Science: A Laughing Matter?

NPR:

The Guardian recently published an amusing compilation of science jokes solicited from a variety of scientists. They range from classics you may have come across, like these:

A psychoanalyst shows a patient an inkblot, and asks him what he sees. The patient says: “A man and woman making love.” The psychoanalyst shows him a second inkblot, and the patient says: “That’s also a man and woman making love.” The psychoanalyst says: “You are obsessed with sex.” The patient says: “What do you mean I am obsessed? You are the one with all the dirty pictures.”

There are 10 kinds of people in this world, those who understand binary, and those who don’t.

After sex, one behaviourist turned to another behaviourist and said, “That was great for you, but how was it for me?”

…

In The Stuff of Thought, Steven Pinker suggests that, whether convivial or aggressive, humor often involves some reduction in dignity in a complex social negotiation of dominance and authority. Sometimes humor degrades others, to establish our own superiority or that of our group. Sometimes it’s self-deprecating or gently teasing, to signal that we’re equals.