1. THESIS ONE
Digital Absurdity
Michael Silber | Professor Tom Klinkowstein
2. “Nothing in man is more
serious than his sense of
humor; it is the sign that
he wants all the truth.”
-Mark Van Doren
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein
3. Hypothesis
This thesis presents the hypothesis
that humor emerges from the
incongruities of digital experience.
Digital platforms present
unintentional juxtapositions and
provide a means for intentional
interventions, which reward active
thinkers with feelings of mirth.
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein
4. Hypothesis Continued
Such a hypothesis suggests
that the scanning behavior
associated with digital media and
“continuous partial attention,”
has created a global digital
culture that celebrates humorous
absurdities and promotes divergent,
associative, and syncretic thinking.
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein
6. The Persistence of Humor
Through All Media
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein
7. Philosophers on Humor
A Tickling of the Mind.
- Charles Darwin
A Mixture of Joy and Shock.
- Rene Descartes
A Sudden Glory.
- Thomas Hobbes
A Comparison Between
Noble and Ignoble States.
- Aristotle
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein
8. Is there an
evolutionary/adaptive
explanation for the
existence of humor?
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein
12. Visual Perception
"We never look at one thing; we are
always looking at the relation between
things and ourselves. Our vision is
continually active, continually moving..."
-John Berger - "Ways of Seeing"
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein
