g7rrett

[g7rrett]

Final project

[g7rrett]

iComedy

He lives in squalor but is happy because of his machines :)

https://youtu.be/NBvXWWBxDOQ

[g7rrett]

VRL #4

After reading about how AI is now able to write jokes, I have to say I’m not completely sold. Although these AI are certainly impressive, and it can be very funny to hear a nonsensical joke generated at random by a machine, I still feel that much of the humor coming from these robots is missing that human touch. I feel like this technology has a long way to go before it could serve as a suitable alternative to human comedy. I enjoy these AI comedians, but at this point it seems to me like they are popular more for their novelty than their funniness. However, as this technology continues to develop and improve, I am optimistic that the AI comedians might end up winning me over someday.

[g7rrett]

VRL #3

To be honest, I found Charlotte Kent’s talk to be pretty confusing. I feel like we spent a lot of time going over the technical definition of the word absurdity but none of it ever seemed to actually relate to humor, it was all about Greek mythology or cybernetics or some other concept that went completely over my head. I was hoping she would tie it all together at the end and demonstrate how we could use this information to actually write a joke or a sketch, but that never really happened. In her defense, though, she did start her lecture by saying that her teaching style was to dump as much information on us as possible at once, and she definitely followed through on that promise.

[g7rrett]

MICROASSIGNMENT 02: Absurdity

[g7rrett]

VRL #2 - how comedy makes us better people

I like how the author points out that comedy can serve both a psychological purpose - providing catharsis and relief from internal conflict - and a societal purpose - poking fun at and exposing flaws in our society through things such as satire. I agree with the author’s main assertion that comedy can improve our lives because I have experienced these effects firsthand; I often turn to humor to make me feel better when I’m down, and my political ideologies have been formed substantially from listening to jokes and political satire. A good sense of humor can make anyone more enjoyable to be around, and it’s for that reason that I believe comedy can make us better people.

[g7rrett]

Why Women Aren’t Funny - Response

I read the vanity fair article “why women aren’t funny” and while I expected the title to be clickbait, I was extremely shocked to actually see this dude earnestly argue that women aren’t funny. This article seriously sounds like it was written by an insane person. The author makes a lot of wild, broad generalizations about gender without providing any evidence to back them up. For example, he writes, “Women have no corresponding need to appeal to men [through humor]. They already appeal to men, if you catch my drift.” Not only does the author present his own personal opinion as a blanket truth that applies to all women, but he also weirdly objectifies women at the same time. The little concrete evidence he does include talks about how people of different genders respond to humor, not how funny they are, so I don’t know why he even included it at all. I get that he’s trying to make a point that women are actually superior to men in other ways than humor, but the claims he makes are so ridiculous and patently unprovable and his tone is so blatantly sexist and condescending that it was impossible for me to take any part of this article seriously. Gender doesn’t play any role in how funny a person is because humor is 100% subjective and unquantifiable, which is why I feel like this article was creepy, ridiculous, and completely inaccurate.