That conversation about the butter robot's existential crisis hit me different last night

I was at a bar in Portland talking to a philosophy grad student about the butter robot meme. He said the robot asking if it exists is basically the same as humans asking about their purpose. I always thought it was just a joke about a tiny robot spreading butter. But he pointed out how the robot keeps doing its job even after questioning everything, which is exactly what most of us do. That comparison stuck with me more than I expected. Has anyone else had a random conversation that completely flipped how you saw a meme?

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2 Comments

campbell.nora6d ago

Used to think it was just a dumb internet joke until a friend pointed out the same thing. The butter robot has one job and does it no matter what, same as me showing up to work every day after asking if any of it matters. That conversation made me see the whole internet meme culture differently. Now I can't even look at a toast bot without feeling some kind of way about it.

lucas1656d ago

Honestly never thought about it that way but the butter robot really does hit different when you think about how it keeps asking the same question and keeps doing its job anyway. Kinda makes you wonder if the whole point of the meme is that we're all just running programs we didn't write. Like the robot doesn't even know what butter is or why it's spreading it but it still does it perfectly every time. That's basically half the population right there going through the motions without questioning the bigger picture. Makes the memes way more depressing than funny when you sit on it for a minute.