Why do we laugh when bad things happen

[Lindy]

I love you.

[Kamiko]

Don't lie lindy, we know you're not capable of such emotions.

[Lindy]

I'm a human being, not a machine!

[DMKA]

Because people make stuff like this: just do not click this if you are easily offended. If you like to laugh in the face of terrible destruction and perhaps like Benny Hill, watch this! Or you like to laugh at poor structural engineering, this also might be for you.

I love Benny Hill and wasn't offended at all...but what was funny about it?

[kikimm]

Sometimes, I laugh not because I think something is funny, but because I've honestly gone hysterical and it's either laugh or curl up into a ball and cry.

Yahtzee.

[Dr Unne]

...

*bows*

[Chemical]

Great Story Kishi.

Thank you for sharing.

I was closer than I suspected.
I'm not at all surprised.

Do you know the author of the story? anyone? was it mentioned in the original post?

Because of all the groking I suspect it may be Wilson.

I know laugh because I'm sure many people won't read the story and will miss out on it's extreme insight.

[fire_of_avalon]

It was Heinlein. We laugh at things that's aren't funny because it's unusual to us, so the only reaction we can muster is laughter. This is a hard question to answer because there are no specifics involved. Do people laugh when my grandma walked into a glass window, thinking it was a door? Hell yes, even she laughed. Mel Brooks has a quote that explains this well. Tragedy is when I cut my finger, comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die. Why? Because we're relieved it wasn't us. And because we see people behaving in an illogical manner, and we feel like we're better than them now.

Why do we laugh at stuff that IS funny? How do you define funny anyways.

[Yuffie514]

oh, well it's either something out of comedy. maybe an outrageous act in a video-game (say - Tenchu?), or when i can embarrass my rivals. but i know i got a little smirk here and there as if something is not right...

[Resha]

Do you know the author of the story? anyone? was it mentioned in the original post?

Robert A. Heinlein, it does say. I think the book is called Strangers in a Strange Land, but meh...I'm not sure.

[Del Murder]

We laugh at the misfortune of others because it makes us feel better about our misfortune.

[Yamaneko]

Your own misfortune can be funnier than the misfortune of others.

[Giga Guess]

Possibly because it reassures us that we're not the only ones that are fallible.

"Oh look...Bobby did a face-plant....I guess I'm not the only one that could trip over his iwn shadow...AHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Either that or people being klutzes is just funny to general human nature.