"Perhaps I know best why it is man alone who laughs; he alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter." -Friedrich Nietzsche
A lot of time stand-up consists of comedians making casual observations about things that, when stated so bluntly, don't particularly make a lot of sense. In books/TV/movies humor is often found either in having more information than the characters about the situation they are presented in and therefore the ability to make a better decision than the characters, or in characters acting in obscene ways that we would never mimic ourselves. Laughter amongst peers is usually because someone is acting in a ridiculous manner, contrary to what they would do in any reasonable situation. Jokes that you tell depend completely on misleading the audience into seeing what the reasonable solution to the situation would be, and giving them an absurd solution.
It seems to me that if you break it down, humor at its most fundamental level is some form of irony. It stems from incongruence in our minds between what we think should be and what is. Because we cannot settle this difference by virtue of our rationality alone, we are in need of a coping mechanism.
I am not saying that every single time you laugh you are trying to pull yourself from the edge of an existential breakdown - I am saying that it makes sense to me that laughter was first developed from an evolutionary perspective as a survival necessity, as a way to keep beings with a magnificent understanding of the difference between the way things are and the way things could be standing under the weight of harsh reality. Of course this instinct applies to a lot more than serious adapt or die circumstances at this point, just like many other natural reflexes, but an understanding of its initial purpose could help us understand our core issues and values.
Laughter is the most important survival mechanism for animals to survive the transition from brutes to intelligent beings.
A lot of time stand-up consists of comedians making casual observations about things that, when stated so bluntly, don't particularly make a lot of sense. In books/TV/movies humor is often found either in having more information than the characters about the situation they are presented in and therefore the ability to make a better decision than the characters, or in characters acting in obscene ways that we would never mimic ourselves. Laughter amongst peers is usually because someone is acting in a ridiculous manner, contrary to what they would do in any reasonable situation. Jokes that you tell depend completely on misleading the audience into seeing what the reasonable solution to the situation would be, and giving them an absurd solution.
It seems to me that if you break it down, humor at its most fundamental level is some form of irony. It stems from incongruence in our minds between what we think should be and what is. Because we cannot settle this difference by virtue of our rationality alone, we are in need of a coping mechanism.
I am not saying that every single time you laugh you are trying to pull yourself from the edge of an existential breakdown - I am saying that it makes sense to me that laughter was first developed from an evolutionary perspective as a survival necessity, as a way to keep beings with a magnificent understanding of the difference between the way things are and the way things could be standing under the weight of harsh reality. Of course this instinct applies to a lot more than serious adapt or die circumstances at this point, just like many other natural reflexes, but an understanding of its initial purpose could help us understand our core issues and values.
Laughter is the most important survival mechanism for animals to survive the transition from brutes to intelligent beings.