Christopher Duffy

That's scary.

And if you just give them a little pat on the head, it's not a violation at all.

So it's not funny.

So there's this sweet spot of crossing a boundary, but crossing a boundary in an OK way that makes things funny.

The other idea about what makes things funny, the other scientific idea that I think makes a lot of sense for more kind of intellectual jokes is called encryption theory.

And the idea for that is that basically anything that is a joke is I present you with a lock and you have a key that turns that lock and opens it.

decrypt the joke.

So I'd say something to you, you understand the play, and then it's funny to you.

And the reason why people think that might be an explanation for a lot of humor is because across cultures, across continents and societies, people are super attuned to fake laughter, right?

Me going like, yeah, Mike, you can tell instantly that that's not a real laugh.

And they think that that may be because evolutionarily, if you presented someone with a riddle and they pretended to laugh and get it, they weren't actually part of your group.

So it was dangerous for you to believe that that person really got it.

So we're very attuned to whether people actually get it and can understand our riddles and jokes and decrypt them or not.

Of course, it's kind of hard to like get out there and make friends unless you do it with laughter and humor.

Then you just want to hang out with people.

Those are people who make you laugh and you make laugh.

It's fun.

It doesn't feel like a chore.

Instead, it feels like we got to do this again.

This was incredible for me.