memes

By making people smarter and better acquainted with one another.

When the society’s too big to know everyone, we rely on shared culture to know things about the people we’re talking to.

Poe’s Law is a (cynical, defeatist, self-fulfilling) declaration that we have lost cultural cohesiveness as a society.

We need to take risks in order to adapt and survive. And the risk that some internet stranger might miss your sarcasm in a comment is such a small risk it’s extremely bad news if we become so risk intolerant we won’t venture some unmarked sarcasm.

The whole point of sarcasm is that it signals cooperation and cohesion between two minds. It’s like a handshake. Don’t underestimate culture just because it doesn’t seem to have a function.

Sarcasm is like the appendix. Useless until we figure out what it’s useful for.