Cognitive scientists tend to prefer theories that are supported by computer models, programs that show how the brain represents and processes information. This approach has produced compelling models of memory and reasoning. But psychological phenomena that we can't easily describe are rarely studied. So cognitive scientists focus on how people do algebra problems, run errands, and even interpret x-rays, but you will find only a few specialists investigating the nature of dreaming, jazz, or humor. What do they have to do with cognition? Isn't the essence of intelligence solving problems, which is the opposite of telling nonsense stories, composing weird sounds, and laughing? Could you be intelligent if you never told a joke?

Today I took note of some humorous moments.

In the morning briefing, I said to the group, "I appreciate your filling out the surveys; I'm not reading them until after our rotation." Someone responded, "You mean we won't get tomorrow off?" (Referring to the check-off option on the survey, "I'm ready for a day off.") (Everyone laughed) "I deleted that..." (laughter) "...and I added [to the survey the choice], 'I want to stay here a third week.'" (lots of laughter)

Maarten, showing the new Mobile Agents 2005 badge with blinking light, and referring to the daily awards given for "hero of the day," said, "Sorry for those who got a lousy shot glass..." (laughter)

Today I took an inventory of black pepper containers in the cabinet above the galley counter. I counted 16 containers — 10 regular ground black pepper, 3 lemon pepper, 2 shakers, and 1 garlic pepper. Do people have a fear of not having pepper, so each crew buys more? Is pepper actually the favorite spice of MDRS crews? There's something funny going on here.

Later I noticed that the Sunbeam breadmaker instructions say, "If the power goes out while you are using your breakmaker for not less than 30 minutes, your machine will resume its cycle when power is restored." This seemed idiotic. I asked our language specialist for an opinion (knowing full well that "not less than" mean "greater than or equal to"). Then I discovered that the Spanish section of the manual reads: "...esta interrupcion no dura mas de 30 minutos..." Makes more sense, doesn't it? The manual is distributed in Boca Raton, Florida—was it originally written in Spanish and then translated to English? Weird.

At the evening review meeting, Jeff Graham was asked to report and he declared, "I think we're ready to play." Uproarious laughter. I said, "Alright..." And Jeff quickly added, "I said, 'I think....'" More laughter.

Reporting on why the EVA was slow to start, Mike Scott said that ScienceOrganizer (the database) was restarted after we lost power at the workstations on the upper deck, and then proceeded to "recover" data it thought was lost from the morning's EVA. Mike said, "So it continued to put a thousand cached alerts into the database." I retorted, "Without asking HabCom, "Do you want me to continue to do this?" (referring to how the astronauts' personal agents confirm their voice commands).

I mentioned how much I had learned again today about electrical systems, referring to the 2 gauge cable that we used to connect the new battery to the generator. People quickly shouted out that Don's note wasn't right, it was really "three ought" gauge. I said, "30 gauge?" Lots of people laughed back, "No, ought, ought..." "300?" "No, three oughts." "3000?" Back and forth we went. Somebody then said, "Any electrician would know.... it's three zeroes—ought, ought, ought." Ah, 000. And that's a huge thick cable? So I said that maybe I hadn't learned so much today after all, and we could all laugh at that.

During the day, I noticed we weren't telling many jokes. Our main activity felt a lot more serious, maybe because we tend to work alone or in groups of two or three. We mostly laugh at the meetings, when we are all together. It's something the group composes. Joking at dinner in the hab is common, indeed, it's the way it should be. If we weren't joking at dinner, you'd know something was wrong with the crew.

But we also have private moments of humor, as when I was looking for caraway seeds and found container after container of black pepper in my way. I thought it would be fun to document this oddity (see today's photos). My little setup of containers stacked on the counter then garnered its own funny comments. Sharing the strangeness of the breadmaker manual was similar.

Humor reveals two fundamental aspects of cognition at both the neural and social levels. First, our mind sometimes reconciles incommensurate ideas, not through the logic of verbal argumentation, but through an emotional experience. Laughter provides a way of dealing with an inability to form a conceptualization that might involve inconsistent or uncomfortable realizations. And that quickly brings us to the social aspect. Laughter is one way of moving an activity along, of bridging our differences or thoughts we prefer not to speak about.

We also can use laughter as a way of getting personal attention or of orchestrating a group. Like dream stories, something with a necessary neural origin that we don't understand, laughter has been appropriated for social purposes. It's become a way of being together and a way of holding ourselves together.

And so oddly, cognitive science has at yet no way of fitting laughter into an "expert system" or an "autonomous robot." Only the most rudimentary computer programs exist for telling jokes. And you might consider, when would I want my personal agent (a computer program) to laugh?

When Mike Scott apologized for shutting off a computer too soon, he said, "I heard a voice tell me, 'Shut down the models.'" I replied, "And you didn't ask, 'Do you want me to shut down the models?'" So we laughed about it, making light of the situation, for we know we are all only human.

When you are ready to make light of your computer's mistakes, and find yourself saying, "Well, it's only like me," rather than cursing the programmers or a corporation, then you will know that we have created an intelligent machine.