You asked:
>Are you (consciously) developing Minsky's "Jokes and the Cognitive
>Unconscious" (which is a development of Freud's ideas on jokes and
>"censors")?
Not consciously; perhaps not at all. I'm vaguely familar with Freud's take
on humor, but do not recall having heard Minsky's. My slow, intermitent read
of THE SOCIETY OF MIND continues. Is it in there? If not, I'd very much
like to hear the basics.
My own theory about humor remains admittedly incomplete. As Anders pointed
out, it does seem to have the capacity for reinforcing memes, by association
with the pleasure of glee. Wanting good examples, however, I remain
skeptical that humor can deliver memes (as opposed to anti-memes) themselves.
T.0. Morrow ("Sweetie", some claim)
V.P. and Director, ExI
t0morrow@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/t0morrow/T0Mpage.HTML