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DegenRolf's profile
Rolf Degen
Rolf Degen
Rolf Degen
@DegenRolf

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Rolf Degen

@DegenRolf

Science writer and book author in psychology, neuroscience and evolution

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Joined July 2013

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    Rolf Degen‏ @DegenRolf 11 Oct 2018
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    To date, no theory can convincingly and satisfyingly explain how our penchant for humor and laughter may have evolved through natural or sexual selection. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128138021000107 …pic.twitter.com/MLoiZLXYEP

    5:30 AM - 11 Oct 2018
    • 18 Retweets
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    • FabriceM Alison Dainty AF Zuphi.Design otakar horak Rancidius " Maximus Putridious " Potatodopoulos Vague & Candid 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦🤔🍀🍄🚼🇫🇮 guakik Ingmārs Pūķis
    11 replies 18 retweets 80 likes
      1. New conversation
      2. Wim Nusselder‏ @WimNusselder 11 Oct 2018
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        Replying to @DegenRolf

        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.

        1 reply 0 retweets 3 likes
      3. Rolf Degen‏ @DegenRolf 11 Oct 2018
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        Replying to @WimNusselder

        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.

        1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
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      1. Andrew Rae‏ @andrewfrae 11 Oct 2018
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        Replying to @DegenRolf

        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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      1. Cavy Maintaining Social Distance‏ @_cavy_ 11 Oct 2018
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        Replying to @DegenRolf

        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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      1. Hugo Alves‏ @Ugo_alves 11 Oct 2018
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        Replying to @DegenRolf

        @danieldennett any thoughts

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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      1. New conversation
      2. chkno‏ @chkno 11 Oct 2018
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        Replying to @DegenRolf

        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."

        1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
      3. chkno‏ @chkno 11 Oct 2018
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        Replying to @chkno @DegenRolf

        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")

        0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
      4. End of conversation
      1. mere_mortise‏ @mere_mortise 11 Oct 2018
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        Replying to @DegenRolf

        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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      1. Bernardo Seixas‏ @Be_seixas01 12 Oct 2018
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        Replying to @DegenRolf

        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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      1. Kyle Dirck‏ @dirckk 11 Oct 2018
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        Replying to @DegenRolf

        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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