I think artificial humor has gotten little attention because humor (along with art and emotion) is mostly a right-brain activity, while science, math, and language are mostly left-brained. It should be no surprise that since most AI researches are left-brained, their interest is in studying problems that the left brain solves. Studying humor would be like me trying to write a Russian-Chinese translator without knowing either language. It could be done, but I would have to study how other people think without introspecting on my own mind.
It seems little research has been done in spite of the huge economic potential for AI. For example, we know that most of what we laugh at is ordinary conversation rather than jokes, that some animals laugh, and that infants laugh at 3.5 to 4 months (before learning language). It is not clear why laughter (the involuntary response) or the desire to laugh evolved. How does it increases fitness? http://men.webmd.com/features/why-do-we-laugh http://www.livescience.com/animals/050331_laughter_ancient.html Nevertheless, the brain computes it, so there is no reason in principle why a computer could not. -- Matt Mahoney, [EMAIL PROTECTED] ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=111637683-c8fa51 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
