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Researchers Are Working With NASA To See If Comedians Help Team Cohesion On Long Space Missions (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: [R]esearchers have found that the success of a future mission to the red planet may depend on the ship having a class clown. "These are people that have the ability to pull everyone together, bridge gaps when tensions appear and really boost morale," said Jeffrey Johnson, an anthropologist at the University of Florida. "When you're living with others in a confined space for a long period of time, such as on a mission to Mars, tensions are likely to fray. It's vital you have somebody who can help everyone get along, so they can do their jobs and get there and back safely. It's mission critical." Johnson spent four years studying overwintering crews in Antarctica and identified the importance of clowns, leaders, buddies, storytellers, peacemakers and counsellors for bonding teams together and making them work smoothly. He found the same mixes worked in U.S., Russian, Polish, Chinese and Indian bases.
"These roles are informal, they emerge within the group. But the interesting thing is that if you have the right combination the group does very well. And if you don't, the group does very badly," he said. Johnson is now working with Nasa to explore whether clowns and other characters are crucial for the success of long space missions. So far he has monitored four groups of astronauts who spent 30 to 60 days in the agency's mock space habitat, the Human Exploration Research Analog, or Hera, in Houston, Texas. Johnson, who also studied isolated salmon fishers in Alaska, found that clowns were often willing to be the butt of jokes and pranks. In Antarctica, one clown he observed endured a mock funeral and burial in the tundra, but was crucial for building bridges between clusters of overwintering scientists and between contractors and researchers, or "beakers" as the contractors called them.
"These roles are informal, they emerge within the group. But the interesting thing is that if you have the right combination the group does very well. And if you don't, the group does very badly," he said. Johnson is now working with Nasa to explore whether clowns and other characters are crucial for the success of long space missions. So far he has monitored four groups of astronauts who spent 30 to 60 days in the agency's mock space habitat, the Human Exploration Research Analog, or Hera, in Houston, Texas. Johnson, who also studied isolated salmon fishers in Alaska, found that clowns were often willing to be the butt of jokes and pranks. In Antarctica, one clown he observed endured a mock funeral and burial in the tundra, but was crucial for building bridges between clusters of overwintering scientists and between contractors and researchers, or "beakers" as the contractors called them.
Louis C. K.
"Captain? Why did you "space" your crew morale person?"
"He told that joke last month! It wasn't funny then! It still ain't funny now!"
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Do Comedians Help Morale On Long Space Missions? Yes. When you space them.
How did jar jar binks turn out for the crew?
-nt
Wasted space. Not to mention how screwed up most comedians are.
iiiinnnnn spaaaaace!
... is that in space the comic relief character dies at the beginning, right after the black / minority character. So yes, I can see how adding a funny guy to the mix can improve the crew's morale.
https://youtu.be/3NHd7oC1w58
https://youtu.be/dsx2vdn7gpY
In GOD we trust, all others we monitor.
to the Galaxy.
[($)]
A modern-day equivalent of a capsule full of disciplined, white semi-educated Korean War veterans isn't PC enough for NASA, so let's substitute sanity for a "class clown."
BeauHD has Crohns.
the importance of clowns, leaders, buddies, storytellers, peacemakers and counsellors for bonding teams together and making them work smoothly.
That should be a working combination for groups in movies, games and other entertainment for story telling and helping the audiences to endure the long experiences on the seats and chairs.
Comedians have to spend weeks working on their "set" just to be funny for an hour long stand-up routine.
Also, it's a well-known fact that comedians (as a population) are more depressed than "normal" people (as a population) when they're not delivering their routine. Good luck trying to make them be "on" 24/7 on a long space mission.
So what's the deal with astronaut food anyway?
I mean the guy/gal that constantly is getting on your nerves and tries to get a reaction from you has to be it, right?
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
This sounds like a short story I read a couple of years ago. Probably from the first few years of Galaxy magazine. Can't remember the title or author.
OK guys, who wants to be the bard?
Was that a joke, cadet? Are you authorized to make jokes, cadet?
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
Trapped in a space capsule with Carrot Top of a year and a half. Someone's going out the airlock, either him or me, problem solved either way.
You can just ask these people
https://www.smithsonianmag.com...
They don't need a comedian. They need a sufi shaman.
The bad news is we've killed Tom and shunted his remains out the airlock.
The good news is the remaining team is feeling a lot better, and all agree his gruesome death was the best joke Tom ever told.
Turns out the comedian saves the day in real life, too!
You just need a cat, with little velcro booties, and buttered toast on its back, maybe half dead, or half alive, depending on your POV, and if you looked.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Fleshlights
Sorry.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Anyone who thinks this is a good idea has never actually known a comedian.
Comedians are not machines that hand out jollity. You're thinking of clowns. Comedians are frustrated idealists, and in that capacity are the most depressing people that you will ever meet.
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... who are naturally don't mind being alone rather. AKA monks, etc, people who can naturally be away from society or others and years at a time and see what is different about them and how they deal with it. I'm sure they'd be better then sticking comedian on board.
Tracy Morgan. He did a skit as Astronaut Jones, I think that qualifies him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
After reading the headline, the first thing that popped into my mind was Don Rickles floating around in a space suit, ridiculing everything every other astronaut was doing, and now I can't stop laughing about that.
Maybe an amateur but most professional comedians seem to tend towards being very dark bitter people under the surface. This would probably overcome any sort of advantage they give to group cohesion.
We need more robots in space, and less clowns. NASA needs to focus on real shit.
A comedian would just be a pain in the ass and would get shoved out the airlock as soon as no one was looking.
This is because NASA knows that the opposite of gravity is comedy.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
So they want the Comedian on the space flight. Does this mean the moon landings really were faked and Ozymandias is behind this?
(For those who don't get the reasoning: https://watchmen.fandom.com/wiki/Eddie_Blake )
Sounds like you're a racist and attempting to hide it via attempts at humour but most people reading that will share a weirded out and probably slightly disgusted reaction so whatever if that was your intended effect then keep doing you but maybe think about whether if you doing not being a racist and being actually funny would be better?
... he should be at the right age for the risks of a Mars flight when it starts, and he's such a good comedian!
Cooper: What's your humor setting, TARS?
TARS: That's one hundred percent.
Cooper: Let's bring it on down to seventy-five, please.
Hey Carl ... do you have a hole in your pressure suit, or are you venting oxygen because you're happy to see me?
Not OP but it was just a joke and you sound like a very grumpy, triggered individual.
Read any half-decent management manual and you'll find plenty of opinion about complementary characters. Yes, you probably want someone charismatic, not necessarily a 'comedian' - that seems too simplistic. Just don't end up cooped up with someone who thinks it hilarious to share the endings of novels!
Yeah, you can have a great team assembled in your spaceship or remote research facility, with different members providing different skills to maintain "cohesiveness" to the group as a whole. But in the movies the monster starts killing each member one by one and no one knows whats happening until too late and the cohesiveness breaks.
I'm thinking the original "Alien" movie, the John Carpenter remake of "The Thing" and the 2007 Danny Boyle movie "Sunshine".
Maybe the researchers should look into including a battle-hardened "monster killer" in their mix.
... he should be at the right age for the risks of a Mars flight when it starts, and he's such a good comedian!
He's not so funny now.
now where can we dont to send Ricky Gervais, Micheal Macintyre and James Cordon on a one way trip to mars? Shouldnt be too expensive as we can do without the soft landing.
Remember how Arkady worked out?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Music. Singing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CuyLbC2TZo
Also, the U.S. Army's (that also using singing heavily (Cadences) research shows that food has the greatest impact of all--quality and quantity. Actually NASA's research show that its the place of eating that people find their sanity and most happiness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDXfQTD_rgQ
I think perhaps we need to work on these... In my opinion, everybody needs to keep a sense of humor. And it's best to have a few people who can play some kind of musical instrument, like a violin.
Personally, I'd like a large pipe organ in my spaceship.
Looks like somebody at NASA has been reading "A Little Oil" by Eric Frank Russel.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Oh wow, and so many ancient Courts in autocratic societies had 'Jesters' and 'Fools'. Whoever would have guessed it?
Just on guts I'd think that each and every crew member having personal space (literally a space all their own, they can close off and keep everyone else out of) is more important than anything else. Adults need personal space and personal time to stay mentally and emotionally healthy.
As long as she has her Party Cannon, everything will be okay. :LOL:
mnem
What could possibly go wrong?!?
Nonsense, he's an expert at not Corpsing.
Years ago, NASA published a report stating that the ideal crew for a long space journey would be comprised of married couples.
When Soviet scientists read the report, they almost died laughing, because THEY knew the truth. They'd done their own research, and come to the opposite conclusion: an ideal small crew for a space mission would be comprised entirely of gay men.
Why? Suppose you have a dozen married couples on a spaceship. How many weeks do you think it would take until two of them cheated on their spouses? Now imagine the aftermath... the alienated spouses, the pressure on other crew members to take sides, general awkwardness all around, and at least a few crew members who'd likely feel like outcasts. Guess who'd initiate the NEXT round of affairs? Yep. The now-single crew members. Stir, rinse, repeat, and by the time the crew returns to earth, you'd have a plot worthy of a multi-year prime-time soap opera.
Now, imagine the gay crew. Or more precisely, imagine a dozen equally-attractive, mostly-versatile gay guys sharing a metaphorical house on Fire Island that happens to be heading to Mars. Sure, there will be some drama along the way... but it'll be NOTHING like the nightmare you'd see with a dozen married couples.
In theory, a small crew of lesbians might work too... but lesbians tend to be more into monogamy, so you'd have to make sure you screened out all the ones who were likely to become possessive.
As the crew became larger & approached a hundred, you could start allowing mixed-gender (but still gay or lesbian... or at least, "very, very bisexual") crews. You wouldn't need (or want) a literal 50-50 split, but you'd at least want to have enough of both for the two groups to be socially self-sufficient. The last thing you'd want is to have a bunch of lesbians ganging up and treating the gay guys like naughty schoolboys who can't keep their dicks in their pants, or a small group of token lesbians feeling excluded from the boys' club. You'd want social cohesiveness between both groups (after all, they ARE on a mission together), but you'd also want to maximize the opportunities of both groups to find suitable playmates.
Thank you for pointing out that it was a joke. It appeared to be lame so it was easier for the casual browser to think it was another repetitive racist rant. It would be better if the guideline provided by the AC above were followed: "not being a racist and being actually funny would be better?" Or even being a racist might be fine: funny is funny, and all should be able to take a joke every now and again.
Any good cracker jokes out there?
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
So two crackers walked into the Ritz..
I don't trust atoms -- they make up stuff.