Is this funny?

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Why do autistic zombies starve?

They have no Theory of Mind.



I ask because, while this is an extreme example (see if you can make the connections), I quite often toss out things in conversation that I think are funny but draw blank stares. I have a very out of the box way of linking things together. Like this is funny to me because if a zombie has no theory of mind it doesn't know that people have a mind, hence it doesn't know people have brains hence it never looks for brains in people hence it starves because, as we all know, zombies need to eat brains.

Yeah. I know. Pretty oblique.

No. I wouldn't have gotten it if you didn't explain it.

Which is the point, really. Do you find yourself making oddly oblique references that nobody else can follow?

I don't want to be rude, but this is not my cup of funny.

Well, you did ask.

Also, being so interested in mind and brain matters, I can't let this post go by without pointing out that the brain and the mind are not the same thing. Ahhh, pedantry.

I got it

And yeah, I do tend to jump associations. Part of why I suck at small talk.

I got it. Pretty funny, too.

I tend to enjoy jokes that stretch concepts like that.

ETA: And, yes, I do tend to make leaps that no one else seems able to follow.

:Shrugs:

I do know that I sometimes make jokes up and people sometimes get hurt by them or they don't find it funny while to me it was funny.

I don't find it funny.

A I make and get strange associations

B I missed this

C I am not aware of zombies - at least not the classic zombie - as eating brains

D I object to brains as food because of the texture

E As already stated from brain to mind is a leap. Has a snake a mind?

I thought it was funny.

It's subtle, but definitely fits my sense of humor.

Much of my humor is like this. There is a dark, twisted tone and the hook relies on an "in-joke" requiring at least one nonlinear connection to get. The in-joke here is that only mental health professionals or scholars will know what Theory of Mind is. Highly intelligent NT's often appreciate humor like this.

Normal intelligence NT's typically do not. In Eurocentric cultures, the most humorous jokes are where a person of low moral character is proven wrong. Also physical humor around stereotypes and puns based on the most common 25,000 words rate highly. The research of Richard Wiseman is fascinating to figure out what NT's find funny.

I thought it was funny.

I don't find it funny. I find it a little insulting.

hehe i got it too...got a little internal giggle out of it tbh!

i'd say, NTs who know me well like my sister can actually start laughing out loud ( and not be able to stop lol) just by looking at my blank face and guessing what i'm thinking of a situation. And i wouldn't say she's particularly smart, i think it comes from knowing the ways the AS mind works so well that they can tune in to your thoughts. of course, needless to say if i say the joke out loud,, she will laugh too,I think our sense of humour can be learnt by NTs, the way they can learn and appreciate british sense of humour or another culture's.

I don't find it funny, but I don't find it insulting either. I do find it gross and nonsensical though. The gross part should be obvious. The nonsensical part comes from my AS thinking that Theory of Mind has nothing to do with being aware of whether others have brains. Of course I'm aware they do. And I'm even aware they have their own thoughts.

Lack of Theory of Mind isn't about not being aware of it at all. It's about very often assuming that others think the same things about certain things that we do. It''s about frequently forgetting that others aren't seeing the same things that to us are obvious, and that applies to us whether we are dealing with NT's or each other.

The reason the joke makes no sense to me (before it's explained), is my own literal thinking.

Jokes that have to be explained are almost never funny. Considering that even you felt you should explain it should give you a clue that it isn't.

Nothing wrong with thinking it though, and I'm not meaning to attack your sense of humor. My kids make up jokes all the time, almost all of which make no sense to me. I tell them the same thing. If you have to explain it, it's not a very good joke.

Just trying to offer a little insight.