PP24 Laughter, pattern-shifts and paradigm-shifts.
G'day, my name is Bruce Robertson and this is Pirate Philosophy, the channel in which I describe the Pattern Paradigm, an original philosophy that is rigorous, logical and accurate; and one that I claim makes better sense of the world than any other philosophy. Welcome.
Today I want to take a look at laughter; the characteristic that is so idiosyncratic of humanity, but one that is ignored by almost every other philosophy. I also want to take a look at the logic of thinking that creates it.
While there are many causes and aspects of laughter I only want to look at a few of them in this short video.
Before looking at laughter specifically, I would first like to look at its underlying logical causes and in order to do this we shall have to dive into the depths of fundamental cognition.
It was mooted in the video PP9 'Patterns, time and space' that the only way for a logical processor to begin to make sense of the world is through the logical process of pattern identification. (I will put a link to that video in the description below).
The essence of the logic of the pattern identification process resides in posing or imagining possible patterns and then testing them against the data to determine which one of them fits the data best.
The 'best' pattern is the one that is simplest and most accurate; or in other words, it is the best compression of the data without losing too much accuracy. Inherent in the process is the fact that one can only ever find a best pattern, one can never be sure that there is not a better pattern somewhere that might be found which fits the data more simply and more accurately. So what this means is that once a best pattern has been found it may be the case that later, perhaps much later, when more data has been found or a better possible pattern for consideration identified that one arrives at a better pattern than one's original best pattern. For the patterns one uses to create a model of the world are not always permanent; they may need adjusting at a later time. When this occurs it can be labelled as a 'pattern-shift'.
Typically these pattern-shifts can occur in one of two ways. Either more data is received which does not fit the original pattern or secondly it may be that a better possible pattern is suggested which fits the data better than the original pattern. Or sometimes a combination of both.
In this way an old pattern may be replaced by a new and better one. And sometimes these pattern-shifts can produce the physical response of laughter.
As a trivial example of the first type of pattern shift where the shift comes about through new data being received: I was sitting outside recently one evening when I noticed a faint patch of dappled light in the sky; which I identified as being the Pleiades cluster of stars. I then thought I would confirm this by checking other bright stars around. It was only then that I realised that the sky was actually overcast and what I had thought was the Pleiades was actually an outlying cluster of small leaves of a nearby tree which were reflecting some faint ambient light. I laughed at the absurdity of my original belief and the creation of a better pattern to fit the data.
An example of the second type of pattern-shift, where a better possible pattern is suggested, can be found in the rather fun children's riddle of: 'Why do birds fly south?' Given this scenario, one might consider various reasons for why birds fly south, such as that they seek warmer weather or a better supply of food or simply because other birds fly south. But none of these possible answers seems to be convincing. So no answer that one can think of seems satisfactory and almost everyone will simply say that they give up and ask for the answer. And when the answer is given: 'Because it is too far to walk!', one realises that this concise answer fits perfectly, albeit in an unusual way. For the answer constitutes the best pattern to fit the data. For it is a possible pattern which when tested against the data of the scenario is found to fit perfectly. And when compared to the possible answers that one had been searching for, the sudden realisation of the identification of a best pattern can induce the physical response of laughter. And this physical response of laughter is inherently a pleasurable activity.
One can then ask the question: Why does this physical response of laughter occur and why is it pleasurable?
There are a number of possible reasons for this:
Firstly, the enjoyment of laughing may be because one is exercising the mind and this is pleasurable and beneficial to one's mind in a similar way that exercising one's limbs, especially in the form of physical activity is enjoyable and beneficial to one's physical body.
Secondly, the physical response may also be for the purpose of communication; the communication that one has got the joke or understands the witty remark. It may also be a matter of sharing and showing that one has a similar understanding with other people who also laugh.
While jokes and laughter are usually associated with words, it is not the words themselves that generate the laughter, instead it is the patterns that the words are linked to and a shift in those patterns that creates the laughter.
While pattern-shifts may be trivial, they can also be a non-trivial and have real implications. While jokes, witticisms and misunderstandings are trivial and can provide minor amusement, there can also be pattern-shifts or shifts in ideas that can be life changing.
It was discussed in the video PP10 'Pyramids and why we sleep', how one can construct a model of the world by creating patterns of patterns, whereby a number of patterns are treated as data in the pattern-identifying process to create a higher level pattern.. (I will put a link to that video in the description below).
These patterns of patterns are built from the ground up and form a pyramid of patterns where each pattern is linked to other patterns with the fundamental patterns of perception at the base level and higher patterns of cognition and interrelated ideas at higher levels. Ideally this pyramid of patterns will have a high degree of self-consistency.
And if, by the process described earlier, one identifies a better pattern for a pattern that is deep in the pyramid of patterns it can have a ripple effect on all the patterns above it in the pyramid of patterns.
This can occur when some new data comes along which is at variance with the original data that was available when the original pattern was formed, or it can occur when a new possible pattern or template is Imagined by oneself or suggested by another and which fits the available data more accurately and more simply than the original pattern.
For when one constructs a model of the world using pattern-identification, that is not the end of it. As one acquires more data and ideas, sometimes these can be fitted comfortably with what one already knows, but sometimes it cannot and a shift of ideas is required in order to maintain the integrity and well-functioning of one's pyramid of patterns.
For example, the new data could be that one realises that a trusted close friend or relative has told a significant lie and so perhaps much of what that person has said in the past has to be re-evaluated as being possibly a lie as well. This could even result in the total reevaluation of one's beliefs about that person as being a trustworthy friend. In other words a paradigm shift with regard to one's beliefs about that person may be required.
A paradigm is a collection of self-consistent ideas or patterns. For example, science is a paradigm, philosophy is a paradigm and to some degree one's pyramid of patterns constitutes a paradigm. For they all constitute a collection of ideas or patterns which are interconnected and ultimately aspire to being self-consistent. Then if one of the ideas within the paradigm gets re-evaluated and shifted, then this can have repercussions for the whole of the paradigm as the patterns are shifted around in order to maintain self-consistency within the paradigm. And this may be called a paradigm-shift.
As another example, there is the famous children's story about the ugly duckling, in which a duckling is teased by the other ducklings as being ugly. This continues until one day he realises that he is actually a beautiful swan and not an ugly duckling at all. And this paradigm shift did not come about through additional data but by the realisation of him being a swan and that this idea was a better fit to the data than his original belief that he was a duckling. And he confirmed this by looking at his reflection in the water. Such paradigm shifts can also occur with human children as they grow up and realise that they are neither ugly nor defective in some way but actually a beautiful human being. And this can greatly affect one's self image as a person.
Then, of course. there are the more universal paradigm shifts such as when it was mooted in the 17th century in Europe that the theory that the Earth goes around the Sun constituted a simpler and more accurate pattern than the previously existing popular belief that the Sun orbits the Earth. The proposed paradigm shift caused great consternation at that time, particularly among the Catholic church. The church did not want to re-evaluate the position of man and the Earth within the universe and so tried to reject and suppress the new idea. But ultimately, of course, the new theory prevailed as it was a better pattern to fit the data. And nowadays, the idea that the Sun orbits the Earth seems ridiculous and if someone seriously suggested that the Sun orbits the Earth, we would simply laugh as the theory does not begin to fit the data.
A shift in a person's deep patterns can be disturbing, as this may require a considerable amount of re-evaluating of the patterns in one's personal pyramid of patterns; especially if the pattern shift occurs to a pattern that was originally held to be 'true'.
While such a paradigm shift may be disturbing, it is also productive and beneficial as it leads to one having a better model of the world and hence enhances one's ability to make better decisions and achieve better happiness.
It may also occur that this re-evaluation of patterns, following a deep paradigm shift, may produce laughter as one realises that things that did not make sense before are now starting to make sense and there is pleasure associated with this.
These paradigm shifts and associated laughter can only take place within a person's pyramid of patterns, where one idea is linked to another in an holistic pyramid of understanding. In contrast, where there is only rote learning of configurations of words as in a recipe or a formula or popular cliché, there is no understanding and hence there can be no laughter.
For if one has a well constructed and well functioning pyramid of patterns that is free of discontinuities or schisms, then one can play around with ideas and have fun with them, and see what makes sense and what does not, and perhaps even invoke laughter. (Schisms were discussed in the video PP17 'Culture and schisms'. I will put a link to the video in the description below.)
And to some extent this is what 'The Pattern Paradigm' philosophy that I have been describing in these videos is all about. I am presenting possible patterns that people might find fit the available data more simply and more accurately than their previous patterns or rote learning, and hence enabling them to make better sense of the world and to create for themselves a better model of the world. I am not claiming, of course, that these patterns are the best possible; I am only claiming that they are the best patterns that are currently available. And it is quite possible that these new patterns may generate a paradigm shift for some people and in so doing they may invoke the physical reaction of laughter.
And as a final note, there has been a lot of talk about artificial intelligence, AI, recently and fears about how it might take over the world. However, there is nothing to fear from AI, at least not until such time as they develop a sense of humour; something that they are currently far from achieving. For a sense of humour is an indication of a well structured and well functioning pyramid of patterns and a pyramid of patterns is an essential requirement for an effective model of the world. And without an effective model of the world, AI is nothing more than a mindless machine. And while such a machine can be destructive, in the way that a runaway train can be destructive, it could not begin to take over the world. So until such time as there is evidence that AI has developed an effective model of the world and is capable of laughter, there is nothing to worry about.
Well, that is all I have for you today. I hope you have enjoyed this video and if you have any comments, please leave them in the section below and if you'd like to continue this journey with me, please subscribe to my channel and give it a thumbs up. You can also read transcripts of all these videos on my website: ThePatternParadigm.com .
Thank you.
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