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Researchers Pinpoint Brain's Sarcasm Sensor
LibertarianWackJob writes "Researchers have found the section of the human brain that is responsible for understanding sarcasm.
" I'm sure the comments on this story will be incredibly insightful.
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My brain is obviously not equipped to handle this story.
I'm sure the comments on this story will be incredibly insightful.
Not really, this one will be modded as funny. Oh wait.. you were being sarcastic.
HOLLYWOOD, May 23 2005 (Rueters) -- Coming hot on the heels of her smash hit single, My Give A Damn's Busted, Jo De Messina has announced a new record entitled My Sarcasm Sensor's Busted. When questioned about the possibility of this song being seen as repetitive, Ms. Messina had this to say,
"Whereas my previous song was targetted at those who like edgy country, my new song will be targetted at geeks like those found on Slashdot. Since the old song was probably never heard by these young individuals, I'm confident that we'll have record breaking sales!"
Ms. Messina has said that the record will target a May 24th release date, with hopes that it will catch Slashdotters before the story goes off the front page.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
What a really useful discovery.
No, really! What'd you waste all of that research money on?
No really, I do believe it, I wasn't being sarcastic.
"it's true -- many of you don't go a day without dishing out several doses of sarcasm. But some brain-damaged people can't comprehend sarcasm, and Israeli researchers think it's because a specific brain region has gone dark."
I also found that my friend from Iran had difficulty detecting sarcasm, but he's not brain damaged, it just comes from having Persian as a first language.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Report being unable to confirm the discovery of the region in American subjects.
Man, I'm on *fire* today!
Deleted
I'm sure the comments on this story will be incredibly insightful.
He cannot be serious.
Sure they have...
"I'm just here to regulate funkiness."
Of course a study with around 25 brain damaged people watching movies is a perfect reason to make phrenological claims.
Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
Yeah, sure, like THAT will be useful.
There are two kinds of sysadmins: paranoids and losers. I'm both kinds.
I disagree with CmdrTaco. I think the comments on this story will be very sarcastic.
mbbac
"ooohh, a sarcasm detector. That's REALLY useful" - Comic Book Guy
I'm sure the comments on this story will be incredibly insightful.
Aren't they all?
I just pooped your party.
My sarcasm sensor is flaring up.
And I'm sure that editorial comments on this article will be informative.
Laboratree - Scientific collaboration based on OpenSocial.
As if.
For those WITHOUT damage to the prefrontal area , it really is! *grin*
To my respect level for CmdrTaco. Quite the funny comment.
...definately stuff that matters. :-|
-Tom
These same people have been talking about humor as if it was a brand of ice cream.
Christian fundamentalists have been found to have a much higher incidence of prefrontal brain damage....
That's a REAL useful invention!
A witty
whaaaateevvver.
The article is the experiment. The researchers are monitoring the brain activity of /.ers on reading the article and subsequent replies.
In fact, once all the sarcastically deficient have been identified, we will need to lobby to get the sarcastic brain chunk added to the list of donor organs so that everyone can have the opportunity to lead a normal sarcastic life. Be an organ donor, only you can give the gift of sarcasm.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
The page you requested could not be found.
Great article.
Now that's a really useful article.
He's the best slashdot editor in the universe!
A sarcasm sensor? Oh, that's a REAL useful brain function.
Oh, a sarcasm detector. That sounds REALLY useful.
Lyndsey Nagle: Do I detect a note of sarcasm?
Frink: (with sarcasm detector) Are you kidding me? This baby is right off the charts, mm-hai.
Comic Book Guy: A sarcasm detector, that's a real useful invention.
(Sarcasm detector explodes)
... that it was lost? Google I suppose came to the rescue?
Are replacement implants going to be available any time soon?
Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
Stupidest. Research. Ever.
I, for one, would like to welcome our new sardonic comment posting overlords.
Did you know subscribers can see articles in the future? Holy shit!
The researchers think lesions in several parts of the brain can contribute to an inability to understand sarcasm. But, they wrote, this particular area is important because it draws on your innate recognition of the emotions of other people -- empathy -- and past experiences to comprehend a speaker's intentions.
So everone who wants to read Slashdot should get checked out with an MRI. Lesions automatically disqualify membership. Although AC posts will be grandfathered.
Have you Meta Moderated t
Researchers Pinpoint Brain's Sarcasm Sensor
By Randy Dotinga
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, May 23 (HealthDay News) -- Oh yeah, right!
No, it's true -- many of you don't go a day without dishing out several doses of sarcasm. But some brain-damaged people can't comprehend sarcasm, and Israeli researchers think it's because a specific brain region has gone dark.
The region, according to the researchers, handles the task of detecting hidden meaning, a crucial component of sarcasm. If that part of the brain is out of commission, the irony doesn't come through, the scientists report in the May issue of Neuropsychology.
"People with prefrontal brain damage suffer from difficulties in understanding other people's mental states, and they lack empathy," said study co-author Simone Shamay-Tsoory, a researcher at the University of Haifa. "Therefore, they can't understand what the speaker really is talking about, and get only the literal meaning."
The findings, Shamay-Tsoory said, could help rehabilitation centers do a better job of helping brain-damaged patients adjust to the world and understand other people.
In their study, Shamay-Tsoory and her colleagues first enrolled 58 subjects -- 25 participants with prefrontal-lobe damage, 17 who were healthy and 16 who had damage to the posterior lobe of the brain.
Then they tested each person by exposing them to several "neutral" and sarcastic comments recorded by actors as part of a story. This "sarcasm meter" was designed to gauge how well the subjects could comprehend the unique kind of irony that is sarcasm.
For example, actors read phrases such as "don't work too hard" in both a neutral sense (meaning "you're a hard worker") and a sarcastic sense (meaning "you're a real slacker"). Each comment came in proper context as part of a story about, say, a worker who's sleeping or a worker who's grinding away at his job.
All the subjects understood the sarcasm except for those with damage to the prefrontal area, which is above the eye sockets and behind the forehead. And among those, people with damage to a specific area known as the ventromedial area had the most trouble deciphering sarcasm.
The researchers think lesions in several parts of the brain can contribute to an inability to understand sarcasm. But, they wrote, this particular area is important because it draws on your innate recognition of the emotions of other people -- empathy -- and past experiences to comprehend a speaker's intentions.
Brian Knutson, an assistant professor of neuroscience at Stanford University, said the findings make sense because the brain's cortex handles a variety of sophisticated tasks, and sarcasm could be on the list.
The findings also reflect a growing interest in how emotion is processed by the brain. "Emotion has not been a popular topic in science for a long time," because it's difficult to measure, he said, but things are changing.
"Even for Slashdot, that was a very obscure reference!" - Anonymous Coward
"This baby's off the scale!".
"Sarcasm detector, oh that's a REALLY useful invention!"
BOOM!
Your ad here.
Scientists also located the area of the brain responsibile for gullibility, and they now have a procedure to remove that section of your brain.
Pulp Audio Weekly - Geek News and Reviews
CBG: Oh yeah, everyone's real happy then.
Lyndsey Nagle: Do I detect a note of sarcasm?
Frink: (With sarcasm detector) Are you kidding? This baby is off
the charts mm-hai.
CBG: A sarcasm detector, that's a real useful invention.
(Sarcasm detector explodes)
char *mySig;
Wouldn't this also be applicable to people with Asperger's Syndrome? If this research is correct then sarcasm must be especially difficult for Aspergerians (is that even a word?)
Note to self: When Bram Cohen asks how you are doing, do not reply "I so great you should kill me now so I can die happy."
Do not taunt Happy-Fun Ball
I'm sure the comments on this story will be incredibly insightful.
Does my ventromedial area detect a bit of sarcasm there? No really, tell me. I can't tell.
Yeah, I really care about my brain's sarcasm sensor...
From the article:
...some brain-damaged people can't comprehend sarcasm
w00t! I SEE THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL! So much has been explained to my fragile little mind...
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Im sure this article is just a mass experiment in which the phychologists are attempting to determine who's "Sarchasm sensor" triggers upon reading the article
And quickly following today's findings, it has now been verified that the Sarcasm Cortex has only been detected in male subjects so far. It is not yet clear if female subjects possess this neural hardware, though most researchers don't hold out a great deal of hope on the matter.
Being anatomically associated with what is loosely referred to in scientific circles as "The Grunt Lobe", the recently identified cortical area believed to allow males to translate short gutteral sounds into complex syntactical commentary, these are potential examples of male neurological development.
Do not confuse "Freedom of Choice" with "Free Will".
Im presuming that wasnt found in one of our Yankee buddies. Ask any Brit, Americans just dont get sarcasm. Thats why our comedians just dont do well over there that often. The only sarcastic show thats broken through really is The Office, and 99.9% of Americans havent even seen it Dont worry, im popping over there soon, and im sure ill get some bemused looks if I say "You guys got Mcdonalds over here?"
--Imagine every Thursday shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers.
The sarcasm-detecting portion of my brain nearly short-circuited when I noticed the Forbes website refers to the ad that unexpectedly pops up when you click on the link to the story as a "welcome screen"
Perhaps this is the reason why they don't have sarcasm on Betelgeuse (according to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy); their brains lack the sensor to detect it. (In Mostly Harmless, Ford has to ask Arthur, "This is that thing you call sarcasm, isn't it?")
Be who you are...and be it in style!
But when will they pinpoint Pinky's sarcasm sensor?
Narf!
With a robotic tone:
"You think you've got problems! Life...don't talk to me about life..."
...otherwise I might have thought that the submitter's editorial was funny.
"Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
this particular region of the brain is shown to be under-developed in most US citizens.
I for one am really glad univerities are working on this. Afterall, understanding the nuero science of sarcasm is so much more beneficial to human existance than curing cancer.
/. comment form, slashdot is so much more fun entering these things, especially for people using screenreaders. Way to go.
I also like the new capcha's on the
er, I guess ya had to be there.
Amazingly, you were the only one to think of that joke.
Only North Koreans will see the sarcasm in this reply.
Dave: Oh no, you're not bothering me, Derek, far from it. There's nothing I would rather do than just stand here and chat with you. You know, really get to know you?
Kevin: Look, I don't think there's any need to be sarcastic.
Dave: Oh, I'm not being sarcastic! Nooo! This is just a little speech impediment. I can't help it.
Oh wow they found our sarcasm gland! This is sooo amazing and useful!
PS: Ashely Simpson= best singer ever!
There are 11 types of people, those who know unary and those who don't.
Am I the only one who finds it amusing that so far, not a single comment has been moderated "Insightful"?
Laughter is the best medicine, but in certain situations the Heimlich maneuver may be more appropriate.
"Oh look at me !!! I'm making people happy! I'm the magical man from happy land, with a gumdrop house on lollipop lane! Oh by the way, I was being sarcastic."
I'd be interested to see how this is applied towards the treatment of Asperger's Syndrome, and other conditions that affect social interaction.
I had a lab partner once who had Aspy's, and snarky comments constantly went over his head. Maybe people with it can be helped to get the joke?
I'm sure the comments on this story will be incredibly insightful.
But they won't be redundant, because you know nobody will try to make the same stupid joke twice.
Maybe he was just being sarcastic and hoping people wouldn't notice it?
*twitch* Oh wait...
Is this why Bill O'Reilly's head is so massive? -this is a script!
I remember reading an interview with Bram Cohen, (on a blog linked to from slashdot) that focused on his form of autism. It talked about how one of the major effects was an inability to recognize sarcasm. Now that this part of the brain has been located, perhaps more research could show if it is affected by autism, and if anything can be done to treat it.
...find this discover of great use. I have always wondered about this "sarcasm" thing. People saying one thing while meaning the exact opposite always puzzled me. Why would you want to do that? Do you like intentionally confusing all us simpletons? I feel that with the discovery of this there should be a movement to treat this awful condition. Sarcasm is a condition that is harmful to others. It should be treated with proper medication and psychiatric therapy. Please join in the effort to combat this menace to society!
It's been named the Marvin center of the brain and is thought to be the size of a planet.
Well, seriously though.. what of different cultures besides American Culture? When I went to China we were told not to use sarcasm to the people we interacted with. It was not a part of their culture and sense of humor to be sarcastic, and therefore they would not understand our sarcasm at all.
023AD01("Child", "Evil");
Sarchasm - The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the recipient who doesn't get it.
Finally, a cure in sight...
There are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those that can keep their train of thought,
Wonder what the visual representation of this would be in HTML.....
$sig$
i wonder how they account for sarcasam missed from cultural differences. a friend of mine did some time in africa with the peace corps, and remembers all of the american humor based on sarcasam just deadpanning; maybe this sector is only developed through cultural trends?
"My heart is in the work." - Andrew Carnegie
I had read (in a book on Asian culture) that sarcasm is one of the least understood Western idioms by Asian cultures. I discovered after marrying an Asian woman that, to a degree this is true--but also that after exposed to this for a while it is
My 2.
It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.
I am dain bramaged!
-
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
*pffft* I'm so sure.
Hexy - a strategy game for iPhone/iPod Touch
I wonder if they took the entire idea of brain damaged people trying to understand sarcasm and replayed it as a scene for a large portion of brain damaged people, if they would find it funny? As horrible as it is, it just points out that some things are obviously not funny to people, when the sarcasm has to do with them! I think i would be mostly curious to hear about the details of what was considered the scenes for measuring sarcasm comprehension, and then redistributing it to different cultures, as well as to different professions in particular! 2 cents ~tim
I assume that once we better understand how the brain detects sarcasm, we can better model it through programming, and perhaps enhance human-machine interaction.
Still, C-3PO didn't really need to know what was sarcastic or not....
It's my chance to be sarcastic AND on-topic, & I can't think of anything to say.
Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
...I'm so lonely.
This must be the other part of the brian they forgot to instal into Korean girls.
No, I'm not bitter.
While I did enjoy about 20 different versions of what the comic book guy says, I'd like to point out that if we understand how human brain interprets the meaning could have some significant impacts on the way humans communicate with computers.
It seems to me that today's computer is no different then someone who isn't able to understand the hidden meaning, but takes everything literally. If be learn of how exactly the human brain takes in the information and goes that extra step to figure out what was meant as opposed to what was said, it will go a long way towards completely transforming how humans interact with computers. You look at all the Star Trek series and you don't see people telling the computer how to do something, you see people telling the computer what to do. Something that we so far haven't achieved (to that scale at the very least), but it may be worth striving for.
Just my two cents...
This is further proof that women are not good at math/science and have no place in these fields. Since analytical skills, like problem solving, come from your frontal lobes, it should be obvious women have absolutely no ability to do this. I mean, have you ever seen a women understand sarcasm? Anything my old man found funny my mother thought was just mean. Just about every women I've come across is like this. They simply do not have the capacitance to solve math problems or understand sarcasm, except for in extremely rare cases. This new discovery should remind women of their place in the world, and that place is cleaning the bathroom and satisfying in the bedroom. Leave the problem solving and sarcasm to us men, all-right lil' ladies?
"If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer
My brain is obviously not equipped to handle this story.
You brain is obviously not equipped to be funny. You should take this stuff to the ametuer stand-up circuit; you'll have less time to post on Slashdot.
Wow. I feel like I just exercised my brain! Who knew being so vicious was so healthy? I'm not being a jerk; I'm exercising! Thanks, researchers!
Because I appreciate the sarcastic message in the add above: "Now I can do dynamic web development quicker and easier than before... MS Visual Studio"
27% off Tiger? Is that from the front end or the back end? I ask because I need both ends.
Sometimes I need head, sometimes I need tail, and sometimes I want more. On the other hand, sometimes less is more, or is that the other way around?
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
I was reading this article on the BBC website when it hit slashdot... would have posted it sooner but apparently I don't pass the turing test.
Because it depends on one cocksucker bastard to live in the shoes of another cocksucker bastard to get the joke. I never knew I was so empathic.
When they can isolate the part of the brain that causes people to misindentify bad luck, coincidence, and poetic justice as irony, we'll have made a major step towards an educated and enlightened society.
"I have never won a debate with an ignorant person." -Ali ibn Abi Talib
can you make sure people missing this region can't moderate? I've got one too many troll mods for sarcastic comments.
I am trolling
The brain area in question should be called the medulla obnoxiosa. In honor of me.
When all you have is an axe, everything looks like a grindstone.
OK, I'm going to rain on the sarcasm parade. Just to point out that damage to ventromedial prefrontal cortex is not just about sarcasm (thank you very much). Damage to this area is known to impair a wide range of things like decision making skills and social abilities. It's NOT like the authors are claiming this is the one place that sarcasm lives in the brain, or that this is all that bit of brain does. We now return you to your regularly scheduled /. banter.
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
the idea that people with damage in the prefrontal cortex have difficulties dealing with "hidden meaning" in words is hardly a new one.
damage to the prefrontal lobe can even cause sociopathy, to give an extreme example.
The difficult thing about sarcasm is that it doesn't translate well to irony (the written form). Most of us now communicate much of the time with text and irony is a subtle art that is not as easily mastered as sarcasm (which any teenager can master).
I think it would be cool if the WC3 could develop a sarcasm tag. (I think it would be tons more useful than the blink tag). This would help us create a way to translate our sarcasm.
I propose that it looks like italics except that it slants the other way (to the left). Of course, a special font class might need to be developed, but I am sure the on-line community would use it thoroughly.
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
This Slashdot is about 10 minutes too late. My sarcasm is all spent on other /.'s.
I've no more sarcasm to give you.
... that make Slashdot my favorite source of straight lines... er, I mean my favorite source of tech news.
But this article is a little behind. Not only have scientists found the part of the brain responsible for understanding sarcasm, but they've also found the part of the brain that makes some people believe that every trait is localized to a part of the brain. Not surprisingly, it's just centimeters away from the part of the brain researchers believe makes certain people think that every human trait is localized to a specific gene.
Damage to the latter two parts of the brain are loosely correlated with an inability to get research grants and strongly correlated with an inability to get your research published in prestigious scientific journals like Forbes magazine.
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
I came up with my sig long before this story.
Tyranny isn't the worst enemy of a democracy. Cynicism is.
What do you call a funny American comedian?
A tourist!
A sarcasm detector? Oh that's useful.
-Colin
On behalf of the rest of the world, let me be the first in congradulating you on your discovery of understanding sarcasm. Your next research project? ... understanding when not to answer rhetorical questions.
here
This story is going to get a record number of comments
GETPKG - Package Management for Slackware
comes the bullshit meter.
I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
DEREK: Great party, huh? I actually don't know anyone at the party, actually, I'm kinda new to the neighborhood, actually, but my friend Chris said "come to the party, I'll introduce you around, you'll know everybody by the time you leave the party." Chris knows everybody, and soon I'll know everybody! 'Course, Chris didn't show up. So I guess I gotta mingle. So here I am mingling! 'Course, mingling really isn't my game, I'm not really a mingler, per se, I was actually in the corner alone mingling - that means I'm not talking to anyone, actually. I saw you over here, I said "there's a guy by himself, why not go over here, I'll mingle with this guy, this guy looks like a mingler," so hi, I'm Derek, pleased to meet you.
SARCASTIC GUY: Well it certainly is a pleasure to meet YOU, Derek.
DEREK: ...I'm sorry if I bothered you.
SARCASTIC GUY: Oh no, you're not bothering me, Derek, far from it. There's nothing I would rather do than just stand here and chat with you! Y'know - really get to know you?
DEREK: Look, I don't think there's any need to be sarcastic.
SARCASTIC GUY: Oh, I'm not being sarcastic! NOOOO! This is just a little speech impediment. I can't help it!
DEREK: Okay, I've obviously said or done something wrong to upset you, I'm just gonna apologize and be on my way.
SARCASTIC GUY: No, no, no, please stay. It's true. I've talked this way all my life. It's made things very difficult for me.
DEREK: Yeah! Right!
SARCASTIC GUY: Hey! Where ya goin'? Come back! I really wanna be your friend. I'm so lonely.
Now that it's been revealed as having a physical origin, comedy clubs will probably be required to provide special accommodation and parking for the humor-impaired.
That's irony, not sarcasm.
I always thought understanding sarcasm was a learned response.
Just my $0.02 worth.
What is this "sarcasm", of which you speak...???
But this research does serve a useful purpose in Autism/asperger syndrome.
Folks with asperger syndrome commonly have an inability to detect sarcasm and read facial, social cues.
>>By definition, those with AS have a normal IQ and many individuals (although not all), exhibit exceptional skill or talent in a specific area. Because of their high degree of functionality and their naiveté, those with AS are often viewed as eccentric or odd and can easily become victims of teasing and bullying. While language development seems, on the surface, normal, individuals with AS often have deficits in pragmatics and prosody. Vocabularies may be extraordinarily rich and some children sound like "little professors." However, persons with AS can be extremely literal and have difficulty using language in a social context. Read full definition here
- dj
"All the subjects understood the sarcasm except for those with damage to the prefrontal area, which is above the eye sockets and behind the forehead."
As opposed to the part of my brain in front of my forehead?
- Kevin
The less confident you are, the more serious you have to act.
over a bogus story about the Quran being flushed down the toilet?
Sarchastity: The gulf between a slashdot poster and members of the opposite sex.
Just to translate some of the neuro-lingo in the article:
The article did a good job of describing where the prefrontal cortex is: it is the very front of your frontal lobes (like the author said, just behind your forehead).
ventromedial area: Ventro - down; medial - middle.
So, this is damage to the area (near the split between the two hemipsheres - the interhemipheric fissure) at the bottom of the front part of the frontal lobes. (Was that confusing enough?)
This area is easily damaged in any head trauma situations so there are going to be a lot of people with damage to this area of the brain. I guess I'm going to have to get a new sense of humor.
There was an interview with Bram Cohen a little while back. It talked a lot about Aspbergers syndrome which is similar to autism.
One of the problems the afflicted have is that they don't understand the sarcams of a sentence such as when the teacher asks "did the dog eat your homework". This was a literal example from that article.
So, I wonder what this discovery will mean for people with autism and Aspbergers?
The Internet is full. Go Away!!!
And my wife was always saying I was missing a part of my brain!!
In your FACE honey!!
Eschew Obfuscation
researchers have located a crucial difference between men and women. It has to do with the size of one particular area of the brain...
-Tim Louden
And your comment is evidence that all sci.math readers are racist morons. Not to stereotype or anything.
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
You're the first person to make THAT joke.
They've found me. I knew it would happen eventually. Time for me to make the decent down into the spleen of every human earth creature.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
I guess they checked on european and one american first to see which spot the american had that was black - sorry, but you americans too often don't get it when europeans make sarcastic remarks.
PS: WTF is up with the code thingy - if you are not logged in I could understand it, but for when you are logged in?!?
They must have super developed sarcasm lobes/glands/whatever it is you call bits of brain.
This isn't exactly a medical breakthrough. The pre-frontal area has long been known to control higher functions - judgement, abstraction - of which sarcasm is a subset. The interpretation of proverbs is a standard test for its being intact. Unfortunately, this system succumbs to toxic influences before the motor system so that anoxic pilots fly into mountains and drunk drivers crash cars.
The article itself had the best sarcastic comment in it at the end.
To learn more about how the brain works, visit www.howstuffworks.com.
me and my wife can actually communicate!!
He's not being sarcastic!!
Yeah, cause we all know it's Catholics that are religious fanatics, not those other Christian denomonations.
Of course, we'll need a cure for those blessed with a double dose of the appropriate gene or mutation. This will have an interesting effect on politics. Advertising on TV, spam, and other venues could be entertaining..
Are you humor impaired? Do you need a bigger laugh muscle? Get help today!
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
Think about it... the ability to wire in a sarcasm trigger to our brains, letting people truly indicate the grade of smartassedness they intended their communique to have. This is a GREAT discovery.
Next thing you know, scientists will be telling us they found the part of the brain responsible for intelligence! Or is there such a thing?
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it dissolve.
Yeah right, we didn't know the VENTROMEDIAL PRE-FRONTAL CORTEX could have something to do with the subtleties of how we perceive social interactions. I mean really, good work re-confirming results, but this is news????? Of course, given the sterling track record and sound scientific knowledge that most journalists posess, it is likely that the article is a comprehensive and accurate summary we can draw such a conclusion from.... NOT!
and you are all so intelligent....
eat shiat and bark at the moon
Now, is there a medication for those who don't understand sarcasm (which obviously means those who don't understand sarcasm are brain damaged...)?
Like, so we all can enjoy these ROI calculations published by that major software vendor (vendor, not creator, keep that in mind). I heard coolaid might help too.... understanding sarcasm (i.e. these ROI calculations that show how expensive Linux really is). Is this what I think this is about? Are there lobe prosthetics available? (like, coolaid implants....?)
I say when sarcasm fails to be detected as such, it's usually the speaker's fault. Why? Becuase the thought process going through the listener's head in an instant is something like this:
1 - Hmmm - that statement seemed like a really dumb thing to say, in direct contradiction of reality.
2 - I wonder why this person would say something so at odds with the truth?
3 - It could be because he literally believes it and is just dumb or delusional, or it could be because he knows better and is trying to make a joke.
4 - If I respect the speaker's intelligence, then I realize it's not serious, and thus a joke.
5 - If I do not respect the speaker's intelligence, then I still think he seriously meant the dumb thing he said.
So the problem is that if I fail to see sarcasm, it's because I don't have reason to respect the speaker's intelligence.
This is why sarcasm doesn't work online, by the way - the speaker is a stranger to you and so you don't know he's smart enough not to believe something dumb, and so step 4 up above doesn't trigger.
Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.
...you've not heard of Janeane Garofalo or Daria.
Side note: Damn, that "confirm you're not a script" thingy was put on quick. I too hate stupid offtopic-script bastards.
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
...is right next to the brain area responsible for alerting you when *not* to fart whenever you have diarrhea.
From the summay:
I'm sure the comments on this story will be incredibly insightful.
Oh, really?
*DUCKS*
That entire article just drips, doesn't it?
Sounds like a lot of yada-yada.
The concept of having a certain part in the brain responsible for identifying sarcasm is ridiculus.
A sarcastic remark is simply a false statement that draws its humor from the reason it's false.
A normal brain encountering a statement, any statement, will evaluate its accuracy using logic and relevant knowledge. Here's a sarcastic remark sample taken from another comment: "What a really useful discovery". Reading this statement will make you think - is that really a useful discovery? Realizing it totally isn't allows you to grasp the sarcasm in this statement.
So if you're looking for the part in the brain responsible for indentifying sarcasm, try the logic unit.
Of course, it's quite possible that in the researchers' case it works quite differently, because this research indicates the absense of their logical unit.
His statement might be true without having anything to do with race. It's more likely to be a simple matter of culture. Consider the typical white American, descended from racially identical Europeans, yet completely unable to recognize sarcasm, parody, self-deprecating humor, etc. without a flashing neon sign to point it out.
Here's a nut even the collective mind of Google has been unable to crack: Machine recognition of sarcasm.
Take a look at the Huh? Corp site, and notice the counterpoint between the devilishly satirical site content and the dead-serious Google ads.
One cannot underestimate the serious menace posed to contextual ad networks by the unregulated use of sarcasm by ad-network partner sites.
As soon as I finish typing up this comment I plan to file for a provisional patent on "An Automated Method of Determining Sarcasm Content by Using a Naive Baysian Classifier Trained on Slashdot Comments."
Quiet, you. There's no elephant in the room.
now, that's really useful!"
--Comic book guy, Simpsons
Now you can give someone a sarcasm-ectomy!
Do people with the brain damage have trouble making sarcastic comments or do they simply give literal statements all the time?
I make my face look like this and concerned words come out.
Often times the British confuse bad jokes with saracasm and assume that because we aren't laughing that the American sense of humor lacks subtlety.
BRILLIANT parody of a guy who doesn't have a sense of humor, and doesn't know it.
-- RLJ
Researchers have named the center of the brain responsible for sarcasm detection the "Slashdot region". Often confused with the "Troll region" which is reponsible for detecting morons.
A slip of the foot you may soon recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never get over. -Benjamin Franklin
...don't get jokes. Astounding.
Wake up.
I wonder if this also means that people deficient in this area are considered gullible. I for one have suffered from gullibility my whole life. So much so that I think I qualify as being 'socially retarded'.
The ironic thing is that I'm not even being sarcastic here...
what the tag is for?
By reading this, you have given me brief control of your mind.
I participate in Slashdot forums because all the moderators love me; so much, they put the muslim Burka moderation on all my posts; My thoughts must put to print must be art, because all of you are obviously not worthy to see them.
without prejudice
OK, you say a statement ("proved Fermat's Last Theorem") which in context ("He claimed to have") you give the impression that you think it's false,
then you tie an additional statement ("he also believes that 0.999 recurring is less than 1") which implies that you believe that the second statement is false.
Now I don't get this. 0.999 recurring IS less than 1. It never reaches 1. As the number of digits goes to infinity it approaches 1, but it never gets there. It is always less than 1.
Now, if we could only have a Beowul...[schmack!]
What we need now is scientists to figure out why it is that so many /. posters post exactly the same thing... and they all get modded up to +5 funny. Although it is really funny to read "A scarcasm detector! Now that's REAL useful!" twenty-three times.
He looked at me and said, "Kid, we don't like your kind, and we're gonna send your fingerprints off to Washington."
Finding the sarcasm detector, yeah that's REAL helpful.
No existe.
I was a pretty sarcastic kid until I read that line in "A Separate Peace." It really made me stop and realize that while sarcasm is great for an occasional bit of humor, but it's a sad excuse for saying something worthwhile.
A post a day keeps productivity at bay.
Anyone who worked for a large corporation can tell you just that: People with lobotomy are not funny.
(Some of them are scary, too. When you hear "de-emphasize, bottleneck, go-nogo and cutting-edge" you run: it means that some zombies got "outside the box" and are looking for victims to infect.)
I doubt that we will ever figure out - and I suspect that even if we did figure out we couldn't do much about it
If everything you say is insightful and you are saying you are insightful, then you are funny, but if everything you say is insightful, then you are being funny, but insightful... help help, Norman, Co-ordinate!!!
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
unless they have small children; then they get a little. So blow it out your ass, moron....
eat shiat and bark at the moon
So 10x = 9.9999....
So 10x-x=9
So x = 1
The sequence 0.9, 0.99, 0.999 never reaches 1. You're quite right to say that. But the definition of 'recurring' says that 0.999... recurring isn't any of the numbers in the sequence but the limit. And the limit is 1, even though the sequence never gets there.
The idea with limits is that the limit is the number that your sequence gets arbitrarily close to. Not reaches, but gets arbitrarily close to. That sequence gets as close as you like to 1. Choose a closeness and I'll find a number of the form 0.999...999 (finite # of 9's) that is closer. So by definition 1 is the limit. I'm glossing over some details here of course. Margins not being big enough 'n' all that...
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
So, were you one of the subjects?
to handle sarcasm ?
maybe it was me.
Sarcasm is more than just a function in the brain - some languages use it very little, if at all. The Japanese, for instance, almost NEVER use sarcasm. I have a friend who taught English there that tried to teach his students sarcasm - and it really failed because some of the students just didn't understand it.
Did you ever notice that *nix doesn't even cover Linux?
Yeah, those nutty Protestant Christians... Always flying planes into buildings and stabbing Dutch filmmakers who criticize the way they treat women...
So many people complain that e-mail or im messages can not communicate the intent of certain messages. The most important in my circle of friends was sarcasm so I came up with a solution. Much like emoting actions with * I created ~ for sarcasm.
So if you wanted to say "Nice idea" sarcastically just say ~Nice idea~
I offer this up as a possible solution to solve our electronic sarcasm communications problem.
Let the ~ comments to this post fly!
a specific cause of that terrible affliction suffered by the humorless. This puts the medical profession in a position to label folks with yet another handicap and gives the drug companies another target in their neverending quest to fix everything for a few bucks.
Get ready for the tax increases...
As every kid should know, 0,(9)=1, just as 0,(3)=1/3. We're talking about infinite number of digits, not just approaching infinity.
Proof one:
x=0,(9)
10x=9,(9)
9x=9
x=1
Proof two:
a(x)=9*0.1^x for natural x (a(x) is a geometric sequence).
0.(9)=(sum a(x) for x=1 to inf)
As we all know,
(sum a*b^x for x=1 to n)=(a*b) (1-b^n)/(1-b)
So,
(sum a(x) for x=1 to inf)=lim n->inf (0.9 (1-0.1^n)/(1-0.1))=0.9 / 0.9=1
Unless you were just joking...
oops...
the only permanence in existence, is the impermanence of existence.
RIGHT.
http://pinopsida.com
Thank you Slashdot for broadening my mind with this excellent story. I can really see it takes hard work to cull Google News for such intelligent stories as this one. Must have taken forever.
In other news, Star Wars Episode III opens in theaters. But I'm sure the timing is coincidental.
Sadly, I'm not sure if the above was sarcasm, having lost the ability to distinguish after witnessing Hayden Christensen's acting.
Lyndsey Nagle: Do I detect a note of sarcasm?
Frink: (With sarcasm detector) Are you kidding? This baby is off the charts mm-hai.
CBG: A sarcasm detector, that's a _real_ useful invention.
(Sarcasm detector explodes)
http://www.snpp.com/guides/cbg.file.html#6
We have already been able to use eye surgery to get rid of glasses for a long time and soon we will finally also be able to get rid of the Sarcasm detectors with a bit brain surgery.
My other account has a 3-digit UID.
I'm the guy you're replying too, that's exactly the type of response I was hoping for. LOL. Excellent. Hope I find that mods arse in meta...
This new familiarity with sarcasm doesn't change anything. Ninety-nine cents is still the rental price.
give the man a hand! He is the *lifeblood* of slashdot, working tirelessly for YOU.
However, I'm oddly at a loss for words given all of these wonderfully insightful postings. ;)
GJC
Gregory Casamento
## Chief Maintainer for GNUstep
"I'm sure the comments on this story will be incredibly insightful."
This circuitry must be right next to the part of the brain that governs the ability to get a date.
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
... <SARCASM> have this particular disorder so that you have to metatag anything approaching humor </SARCASM>?
Your tax dollars hard at work.
Great, so it's "pinpointed" to that whole area which "handles a variety of sophisticated tasks." It's somewhere, anywhere in the prefrontal brain, with a possible correlation to the "ventromedial" region -- which itself is involved in everything from feeling full after a meal to female copulatory behavior. Gee, Mr. Wizard, you've nailed this one right on the head. You really got sarcasm's home phone number. Obviously our work here is done. We know ever so much more about this sarcasm phenomenon than before. Thank you Neuroscience and God bless Slashdot.
I trust, Sir, that your mastery of English grammar is surpassed only by your proficiency at phonetics.
Liberals call everyone Nazis yet they are the closest thing to it.
I suggest we institute a sarcasm recognition protocol for the sarcasm-challenged amongst us. During non-elctronic communication this could be a sharp slap in the face. To avoid confusion in situations where a slap in the face would have been natural anyway, we insist that in such situations, the slap be followed by a kick in the bollocks. To avoid confusion in situations where a kick in the bollocks, preceeded by a slap in the face would have been natural, anyway, we suggest that this specific procedure be avoided, except in communications with a sarcasm-challenged person. During electronic communications, if the speaker suspects a sarcasm-challenged listener, he can either verbally shout, "SLAP, BALL-KICK" followed by his sarcastic communication, followed by "FINISH SLAP AND FINISH BALL-KICK", or in written messages substitue a written version. To avoid situations where it would have been natural to write/shout the above in a non-sarcastic context, we suggest that communications which require the use of these words in a non-sarcastic context be avoided. In the unlikely event that any females read slashdot, and find this protocol sexist, all occurrences of "bollocks" above can be replaced by "groin". Likewise, "ball-kick" can be replaced with "groin-kick".
Speaking as someone with Asperger's, sarcasm is often very difficult. Word games (rhymes, alliteration, etc.) allow us to play with the intricacies and quirks of a complex system, the English Language. Sarcasm, though, relies largely on verbal and behavioral cues and, as such, is really just about as difficult for us to pick up in conversation as they are for the average person to notice in written text. It's fun, when you get it, and easy enough to use, but it flies over my head as often as not.
yeah, i've had a brain injury in the prefrontal region of my brain from a near-drowning accident as a kid... i thought i just "didn't get it". very frustrating not always being able to tell when people are beign serious or not(there's not always enough contextual clues to be certain), i must say, but if there's an actual reason i don't get it as easily (i do get it eventually, but it's more difficult than for most, it seems), then that answers that.
kinda sucks, though.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Scientists pimp out Brian's sardine scanner?
...Nobody?
Well, it was worth a shot...
The researchers did not find the part of the brain responsible for detecting sarcasm, and I'm not being sarcastic. What they did (claim to) find is that some part of the brain (roughly speaking the upper part from right above your eyes until the nearly the center of your skull) is needed to detect sarcasm. There might be some "methodological" issues with their study (if even one of their patients did get some of the sarcasm, the indicated area is obviously not uniquely responsible, not all types of brain damage can be compared, "pre-frontal" is quite a big area, etc.), but the main point to understand is that they did not find a sarcasm center.
For a simple analogy, think what would happen if you compared the lights on cars with damage somewhere in the engine compartment and cars that are undamaged. You will find that the lights of the damaged cars are more often broken than those of the undamaged cars. But that does not mean the main function of the engine compartment is lighting, it is just related and perhaps necessary.
Fits
http://www.nichtlustig.de/toondb/050512.html
(unfortunatly not in english)
Oh I'm so sure that they have found it. No really I am.
Isn't it located near David Bedeals house?
In the not too distant future, next Sunday A.D.
This is hoow I taaalk.
\u262D = \u5350
Finally, we can explain CmdrTaco's existance!
---
Luke
Luke Wertz Website
Actually, parent's post is pretty insightful -- if you encounter a person with a prefrontal cortex lesion , the *last* thing you'll notice about their condition is their inability to understand sarcasm.
Are you Implying that Americans are brain damaged or something ? Don't know you know Americans are renowned around world for their mastery of sarcasm.
inappropriate social behavior (e.g., use of obscene language, urinating in public)
and people with prefrontal cortex lesions are among the most difficult patients to interact with on a daily basis.
So dont!
A section of the brain which is clearly overdeveloped amongst the English and underdeveloped amongst Americans. I mean it's not like ever second thing I say is sarcastic.
James P. Barrett
would they have found this if they hadn't been testing yanks?!?! ;p
Nice to meet you.
Why, it's right next to the bullshit sensor :)
Must-not-watch TV!