Did you consider selection on the level of social groups & societies? Those within which humor is valued are less prone to internal violence due to status competition and outcompete others in which it is less valued. Humor may not be rooted in DNA, but in culture.
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That is what the paper explicitly addresses as group selection. The problem with this is that the theory is said, by many, to have more holes than a Swiss cheese.
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Another possibility is the use of humour to offset awareness of our own mortality. Both are uniquely human traits. Perhaps one serves the other?
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A way to demonstrate intellect and cleverness, as well as being an adaptive coping mechanism for difficult experiences, which indicates parental fitness? Perhaps also a way to have intrasexual competition that's safer for both parties involved than violence. My best guesses.
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@danieldennett any thoughtsThanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
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Laughter is easier than humor: It's the signal that play-fighting is play, not an all-out fight: "You are not in danger, even though I am kind of attacking you. I consent to roughhousing. Let's practice combat skills to our mutual benefit."
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See the work on rat rough-and-tumble play vocalizations: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?cites=15187131542560681795 … (citations of http://psycnet.apa.org/buy/1998-00029-007 … "Anticipation of play elicits high-frequency ultrasonic vocalizations in young rats")
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My bet is on a progression from asexual selection for babies to signal "this is good", to sexual selection in male-male competition "I understand this" or "I acknowledge your wit", to non-adaptive spandrels "this is not a threat" and laughter in solitude.
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In my view humor probably evolved as a strategy to ridicule opponents and gain status. People usually laugh more at the jokes of friends, and we also laugh to ridicule and humiliate people.
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Considering the fact that humor clusters at the rougher edges of our higher functions (misunderstandings, language ambiguities, negative emotions, absurd counterfactuals) maybe it's a way to hedge in those failings, with the byproduct of supporting social bonding?
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