- Title
- Comedy and artificial intelligence: do we laugh when a thing gives the impression of being a person?
- Creator
- Meany, Michael M.; Clark, Tom; Joseph, Sam
- Relation
- International Journal of New Media, Technology and the Arts Vol. 8, Issue 2, p. 21-34
- Relation
- http://ijamt.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.232/prod.34
- Publisher
- Common Ground Publishing LLC
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2014
- Description
- Using an award-winning comedy duo of artificial intelligence agents as a case study, this paper argues for a reappraisal of the human/non-human dichotomy. Henri Bergson's 1911 essay, titled "Laughter, an essay on the meaning of the comic," provides a fundamental theoretical proposition for comedy. He suggested a "new law" of comedy: "We laugh every time a person gives us the impression of being a thing". This paper asks: will Bergson's "new law" stand if it is inverted? Will we laugh every time a thing gives us the impression of being a person? Central to Bergson's proposition is the idea that there is an incongruity between the "human" and the "non -human." Incongruity, with or without resolution, has been seen as a cornerstone concept in many humour theories. Through the case study, this paper examines the perceived binary opposition of "human" and "non-human." Is there an incongruity between the "human" and "non-human" agents employed in this project? And, if so, does this incongruity need to be resolved to generate humorous effect, or does this incongruity resist resolution?
- Subject
- humour; comedy; artificial intelligence
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1301754
- Identifier
- uon:20337
- Identifier
- ISSN:2326-9987
- Language
- eng
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