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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.
Do Comedians Help Morale On Long Space Missions? Yes. When you space them.
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.
[($)]
"Everybody good? Plenty of slaves for my robot colony?"
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!”
Sorry.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I agree. The class clown is definitely going out the air lock first on a long trip.
If it isn't "that joke," it will be somebody's toothpaste, underwear, or personal media device.
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.
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
... 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.
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!
... 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.
Remember how Arkady worked out?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
we need real people nasa. not comedians.
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.
There was a story published back in the 70s in a similar vein. I memory serves it was "Ship of Strangers" by Bob Shaw.
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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?!?
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.