1. THESIS ONE
The Humor of Incongruity
In the Digital Experience
Michael Silber | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

2. 1. Hypothesis
2. Abstract
3. Humor Theories and Philosophers on Humor
4. Evolutionary Basis for Humor: Cognitive/Psychological
5. History of Humor: Differences, Commonalities, and Evolution
6. Humor: Mass Media (movies, radio, tv, podcasts)
7. Humor and the Digital Experience
A. Examples of Accidental Incongruity Humor
B. Examples of Intentional Incongruity
7. Humor and the Digital Experience
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

3. 1. Hypothesis
This thesis presents the hypothesis that
humor emerges from the incongruities of
digital experience.
Humor in this form celebrates juxtapositions,
boundary confusion, and advocates for
connectivity between things that are not
normally considered relatable.
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

4. 2. Abstract
The digital experience describes a range of information
delivery systems, which differ from our experience in the
classic universe. In the screen world, we are presented
with incongruent fragments of written, verbal, and visual
information, often in disjointed rapid succession.
As our minds seek to organize this information, these
incongruent fragments can become fused in nonsensical
absurd ways.
The Incongruity-Resolution Theory of Humor (I-R) argues
that humor happens whenever an incongruity occurs that
is subsequently resolved. The digital experience creates
a new form of incongruity, which can therefore present a
new source of humor.
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

5. 3. Humor Theories and Philosophers on Humor
A. Incongruity
Ambiguity, logical impossibility, irrelevance,
and inappropriateness
[leading approach- Kant, Kierkegaard, [Aristotle] Suls (1972),
Wyer and Collins, Michael Apter, Attardo, Raskin, Minsky.
B. Superiority
Aggressive supremacy.
[Thomas Hobbes, Plato, Aristotle]
C. Relief
Release or save energy generated by repression.
[Freud, Herbert Spencer]
D. Play
An extension of “animal play” behavior.
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

6. Philosophers on Humor
• Aristotle
• Boyle, Charles
• Descartes, René. (1649/1987). Les Passions de L’ame.
[The Passions of the Soul] Paris. Excerpts in Morreall
• Freud, Sigmund (1928). “Humor.” International Journal of
Psychoanalysis, 9, pp. 1-6.
• (1905/1960). Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious. Trans.
J. Strachey. New York: W. W. Norton. (Orig. published 1905).
• Bateson, Gregory (2000). Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

7. • Kant, Immanuel. (1951). Critique of Judgment. J. H. Bernard,
Trans. New York: Hafner.
• Lock, John
• Geulen, Eva, 2006, The End of Art. Readings in a Rumor after
Hegel, trans. J. McFarland. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
• Martin, Rod A. (2007). The Psychology Of Humour: An Integrative
Approach. London, UK: Elsevier Academic Press.
Schopenhauer, Arthur (1818). The World as
Will and Representation.
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

8. 4. Evolutionary Basis for Humor–Cognitive/Psychological
• Hurley, Dennett, Adams. Inside Jokes:
Using Humor to Reverse-Engineer the Mind.
• Malone. The Guardian of All Things:
The Epic Story of Human Memory.
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

9. 5. History of Humor
Differences Commonalities and Evolution
• Theater/Shakespeare
• Vaudeville
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

10. 6. Humor: Mass Media (movies, radio, tv, podcasts)
• Cultural Significance/Social Change
• Regionalism/Globalism
Film/Standup/Sitcom...
• Charlie Chaplin • George Carlin
• Marx Brothers • Bill Cosby
• Bob Hope • Sienfeld/Larry David
• Woody Allen • Colin Powell
• Arnold Schwarzenegger • Louis CK
• Rodney Dangerfield • Marc Maron
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

11. 7. Humor and the Digital Experience
• Visual Perception
• Cognition/Processing
• Media as personal experience, tailored to the individual
• Laughing alone?
• Futurist Thinking - Augmented Reality/Posthumanism
• Implications
• Applications and Experiments?
–Applications/ Project Ideas
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

12. A. Examples of Accidental Incongruity Humor
Cat Fanciers Crossed with
World Wide Web Artists’ Consortium Spaghetti Cat
I like Turtles CNN with Dumb and Dumber:
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

13. Examples of Accidental Incongruity Humor
Google Search Results
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

14. Examples of Accidental Incongruity Humor
in Digital Communications
• Emailing, Calling, or Texting the Wrong Party
• T9 Errors and Spell-check
• Voice to Text Errors - ie. Google Voice
• Translation Errors
• Google Auto-Complete in Search
• Abutting TV Commercials
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

15. B. Examples of Intentional Incongruity
Avatars/Advertising Campaigns
Madmen Yourself and Elf Yourself
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

16. Examples of Intentional Incongruity
Avatars/Advertising Campaigns
Simpsonize Me
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein

17. Examples of Intentional Incongruity
Avatars/Advertising Campaigns
BBC America: Go Mugshot Yourself for TV Show Copper
Michael Silber | Directed Research | Professor Tom Klinkowstein