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Humour (humor) - a serious subject
communication in which the stimulus produces amusement

Note: The above is a wide definition that in turn depends heavily on the definition of "amusement". It also implies that humour requires at least two minds being involved. If, however, messaging between two areas of the same mind is granted as communication, this concise definition makes much sense. Cf. Abstractions and Planning regarding Perception vs. Imagination. Maybe, coordination between the right and the left side of the brain would be another example of such communication - intuition vs. reason.

shared amusement, synchronous or asynchronous

ability to accept with some amusement the irony of fate, the conflicts in life, the deficiencies of reality and one's own shortcomings; ability to formulate and communicate imaginations of comic, amusing or absurd situations, including the mentioned views on fate, life, reality and oneself;  Cf. Abstractions and Planning

Note: This extension recognizes that humour intended for sharing exist before being expressed and before being received and grasped by another mind. Also, as observers and dreamers we experience many humorous situations that are immediately forgotten, or too delicate to be formulated and shared. (Still, if a fallen apple jumps from the ground back to the branch, but there is no one observing, that is not humour. Apples and trees don't have expectations and no mental tensions to release.)

- If  you cross a sheep with a kangaroo, what would you get?
- ??
- A woolen jumper!

She frowned and called him ”Mr”
Because in sport he kr.
And so in spite,
That very night,
The Mr kr sr.

Even if life does exist on a thousand planets around the galaxies of the Universe, there is little chance that any organism out there would be able to share humour between individuals. Only one species in a million has a mind with recursive abilities, being able to think about one's own thinking and the thinking of other individuals. The issuer of a humorous message must be able to predict the reaction of the potential receivers. So, if any other organism is capable of humour, it may be the anthropoids, elephants or whales here on Earth. And, the super-system often called God seems to have an exceptional sense of humour, favouring both the elegantly paradoxical and the darkly absurd sides of Life! 

Humans need humour as a counterweight to the dark sides of life. Any organism capable to imagine its own death, must have either faith or humour, or both. Faith is of no use to God. Since God knows all answers, God would also need humour more badly than us mortals. God had to create somebody who has a chance to look through its caprices, just like you and me have to tell someone when a bright idea strikes us, or when a sequence of events seems to bizarre to be true. Instead of creating a perfect and boring world, God gave us fantasy and humour.

Humorous situations often include a conflict between two sets of rules, or a violation of an convention. Laughter is often the sign of released tension. Children laugh when a pretended danger is revealed as a false alarm.

Well formulated wisdom like aphorisms is generally humorous. The reader is amused when grasping the message behind the words, even if the subject is a serious or dark one. Hopefully, the author was amused by the outlook that at least one reader would understand! Riddles and puzzles often contain elements of humour - the unexpected view.

Humour in the traditional sense of "fun and jokes" is dependent on culture, in two ways. Firstly, many forms of humour depend on a common base of references, like a particular language and terminology, and a common understanding what is expected. Secondly, humour may be a tool for strengthening the bonds within a group. All groups have a notion of us and them, and they are "of course" clumsy and stupid. Thus, we may need cultural filters not to hurt the feelings of other people, and not to make jokes at the expense of other cultures. 

The following congenial drawing by Juraj Cajchan illustrates humour as an element of group dynamics. See  Näslund in list of references for source.

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After all, the sense of humour may be the privilege of Homo Sapiens only. Much humour depends on cultures as developed during the last 100 000 years. Still, the historical and classical notion of humour as a question of chemistry is surprisingly correct. Today physiologists have identified substances that are released within our own bodies when we smile and laugh. Artificial substances like alcohol in small amounts may change the threshold for amusement. Maybe it is only "natural" that much humour alludes to the human body, its physiology and its chemistry. The most intimate act grants the definition of humour as "communication in which the stimulus produces amusement".

Mimicry among biological species may be another example of God's Humour. Mimicry is a remarkable example of evolutionary convergence. Again, humour is "communication in which the stimulus produces amusement". The organism mimicking must at least find the game rewarding, if not amusing. Like in many comic situations there is a loser. For some reason, we can easily bear situations when the loser is a cheated predator. In other situations the predator is surely the winner. The butterfly approaching a pink and white orchid will hardly smile when the flower turns out to be a mantis in perfect disguise. 
 

The following page at University of Miami classifies different kinds of mimicry and illustrates mimicry of snakes in specific. In mimicry between snakes, the seemingly weaker party chases the seemingly stronger in evolution space. Being mimicked may be a disadvantage. The colour pattern of the poisonous "original" varies greatly over regions of Central America. Obviously, it is God's humour to let the mimicking defence-less species chase the poisonous one in evolution space.

Details

Source: University of Miami

(from Latin "liquid," or "fluid"), in early Western physiological theory, one of the four fluids of the body that were thought to determine a person's temperament and features. In the ancient physiological theory still current in the European Middle Ages and later, the four cardinal humours were blood, phlegm, choler (yellow bile), and melancholy (black bile); the variant mixtures of these humours in different persons determined their "complexions," or "temperaments," their physical and mental qualities, and their dispositions. The ideal person had the ideally proportioned mixture of the four; a predominance of one produced a person who was sanguine (Latin sanguis, "blood"), phlegmatic, choleric, or melancholic. Each complexion had specific characteristics, and the words carried much weight that they have since lost: e.g., the choleric man was not only quick to anger but also yellow-faced, lean, hairy, proud, ambitious, revengeful, and shrewd. By extension, "humour" in the 16th century came to denote an unbalanced mental condition, a mood or unreasonable caprice, or a fixed folly or vice.

The male mantis obviously accepts his fate with stoic humour - becoming a source of protein before the mating is yet over, literally losing his head in the act. But don't condemn the female mantis - she is doing it for the next generation of mantis boys and girls. Both he and she are doing his and her genes a great favour. Keeping competition away has a price.

- Does your brother have a nickname?
- He has two!
- Let me hear them.
- One of them I couldn't tell you. It is not very nice.
- Tell me the nice one!
- Skunkhead.

General showing slides, trying to convince the World that Depleted Uranium (DU) is motivated in the battle for a better world:

- Please observe the following bullets (!)

- The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese!

Modified 2002-10-10