# Would aliens have a sense of humor? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 19, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688 "2012-06-19T22:22:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YourAdHere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/65b543/32.png) [@YourAdHere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YourAdHere)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/1 "2012-06-19T22:22:57Z")
I realize that this question is likely ridiculous, vague, and not able to be answered with anything but wild speculation, or a PhD thesis, which is why I put it here. Mods, feel free to move it. I guess my question is: how likely /necessary is it for other intelligent, sentient beings, capable of consciousness and abstract thinking to develop something like humor? Does having a sense of humor fill some vital role? Is it a it necessary and unavoidable byproduct of the way most human brains are set up? Is having a sense of humor required in order for the brain to work properly? They ( scientists? Or do they?) say that dolphins and chimps are self aware, and they seem to have a sense of humor. I guess that could just be projecting, I don’t really know what or how they think I realize that there seem to be some people without any sense of humor ( this is a perfect setup, somebody better take it) do their brains function normally otherwise? If we were to come into contact with an intelligent race of aliens, would it be likely that they have a sense of humor just by virtue of them being intelligent and having abstract thought? Or do you think it was just a one- off, freak accident with us, a curious by -product that we could have developed without, without any real loss of brain function? I apologize if this question makes no sense, is stupid, or has been asked before. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/2 "2012-06-19T22:43:54Z")
Yes, your screams of agony would be as knock-knock jokes to them. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/3 "2012-06-19T22:44:56Z")
It’s an interesting question. Not one that we can answer at this point, obviously, but it’s something people have put some thought into. In David Brin’s Uplift Universe series of sci-fi novels, humans are the only species in the galaxy to have a sense of humor - we’re also the only advanced technological species to develop entirely on our own. All the other species were genetically modified (“Uplifted”) by another species, who were themselves Uplifted by someone else, going back until before recorded galactic history. It’s a matter of debate within the book whether humor is just a random quirk of an unguided evolution, or a necessary component of spontaneous sentience. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/4 "2012-06-19T22:48:22Z")
Of course they would. But you might be offended by some of the human jokes they tell. ---
**Author:** ![dngnb8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@dngnb8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dngnb8)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/5 "2012-06-19T22:48:37Z")
> [@YourAdHere](#): > > I realize that this question is likely ridiculous, vague, and not able to be answered with anything but wild speculation, or a PhD thesis, which is why I put it here. Mods, feel free to move it. > > I guess my question is: how likely /necessary is it for other intelligent, sentient beings, capable of consciousness and abstract thinking to develop something like humor? Does having a sense of humor fill some vital role? Is it a it necessary and unavoidable byproduct of the way most human brains are set up? Is having a sense of humor required in order for the brain to work properly? > > They ( scientists? Or do they?) say that dolphins and chimps are self aware, and they seem to have a sense of humor. I guess that could just be projecting, I don’t really know what or how they think > I realize that there seem to be some people without any sense of humor ( this is a perfect setup, somebody better take it) do their brains function normally otherwise? > > If we were to come into contact with an intelligent race of aliens, would it be likely that they have a sense of humor just by virtue of them being intelligent and having abstract thought? Or do you think it was just a one- off, freak accident with us, a curious by -product that we could have developed without, without any real loss of brain function? > > I apologize if this question makes no sense, is stupid, or has been asked before. If they do, they are laughing at our species, not with it. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/6 "2012-06-19T23:04:41Z")
To get down to the basics, humor is how humans process something unexpected happening. We have decided that we like the way that experience feels, so we go out of our way to produce safe situations that recreate it. Now, to be able to have expectations is pretty basic to intelligence, so I would think that something analogous to our sense of humor would be likely. That said, there’s absolutely no indication that their process for dealing with the unexpected would be anything that would equate to what we think of as humor. Aliens may hate that feeling, or think of it as something akin to feeling your stomach rumble, or even possibly have weird cultural hangups surrounding that experience. Who knows? Furthermore, even if by some remote chance it WAS socially and emotionally similar to what we think of as humor, think about the wide variety of what people find funny. With that in mind, I don’t think there’s much of a chance that we would find that we would “get” an alien’s sense of humor, and an equally slim chance that they would understand ours. It’s a pretty complex mental process going on, and I don’t know that it’s really teachable. Think about how it spoils a joke or story to explain why it’s funny, or how kids at a certain age go just nuts over puns and knock-knock jokes - they’re finally\* getting \*them, and it’s hysterical to them in a way that it wasn’t a year or so ago before their brains matured enough. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/7 "2012-06-19T23:07:00Z")
> [@YourAdHere](#): > > They ( scientists? Or do they?) say that dolphins and chimps are self aware, and they seem to have a sense of humor. I guess that could just be projecting, I don’t really know what or how they think As I recall, apes at least appear to have a limited sense of humor. There are in fact at least two “senses of humor”, centered in two separate brain areas; apes have only the “lower” sense of humor that concerns itself with things like slapstick. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/8 "2012-06-19T23:11:44Z")
Andy Kaufman. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/9 "2012-06-19T23:22:55Z")
Humor appears to be a by-product of specific neural quirks of the human brain. An apparently dangerous situation triggers a threat response via an evolutionarily older hard-wired neural path, and that threat response is then interrupted by a contradictory response from our evolutionarily newer (and slower) higher brain functions. Furthermore, the “danger” perceived by our “lizard brain” is often tied to specific human social behaviors – moments when social hierarchies or relationships are disrupted. It’s unlikely that an alien intelligence would evolve exactly the same fast-path/slow-path aborted threat response that we have. And even if they did, their instinctive threat detection hardware would probably be triggered by very different stimuli. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/10 "2012-06-20T01:19:50Z")
I worked with two captive research dolphins, 1980-1984. They definitely have a sense of humor, and seem to think it’s fun to tease the humans. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/11 "2012-06-20T01:36:06Z")
Humor is the subversion of expectation. Any species capable of being surprised has the foundation for humor. Whether they have hangups about it or not is a matter of their sociology, not their biology. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/12 "2012-06-20T01:46:06Z")
I would suggest that humor requires a few things. Creativity to create it and appreciate it. An ability to observe the world around you. An understanding of logic and therefore an ability to note when things are not logical. An ability to make complex connections between at first glance unrelated things. An ability to make intuitive jumps. And in general a high level of intelligence to put some or all of these things together depending on the scenario to create or get it. It seem to me all those things are pretty much required to advance technologically. And if you have all or most of them then you probably have humor. Now perhaps once a species reaches their technological peak or perhaps even all that the universe allows they might stagnate and loose some of those abilities and therefore loose the ability of humor. So, I am going with the greys probably have some sense of humor. I am not saying they would all have humor, but having given it just a few minutes thought I would be a bit surprised to find that humor was rather rare in advanced species. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/13 "2012-06-20T02:15:03Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > To get down to the basics, humor is how humans process something unexpected happening. … > [@Gukumatz](#): > > Humor is the subversion of expectation. … Ooo. I like that second phrasing of it. Because it (often) is not only the awareness that the pattern (the expectation) has been broken, but that what has occurred fits another pattern better. A mental reorientation, a high level cognitive version of those figure-ground (is it the old lady or the young lady? a vase or two faces?) perceptual flips. And making the potential anxiety or discomfort that such creates functional. Of course humor also is a means of dealing with that which makes us anxious. Would an alien intelligence comparable or greater than ours also be a pattern identifier and have a means of reorienting to a better fit? Likely. Would it experience such as humor? Maybe, maybe not. And what would be the patterns it expects and what would it be anxious about? Meanwhile Heinlein at least though humans were special in this [strange way](http://books.google.com/books?id=Kn1bNU91sAoC&pg=PA314&lpg=PA314&dq=stranger+in+a+strange+land+laughs&source=bl&ots=mjbJLSWJop&sig=qr2bZE7SDC5-R3qLd9W2MqClaY0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YDDhT5ClNaPQ2AXhoKnxCw&sqi=2&ved=0CG0Q6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false). > [@](#): > > I’ve found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much… because it’s the only thing that’ll make it stop hurting" > … > But that’s not all people laugh at." > Isn’t it? Perhaps I don’t grok all its fullness yet. But find me something that really makes you laugh sweetheart… a joke, or anything else- but something that gave you a a real belly laugh, not a smile. Then we’ll see if there isn’t a wrongness wasn’t there." He thought. "I grok when apes learn to laugh, they’ll be people. ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/14 "2012-06-20T03:19:20Z")
These aliens yukked it up. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/5x0BSgLKnSk/hqdefault.jpg ""Twilight Zone" promo for "To Serve Man"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x0BSgLKnSk) ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/15 "2012-06-20T07:00:38Z")
Laughter is a catharsis brought on either by the diversion of fear into safety or an unexpected outcome (or as an involuntary response to tickling). A species of sufficiently high intelligence (like, say, the intelligence required to develop sustainable intergalactic travel) would cease to be afraid of things, would anticipate all outcomes so that many are unlikely but none are totally unexpected, and wouldn’t need catharsis. Although not provable at all, my speculation is that humor would be a phase that a species is likely to outgrow once their intelligence is high enough. Once you know everything, you cease to be surprised by anything… kinda like Vulcans. Maybe they’d still be ticklish, although if I were a member of a vastly intelligent species I would work to eradicate ticklishness. Not because laughter is bad, but because being tickled usually sucks ass–the laughter is involuntary, and being tickled is a very unpleasant sensation for many people. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2012, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-aliens-have-a-sense-of-humor/625688/16 "2012-06-20T07:34:18Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > Laughter is a catharsis brought on either by the diversion of fear into safety or an unexpected outcome (or as an involuntary response to tickling). A species of sufficiently high intelligence (like, say, the intelligence required to develop sustainable intergalactic travel) would cease to be afraid of things, would anticipate all outcomes so that many are unlikely but none are totally unexpected, and wouldn’t need catharsis. Although not provable at all, my speculation is that humor would be a phase that a species is likely to outgrow once their intelligence is high enough. Once you know everything, you cease to be surprised by anything… kinda like Vulcans. Noted that you only said ‘kinda like…’, but the Vulcans understand humour, they just choose not to be amused by it - and (apart from being generally a bit implausible, IMO), come across as ploddingly stupid when they don’t get a joke. A being could be highly knowledgable and intelligent, and still be surprised by artificially-constructed conflict of information - which is a major part of what makes humour work. I don’t see why any being _ever would_ advance to the state where it not only knows everything about everything that is, but also has pondered every possible combination of things that are not. A man walks into a bar and says… Oh fuck! my eye! It was an iron bar. OK, it’s an old, crap joke, but I think it’s more likely that aliens would be humourless just because they _don’t get it_, or _react with genuine, earnest confusion_ than that they could be so very smart as to be undeceivable.