3 ms·

You're arguing the incongruous juxtaposition theory of humor, one of the three primary theories of humor. Intelligence wouldn't reduce the pleasure of simple j

by basseq 10y ago

You're arguing the incongruous juxtaposition theory of humor, one of the three primary theories of humor. Intelligence wouldn't reduce the pleasure of simple jokes because it wouldn't help you anticipate the unexpected—the whole point being that the punchline doesn't logically follow. Certainly there are some jokes that require more niche knowledge: If the Silver Surfer and Iron Man team up, they’d be alloys. You have to know what an alloy is to laugh at that one.

nytopop 10y ago
That doesn't seem right. Why wouldn't intelligence help predict the unexpected? The point of their argument is that higher intelligence may make it easier to expect what somebody with a lower intelligence would not expect. People don't think in strictly logical terms, there's a whole mess of abstract pattern matching and built up experiential anticipations embedded in the process. That pun might require some iota of shared knowledge, but it doesn't require much intelligence to get. Amount of knowledge doesn't define intelligence - someone who scores low on an IQ test will get that joke just as much as someone who scores highly (not that I'm equating IQ score with intelligence). I don't think that a lack of shared knowledge is what they are getting at. Complexity of a joke has more to do with lots of disparate moving pieces, so to speak. The ability to quickly perceive those pieces - and what is unexpected within them - isn't shared by everyone.
csydas 10y ago
> You have to know what an alloy is to laugh at that one. I disagree. These types of jokes also tend to fall prey to interpretation by association, that is, the audience may just recognize that it's supposed to be funny and it's funny for scientific reasons, but they don't fully know what an alloy is or couldn't explain it. It's less about the actual knowledge of the joke and more that they to some degree have had the premise explained and find it funny due to "insider knowledge". A lot of more common science jokes tend to be like this - the joke isn't that the setup or punchline are particularly good, it's the exclusivity that adds to the value of the understanding. It's not that you get the joke that is funny to many people, it's that others don't get the joke that adds value.

by basseq 10y ago

nytopop 10y ago

That doesn't seem right. Why wouldn't intelligence help predict the unexpected? The point of their argument is that higher intelligence may make it easier to expect what somebody with a lower intelligence would not expect. People don't think in strictly logical terms, there's a whole mess of abstract pattern matching and built up experiential anticipations embedded in the process. That pun might require some iota of shared knowledge, but it doesn't require much intelligence to get. Amount of knowledge doesn't define intelligence - someone who scores low on an IQ test will get that joke just as much as someone who scores highly (not that I'm equating IQ score with intelligence). I don't think that a lack of shared knowledge is what they are getting at. Complexity of a joke has more to do with lots of disparate moving pieces, so to speak. The ability to quickly perceive those pieces - and what is unexpected within them - isn't shared by everyone.

csydas 10y ago

> You have to know what an alloy is to laugh at that one. I disagree. These types of jokes also tend to fall prey to interpretation by association, that is, the audience may just recognize that it's supposed to be funny and it's funny for scientific reasons, but they don't fully know what an alloy is or couldn't explain it. It's less about the actual knowledge of the joke and more that they to some degree have had the premise explained and find it funny due to "insider knowledge". A lot of more common science jokes tend to be like this - the joke isn't that the setup or punchline are particularly good, it's the exclusivity that adds to the value of the understanding. It's not that you get the joke that is funny to many people, it's that others don't get the joke that adds value.