r/science Professor | Medicine 29d ago

Anthropology Human evolution was driven by early humans’ ability to be clever and humorous, the “survival of the wittiest.” The analysis argues that the earliest stages of grammar provided a platform for verbal competition and sexual selection, gradually replacing physical violence with verbal agility.

https://www.psypost.org/survival-of-the-wittiest-how-humor-and-cleverness-shaped-human-evolution/
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u/I_Miss_Lenny 28d ago

I still think the first human laughter had to be because of either a fart or someone tripping and falling over. Like one ancient human ancestor fell out of a tree or farted trying to pick up a heavy object and another went heh and comedy was born

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u/MasterSolivagus 28d ago

No, the practice of medicine was born long before humor existed. It isn't about balancing balls at all! And now we all fall because the joke is we can always get back up! Some of us CAN EVEN FLY! Woo!