Hmm... I really don't know what to think of this. Seems like a whole lot of hand waving - but any article to traces the evolution of laughter to farting and tripping (and cites Monty Python) seems like it might be worth a look.
THE old ones really are the best. Evolutionary biologists have traced the origins of laughter back 4m years to pre-humans slipping and stumbling in their first faltering attempts to walk on two legs. According to the theory, when they saw a member of their group lose his footing they would laugh as a sign to each other that something was amiss, but nothing too serious.
...
According to the study, the next basic elements of human behaviour that sparked laughter were flatulence and mild sexual mischief. Language appeared only 2m years after the first laugh, enabling people to combine laughter and words into numerous refinements, from amusement at a joke to sneering at a rival.
Hmm... I really don't know what to think of this. Seems like a whole lot of hand waving - but any article to traces the evolution of laughter to farting and tripping (and cites Monty Python) seems like it might be worth a look.
2 Comments:
This is silly. For starters, young chimps and gorillas laugh very distinctively when tickled.
Sun Apr 30, 12:59:14 PM CDT
good point!
I really don't know what's in the original journal article though - this news article might be completely off base.
Sun Apr 30, 01:23:22 PM CDT
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