What is humor? WHy do we laugh? why does it exist? What is its purpose?
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Anonymous2007-08-31 5:51 ID:AYpSiKv3
laughing, smiling, general happiness induced from these is an optimization to the mental state, that is, when you experience any of these you beget a more productive mental state in the form of satisfaction. humorous anecdotes can be likened to that of nutrients, those which positively affect the human behavior and produce a more productive - or energized - state. as we all know, nature likes her energy, or why would we be alive in the first place?
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Anonymous2007-08-31 8:54 ID:hT69t9Rg
Monkey laughs because he sees an unusual thing, something not in the ordinary. What monkey sees makes him think, if the thinking turns to learning quickly enough then monkey-brain rewards monkey with happyness, or amusement.
Learning is rewarded because the species that don't learn are still dumb as rocks, and not successfull.
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4tran2007-09-01 6:38 ID:tk6z9SR9
>>2
I'm sure a surgeon will reach a more productive mental state watching <insert comedy> while conducting a surgery. His satisfaction will surely gurantee survival of his patient.
I understood that I stated a productive energetic state would arise, but I failed to distinguish between distinct productivity and higher energy levels. If focused, perhaps, ones heightened state may be of practical use, but while one is in the process of laughing, the physically overwhelming action would of course permit certain activities.
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4tran2007-09-01 19:54 ID:CvXVhy2y
>>9
Perhaps it would be more fruitful for you to define "productive" in this context.
I'm also assuming that permit -> restrict
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Anonymous2007-09-03 12:42 ID:3kMz1I3Z
Laughter is meant to warn others that there is no danger when normally there would appear to be danger. For example, a tiger stuck in a tree. This contradiction creates a laugh noise that others interpret as no danger.
Humor arose as a group-defense mechanism. Say, you were the head ape of a group of apes. Your group of apes encountered a threat, like another group of apes, or a tiger. By telling a few jokes, the head ape could get his subordinate apes to force stale air from their lungs and charge up their bloodstream with more oxygen. Human laughter is also rather loud and barking, which can be used to make the group seem like a larger threat.
We see the same mechanism happen to ghetto apes all the time.
What do Czech people eat?
Prague-legs!!!
What do Czech CS majors do? Pragueramming!11!!!
What do men from Prague do? They Czech out all the sexy wemens!!!
What did the Czech man say to his doctor?
"What's the Praguenosis?"
"I don't know, I'll have to Czech my charts. It looks like you have Praguestate cancer!!!"
What should have happened in the Czech Republic?
How many Czechs does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
There is no Electricity in the Czech Republic!!!
All attempts to explain humour thus far have been fucking ridiculous, especially RedCream's.
It's time we looked at the facts.
Laughter/ amusement is genetic and in some instances influenced by culture and man of the causes can be narrowed down to these definitions. There may be more.
1: Observing and/or thinking about absurd/unusual occurances.
2: Tickling and other playful physical activities with someone you know.
3: Schadenfreude, we laugh at other's misfortunes or we are bigotted.
4*: To defuse a situation and "reset" strong emotions.
*This may be the utilisation of humour rather than the cause of it, though possibly this resulted in an evolutionary incentive to elevate the intensity of humour or to intellectualise it in humans.
Animals certainly have humour 2, but may possible have humour 1 and 3. It is possible to make a baby laugh by pulling funny faces or tickling them and toddlers, especially boys, seem to laugh a lot at other people's misfortunes.
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Anonymous2007-09-05 7:17 ID:iCGOB16l
Also Schadenfreude could be split into bigotry towards those you have hate or contempt for and humour 1, such as when your friend trips up and makes an ass of himself, you do not dehumanise or feel any vengeance in this instance.