peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) (10/28/88)
I am serious. Many people say to me "you must be joking". I believe humor is the brain's way of unknotting itself. There are some thoughts that will cause your brain to go into an "infinite loop". For example, "have you ever thought about what the brain is doing between thoughts" will almost in all cases cause a person to laugh. The harder you try to think about it, the tighter the knot. At some point, your brain implodes, and you burst out laughing. For 6 years I've been trying to write a program that executes the "how" of how we think. Rather than concentrate on neural networks, thought data bases, parallel architecture, self modifying code, or heuristics about heuristics, I decided to concentrate on the meaning of meaning. I believe all thoughts come from experience. And somehow, meaning comes from an infinite recursion, where at some point the brain says "aha". Then, the brain somehow creates thoughts from this deep dark place in our mind, and then these thoughts get translated into speech. Or words being typed into a computer terminal like the ones you are now reading. At this point, I don't believe consciousness can be simulated on a computer because of this infinite recursion concept. Also, I believe if it was not for real experience, we would not be able to communicate at all. So even if you did have consciousness in a machine, how would we be able to communicate? However, if I'm wrong, any program that executes the "how" of how we think must have the ability to laugh. Infinity is a big concept.
dmocsny@uceng.UC.EDU (daniel mocsny) (10/28/88)
In article <448@soleil.UUCP>, peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) writes: > I am serious. Many people say to me "you must be joking". I believe > humor is the brain's way of unknotting itself. There are some thoughts > that will cause your brain to go into an "infinite loop". Amateur psychologist that I am, too stupid to know better than to reveal my idiocy before this distinguished audience, I offer the following tidbit dredged from the rancid backwaters of my incomplete knowledge base: I have heard that laughter may be a way for the brain to react to thoughts it cannot rationalize, as a way of avoiding having to confront hopelessness. For example, the following Woody Allen vignette is initially funny ``Two women are talking about a restaurant they don't like. First woman: `The food is horrible.' Second woman: `And such small portions.' '' but when Woody tells us it sums up his attitude toward life, too horrible and absurdly short, what we are laughing at is not pretty. So sometimes laughter is a way to avoid really facing something awful. Like the quality of this article. Dan Mocsny ``Can I go home now? Oh yeah, I am home.''
rustcat@csli.STANFORD.EDU (Vallury Prabhakar) (10/30/88)
Arthur Koestler (Ghost in the Machine, Act of Creation, etc..) suggests that humour may also be found in any situation that has the "bisociation" characteristic. He defines bisociation to be the forceful merging of two situations that (to our mind) are incompatible. Almost all form of cartoons have this incompatibility as the fundamental precept. The Act of Creation goes into much more detail and is a rather unique approach to laughter. -- Vallury
smann@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (Shannon Mann - I.S.er) (10/30/88)
In article <1620@hp-sdd.HP.COM> nick@hp-sdd.hp.com.UUCP (Nick Flor) writes: > >I disagree. I think people are conditioned to laugh/smile upon >realization of the nonobvious. I guess someone who's into knowledge >representation would say something like: laughter is a conditioned >response corresponding to the integration of new knowledge items into >existing semantic structures. These new knowledge items have three main >properties: > >1) They were previously unthought of. >2) They have weak associations with the structures they are being > integrated into. >3) I just thought I'd put a (3) in case I forgot something. > >Let's just say that smiling/laughter is a result of the ONIGI phenomenon. >(Oh, Now I Get It). > >Nick If you were to watch a group of teenage males while they were watching say, Shakespeare's _Macbeth_, you would find that most of them respond with laughter when tears would be more appropriate. The cause? It was explained to me that they react that way because laughing is an excepted behavior while crying is not. What do you think? -=- -=- Shannon Mann -=- smann@watdcsu.UWaterloo.ca -=- 'I have no brain, and I must think...' - An Omynous 'If I don't think, AM I' - Another Omynous
bwk@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Barry W. Kort) (10/31/88)
In article <448@soleil.UUCP> peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) writes: > For 6 years I've been trying to write a program that executes the > "how" of how we think. Dave, I would be interested to learn how your program thinks about the question, "Why am I interested in understanding how I think?" --Barry Kort
bwk@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Barry W. Kort) (10/31/88)
In article <347@uceng.UC.EDU> dmocsny@uceng.UC.EDU (daniel mocsny) writes: > I have heard that laughter may be a way for the brain to react to > thoughts it cannot rationalize, as a way of avoiding having to > confront hopelessness. For example, the following Woody Allen > vignette is initially funny > > ``Two women are talking about a restaurant they don't like. > First woman: `The food is horrible.' > Second woman: `And such small portions.' '' Do you suppose it is a coincidence that mathematicians refer to inconsistency as "Reductio ad Absurdum"? --Barry Kort Today's Definition: "Nonlinear Logic - A mode of reasoning favored by people who can't think straight."
ackley@wind.bellcore.com (David H Ackley) (11/01/88)
In article <448@soleil.UUCP> peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) writes: >However, if I'm wrong, any program that executes the "how" of how we think >must have the ability to laugh. In fact, the whole "intelligence" concept just falls apart without humor. Consider this proof: People with no sense of humor are stupid. QED. I used to fantasize about titling my dissertation "Consciousness and Humor". That was before I had actually done any work, of course. You don't want to know the real final title. Girdle's Humor Incompleteness Theorem guarantees that no finite, effective decision procedure can recognize ALL and ONLY humorous inputs. You have to choose between McMahonism and Ayatollahism. >Infinity is a big concept. Recent studies reveal infinity is actually a rather small concept, as concepts go. Just about a size 6 petite. You want to talk BIG concepts, you're talking the four F's. | David Ackley Cognitive Science Research Group | | --==++==-- Bell Communications Research Inc.| | "To state is ackley@flash.bellcore.com| | to overstate" ...!bellcore!ackley| -David Ackley ackley@bellcore.com
peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) (11/02/88)
In message <1620@hp-sdd.HP.COM> Mr. Flor writes: >Let's just say that smiling/laughter is a result of the ONIGI phenomenon. >(Oh, Now I Get It). > >Did you smile? No. I'm so used to seeing acronyms that I don't know that I just store them away on the undefined-acronym-queue in my brain. I have faith that someday all these undefined acronym's will shed their light of truth in my mind and enrich the meaning of my life. In message <11482@bellcore.bellcore.com> Mr. Ackley writes: >Girdle's Humor Incompleteness Theorem guarantees that no finite, >effective decision procedure can recognize ALL and ONLY humorous >inputs. This is great! I wish I had thought this up. In message <3244@sdsu.UUCP> Mr. Caasi writes: >Does anyone know of any work or program that takes a joke as >input and outputs some number, say between 0 to 10, based on >the funniness of the joke? Yes! It's the program called the "mind" and it's running in the hardware called the "brain". Of course, if you've been following talk.religion.misc, you know, that Mr. Smith knows, that Dave Peru has no brain. In message <41419@linus.UUCP> Mr. Kort writes: >Dave, I would be interested to learn how your program thinks >about the question, "Why am I interested in understanding >how I think?" I logged in this morning, the program said, "Hello Dave", I then asked the program this question. Results: Kaboom, implosion, HA HA HA HA! In message <41420@linus.UUCP> Mr. Kort writes: >Do you suppose it is a coincidence that mathematicians refer >to inconsistency as "Reductio ad Absurdum"? This idea was expressed by the same mathematicians who at the beginning of this century thought you could make a perfect system of mathematics. Mr. Kort, have you created a perfect system of mathematics that we are not aware of?
bwk@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Barry W. Kort) (11/02/88)
In article <5220@watdcsu.waterloo.edu> smann@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (Shannon Mann - I.S.er) writes: > If you were to watch a group of teenage males while they were watching > say, Shakespeare's _Macbeth_, you would find that most of them respond > with laughter when tears would be more appropriate. > > The cause? It was explained to me that they react that way because > laughing is an excepted behavior while crying is not. > > What do you think? I think the teenage males consider crying the excepted behavior and laughing the accepted behavior. But some of us take exception to accepted norms. --Barry Kort
inspect@blic.BLI.COM (Mfg Inspection) (11/04/88)
In article <41489@linus.UUCP>, bwk@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Barry W. Kort) writes: > I think the teenage males consider crying the excepted behavior > and laughing the accepted behavior. But some of us take exception > to accepted norms. > > --Barry Kort Exactly! In much of Western culture (society) males are expected not to cry under any but the most dire circumstances. The need for emotional release is there, so laughter is used to defuse the emotions. In Japanese culture (society) emotional constraint is an ideal and it is a bit disconcerting for a Westerner to see a Japanese person laugh in a situ- ation lending itself more to tears. I saw my (long ago) Japanese boyfriend laugh when laughter seemed quite inappropriate, but I understood. I laughed when a friend broke my foot. The pain was intense, but we were in a social situation and I did not want to cry. I think Joni Mitchell expressed it well in one of her songs, when she sang, "laughter and crying, you know it's the same release" - Jennifer
smann@watdcsu.waterloo.edu (Shannon Mann - I.S.er) (11/04/88)
In article <41489@linus.UUCP> bwk@mbunix (Kort) writes: >In article <5220@watdcsu.waterloo.edu> smann@watdcsu.waterloo.edu >(Shannon Mann - I.S.er) writes: > >> The cause? It was explained to me that they react that way because >> laughing is an excepted behavior while crying is not. >> >> What do you think? > >I think the teenage males consider crying the excepted behavior >and laughing the accepted behavior. But some of us take exception >to accepted norms. > >--Barry Kort Thanks, Barry. Everyone please note my lack of care.
bwk@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Barry W. Kort) (11/06/88)
In article <466@soleil.UUCP> peru@soleil.UUCP (Dave Peru) writes: > In message <41420@linus.UUCP> Mr. Kort writes: > > > Do you suppose it is a coincidence that mathematicians refer > > to inconsistency as "Reductio ad Absurdum"? > > This idea was expressed by the same mathematicians who at the > beginning of this century thought you could make a perfect system > of mathematics. Mr. Kort, have you created a perfect system of > mathematics that we are not aware of? I didn't realize Russel and Whitehead thought *I* could create such a system. However, I can report that my efforts to create a complete and consistent system of mathematics will be completed about the same time as I finish calculating the details of the Mandelbrot set. (It should be converging any day now....) --Barry Kort
bwk@mitre-bedford.ARPA (Barry W. Kort) (11/10/88)
In article <674@blic.BLI.COM> inspect@blic.BLI.COM (Jennifer) writes about laughter and tears: > I think Joni Mitchell expressed it well in one of her songs, when > she sang, "laughter and crying, you know it's the same release" Norman Cousins did some interesting work on laughter as catharsis. Annette Goodhearte became the first PhD in Laughter Therapy, and is using laughter as a tool to cleanse emotional pain. When used properly, laughter can become a powerful force for healing. --Barry Kort