Comments on: Sarcasm is an Evolutionary Skill

By: Taz

Taz — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:34:59 +0000

I'm supposed to care if anyone else survives?

By: just a guy

just a guy — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:57:14 +0000

Yeah... sarcasm is REAL important to survival.

By: jjbang

jjbang — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:51:29 +0000

So hold on, with that last paragraph, with the two guys, wouldn't they both suffer from the mis-understanding?
And if neither of them were sarcastic, there wouldn't be any problem at all.

The only way I can see this example of having any effect on reproductive fitness is if the two guys were trying to get off with eachother, and the sarcastic remark stoppped this from happening, forcing them to heterosexuality.

Sarcasm is probably not a beneficial attribute in itself , evolutionarily speaking, but more likely to be a side effect of other beneficial traits to do with communication and social bonding. So while sarcasm itself is not going to increase reproductive fitness, the people who are able to use sarcasm in the right way are more likely to have the other communication skills which are necessary for surviving and reproducing in a human society.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 10:29:50 +0000

No shit

By: Dave

Dave — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 03:10:57 +0000

"It’s also easy to imagine how sarcasm might be selected over time as evolutionarily crucial."

Easy to imagine; much harder to prove, like so many other physical and behavioral traits.

By: AM

AM — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 02:03:28 +0000

Sarcasm could be socially destructive also. I don´t know if it is an evolutionary skill; I think it´s a tool, and it depends on the way it is managed.

By: Retrokatze

Retrokatze — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:48:38 +0000

There's a difference between "It’s also easy to imagine how sarcasm might be selected over time as evolutionarily crucial" and "sarcasm is actually an evolutionary survival skill".

By: Thomas

Thomas — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:48:08 +0000

So sarcasm should help me obtain food and mate? Because... no. It doesn't help.

By: Justinarino

Justinarino — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:57:51 +0000

parents are good at that

By: Alex Fear

Alex Fear — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:47:05 +0000

I think the existence of Europe (minus the UK and Ireland) is a pretty strong debunker to this theory.

By: Neatoramawontsendmeapassword

Neatoramawontsendmeapassword — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:41:37 +0000

So is sarcasm the evolutionary development... or is it the ability to run and think at the same time? I'm not sure that example actually proves anything.