even need to see a doctor. I rent out my place when I’m gone, online. If I so chose, I wouldn’t need to interact in person with people for weeks at a time. If I had grandkids, I’d just Skype them. If I need exercise I could have a treadmill, elliptical machine, stationary bike, right here, and buy it online.

How true Calvin, We are living in the age that you predicted.

“in the year 2525…..”

He’s good at predictions, that’s for sure.

And now, we can read Calvin and Hobbes each morning without having to open the front door to pick up a newspaper, thereby exposing ourselves to the fresh air and sunshine.

War is “Human interaction”……

I had no idea that Calvin was patterned off a young Jeff Bezos.

And yet most people cannot get work using computers as company has special program with special password and username.

Eerily prophetic.

@JLGExcellent analysis. Let’s face it, Calvin not only loved to get his hands dirty, but his toes, his head, and everything in between! You can’t take a death-defying ride on a rickety wagon down a mini-mountain sitting at your desk at home!

Currently there is far more disinformation than information on the internet. My theory is…….human nature!

WOW! Calvin saw us go-comics commenters coming!

How come everyone isn’t working from home?

“…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

One is still allowed to choose which time/life to live in, with enough health and money!

My computer already automatically posts online comments for me. :)

Interestingly, this strip sounds like a self-critique of sorts by Bill Watterson. Bill is someone who often prefers to avoid human interaction, at least with his readers, but here he seems to be criticizing those who would do so. Perhaps there is a grain of truth in what Calvin is saying, as Bill Watterson would see it. Living life, in the way in which Bill’s fans would like him to, is too inconvenient.

Hobbes gets it! That’s one in what, 7.25 billion plus?

It’s a start…

Watterson was a Seer !

You’re right, Calvin. There’s a reason I live alone.

Life will get pretty robotic soon.

..annoying human interaction… i like that!

Calvin was born a spoiled brat, and he will still be a spoiledbrat if he ever manages to get into Heaven.

I bet calvin is rocking 2015 A.D.!

Several have said that Calvin’s words were prophetic, but never so much as in 2020!