I'm not ashamed to admit, gentle reader, that a tear welled in my eye as I read this chapter in the life of our cerulean friend. A tear of pride. I like to think of myself as well read, but never in all my years have I seen the majesty of the human spirit expressed in such pithy terms.
Initially, of course, it seems as though we're getting a comment on the decay of the universe in a big rip, as entropy inevitably breaks down all matter into information-free radiation. The prospect of dark energy ripping even protons apart, billions of years hence, is something none of us is looking forward to. However, with our current level of understanding, we see no way around the demise of the human species as the universe is reduced to nothingness.
Then... a chill runs down one's back. Is Ndbag really calling Pandman a 'friend'? And can he really be offering him a sock? I'm sure I'm not the only one who was utterly appalled at the very idea. The idea that Ndbag is siding with entropy over humanity suggests that he's reverting to type; that he really is the dreaded boogeyman that each of us still fears.
But then, in the last panel, all becomes clear. We realise why in Episode Three Ndbag was on the bed instead of underneath it. We see why Ndbag, wiser than the rest of us, considers entropy to be a friend. We see that he's offering Pandaman a sock not because he wishes the human race to evaporate into the void, but because he wants to show us that it won't -- that it can't -- happen.
In offering Pandaman a sock, Ndbag is explaining to us the absolute necessity of entropy. He's telling us that the arrow of time is not something that dooms humanity, but that elevates us all. Without entropy, causality would disappear. The very thing that motivates us all -- the future wellbeing of the species -- would not exist, reducing us all to a mere accumulation of carbon, phosphorous and Magic: The Gathering trading cards. Entropy may lead inevitably to large-scale decay, but it's one of humanity's greatest allies.
So is humanity, like every other constituent of the universe, doomed? Assuredly, no. As Ndbag points out, one can't make a panda eat socks. To be sure, individual humans will die, but the species will live on. When Pandaman refuses the sock, we're forcefully reminded about the theory of Inflation, wherein new universes constantly bud off their parents. While own small corner of the multiverse may eventually wither and die, we live in but one of an infinite number of universes. By offering Pandaman the sock, Ndbag is urging us all to redouble our efforts in understanding the laws of physics, that we may some day create for ourselves our own new universe. Humanity's destiny, Ndbag tells us, is not just to colonise other planets, but other universes.
Entropy, at first glance, is the great leveller. It takes a truly wise boogeyman to point out that it will lead the human race to populate the multiverse.
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