Inside JokesMatthew M. Hurley, Daniel C. Dennett, Adams, Reginald B., Jr.
Inside Jokes
by Matthew M. Hurley, Daniel C. Dennett, Adams, Reginald B., Jr. · first published 2011
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6HN commenters
2013–2025first – last mentioned
83% recommend17% neutral
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…this was serious she would at least mention this recent book, which presents a deep and subtle evolutionary explanation, along with a thorough review of past theories, and yes includes lots of jokes: Inside Jokes by Matthew M. Hurley, Daniel C. Dennett, and Reginald B. Adams Jr. http://insidejokesbook.com/ Basically, humor is a learning mechanism. It's funny when we take something to be true and then suddenly…
on “Why are jokes funny?” ↗Not sure if it's what you're asking for, but I found http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Jokes-Using-Humor-Reverse-Engin... interesting.
on “Laughter Doesn’t Scale” ↗Somewhat on-topic: an excellent book where a philosopher, psychologist, and technologist attempt to provide a cohesive theory of humor and jokes. I love the book: Inside Jokes: Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind by Daniel Dennett, Matthew Hurley, & Reginald Adams The rough summary is that humor is "the joy of debugging" - an evolutionarily-installed mechanism to provide…
on “I Asked ChatGPT to Explain Some Jokes to Me” ↗…Different - Carmen Reinhart & Kenneth Rogoff Subliminal - Leonard Mlodinow Fooled by Randomness - Nassim Taleb For something more lighthearted, I also enjoyed: An Economist Gets Lunch - Tyler Cowen Inside Jokes - Matthew Hurley & others (mostly skipped the dense parts)
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite books? I'm bored” ↗If you're interested in the theory behind humor, I recommend "Inside Jokes: Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind"; cognitive scientist Daniel Dennett is a co-author. It makes a mostly convincing case that humor evolved to encourage people to detect cognitive error. The book…
on “LLMs tell bad jokes because they avoid surprises” ↗If you're interested in the subject, see Inside Jokes: Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind by Hurley, Dennett, and someone else. They critique Bergson (and many others) and conclude something interesting but which I can't remember because I'm traveling…
on “Why mathematicians make great comedy writers” ↗