New Yorker cartoon editor researching humor as a brain function

Mark Frauenfelder 10:43 am Fri Apr 8, 2005

Mark Hurst of Good Experience interviewed New Yorker cartoon editor Bob Mankoff, who is working with the psychology department at the University of Michigan to research how humor works in the brain using cartoons as the input.

The experience of humor is similar to the "ah-ha" moment of two things coming together. For humor, two things have to come together to produce the experience of laughter. Normal and abnormal; these things reconciled in a moment, and usually it's a normal situation violated in some way that we can tolerate. You have to have something normal that becomes abnormal, or something that looks abnormal and then become normal.

So, normal: there's a guy on the phone, saying "No, Thursday's out. How about never – is never good for you?" Everything is normal – the office, the syntax of politeness – and yet the message is rude. We have a violation where we have a normal situation.

Link

Amazon used a China firm on U.S. blacklist for thermal cameras to monitor workers for COVID-19 fever

• Amazon's new Chinese thermal spycam vendor was blacklisted by U.S. over allegations it helped China detain and monitor Uighurs and other Muslim minorities READ THE REST
Financial Times journalist Mark Di Stefano accused of accessing private Zoom meetings, then publishing the information

Mark Di Stefano of the Financial Times is accused by The Independent of accessing private Zoom meetings held by The Independent and The Evening Standard as journalists were learning how… READ THE REST
Hackers tried to break into WHO, which faces more than two-fold increase in cyberattacks

Hackers tried to break into the World Health Organization earlier in March, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, Reuters reports. Security experts blame an advanced cyber-espionage hacker group known as DarkHotel.… READ THE REST
Short Post, just one paragraph

Dessert cheesecake wafer bear claw fruitcake. Fruitcake chupa chups donut candy canes marzipan. Apple pie sweet roll tart chocolate cake macaroon marshmallow carrot cake gummi bears sweet. Pastry sugar plum… READ THE REST
Save 50% on a 1-year subscription to Dashlane's premium password manager

We all know vital information about ourselves and our private digital accounts can be compromised by cybercriminals. However, many would be frightened to know just how compromised they and their… READ THE REST
The Bite Helper removes the itch of a mosquito bite in seconds

While mosquitoes have certainly earned their title as the deadliest animal on earth, their impact on most of our lives is usually a lot less consequential. But even though they… READ THE REST