Immune System
Immune System
[Ponytail is standing in front of a boardroom meeting, pointing to a presentation on a screen. Cueball, Megan and Hairbun are in the audience, sitting at a long table; an extra, unoccupied chair is in the front.] Ponytail: My body hosts an autonomous microscopic defensive swarm that will do anything to protect me. Ponytail: I have no ability to restrain it and I don't know my own power. Ponytail: So listen up. Ponytail: Sales grew by 4% this quarter...
[Caption below the panel:] Business protip: You can strengthen any presentation by opening with a reminder about how cool immune systems are.

In this comic, Ponytail is delivering an informative report to a group of listeners, likely important managers of some large company. She begins her lecture by stating she is the host of a microscopic autonomous swarm that will do anything to protect her. She is referring to the immune system, which could technically be defined as a "microscopic autonomous swarm" that will do anything to protect her -- i.e destroy pathogens such as viruses and bacteria, both of which cause multitudinous diseases in humans. Like many of the systems of the body, the immune system cannot be controlled by conscious thought, and should not be taken as unordinary.
The caption below reveals the method behind her madness. Randall claims that beginning any business presentation with a surreal description of one's own immune system is guaranteed to strengthen your case. Whether or not this is actually the case is irrelevant, the point of the comic is about "how cool the immune system is", and explains its coolness through an unconventional description of how the process works. Additionally, Ponytail's description implies more potential power over external entities than an immune system typically has, perhaps to to gain more respect/fear from the speaker's audience.
The title text elaborates further on this, stating that similar arguments can be used in negotiation. The description of the immune system is deliberately misleading, implying that the immune system may attack the other negotiator if the terms of the deal aren't satisfactory. While it is correct that your immune cells cannot be reasoned with [ citation needed ] and theoretically it could cause an anaphylactic shock in the targeted organism, the veiled threat omits the fact that the immune system 1) is unaffected by external negotiations conducted by its host, 2) is incapable of attacking things outside of the body, and 3) would have to overcome the target's own immune system.
[Ponytail is standing in front of a boardroom meeting, pointing to a presentation on a screen. Cueball, Megan and Hairbun are in the audience, sitting at a long table; an extra, unoccupied chair is in the front.] Ponytail: My body hosts an autonomous microscopic defensive swarm that will do anything to protect me. Ponytail: I have no ability to restrain it and I don't know my own power. Ponytail: So listen up. Ponytail: Sales grew by 4% this quarter...
[Caption below the panel:] Business protip: You can strengthen any presentation by opening with a reminder about how cool immune systems are.
