Researchers Are Working With NASA To See If Comedians Help Team Cohesion On Long Space Missions (theguardian.com) 99
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: [R]esearchers have found that the success of a future mission to the red planet may depend on the ship having a class clown. "These are people that have the ability to pull everyone together, bridge gaps when tensions appear and really boost morale," said Jeffrey Johnson, an anthropologist at the University of Florida. "When you're living with others in a confined space for a long period of time, such as on a mission to Mars, tensions are likely to fray. It's vital you have somebody who can help everyone get along, so they can do their jobs and get there and back safely. It's mission critical." Johnson spent four years studying overwintering crews in Antarctica and identified the importance of clowns, leaders, buddies, storytellers, peacemakers and counsellors for bonding teams together and making them work smoothly. He found the same mixes worked in U.S., Russian, Polish, Chinese and Indian bases.
"These roles are informal, they emerge within the group. But the interesting thing is that if you have the right combination the group does very well. And if you don't, the group does very badly," he said. Johnson is now working with Nasa to explore whether clowns and other characters are crucial for the success of long space missions. So far he has monitored four groups of astronauts who spent 30 to 60 days in the agency's mock space habitat, the Human Exploration Research Analog, or Hera, in Houston, Texas. Johnson, who also studied isolated salmon fishers in Alaska, found that clowns were often willing to be the butt of jokes and pranks. In Antarctica, one clown he observed endured a mock funeral and burial in the tundra, but was crucial for building bridges between clusters of overwintering scientists and between contractors and researchers, or "beakers" as the contractors called them.
"These roles are informal, they emerge within the group. But the interesting thing is that if you have the right combination the group does very well. And if you don't, the group does very badly," he said. Johnson is now working with Nasa to explore whether clowns and other characters are crucial for the success of long space missions. So far he has monitored four groups of astronauts who spent 30 to 60 days in the agency's mock space habitat, the Human Exploration Research Analog, or Hera, in Houston, Texas. Johnson, who also studied isolated salmon fishers in Alaska, found that clowns were often willing to be the butt of jokes and pranks. In Antarctica, one clown he observed endured a mock funeral and burial in the tundra, but was crucial for building bridges between clusters of overwintering scientists and between contractors and researchers, or "beakers" as the contractors called them.
Just so long as they're not sending (Score:1)
Louis C. K.
Re: DESTROY WHITEY! (Score:1)
Humor can be a relative thing... (Score:1)
"Captain? Why did you "space" your crew morale person?"
"He told that joke last month! It wasn't funny then! It still ain't funny now!"
Re: (Score:2)
I agree. The class clown is definitely going out the air lock first on a long trip.
If it isn't "that joke," it will be somebody's toothpaste, underwear, or personal media device.
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Well, not only that, but think about the idiotic war on humor in PC culture nowadays...
Well...only do THAT if you wanna be depressed...
Do Comedians Help Morale On Long Space Missions? (Score:2, Funny)
Three words: A Little Oil (Score:2)
Looks like somebody at NASA has been reading "A Little Oil" by Eric Frank Russel.
Re: (Score:2)
"Everybody good? Plenty of slaves for my robot colony?"
Wooopie cushions (Score:1)
iiiinnnnn spaaaaace!
If Hollywood has thought us anything ... (Score:2)
They laughed to death (Score:2)
https://youtu.be/3NHd7oC1w58 [youtu.be]
https://youtu.be/dsx2vdn7gpY [youtu.be]
The Hitchhiker's Guide (Score:2)
Easy answer: No (Score:1)
Comedians have to spend weeks working on their "set" just to be funny for an hour long stand-up routine.
Also, it's a well-known fact that comedians (as a population) are more depressed than "normal" people (as a population) when they're not delivering their routine. Good luck trying to make them be "on" 24/7 on a long space mission.
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That's obviously not what this is about. You're eager to share something you know, but next time, take the time to read the summary and actually consider what it says.
Just hire Robin Williams for their entertainment (Score:2)
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... he should be at the right age for the risks of a Mars flight when it starts, and he's such a good comedian!
He's not so funny now.
Re: Easy answer: No (Score:1)
Sure, you know who to kill first! (Score:2)
I mean the guy/gal that constantly is getting on your nerves and tries to get a reaction from you has to be it, right?
Re: (Score:2)
Mars: The Role Playing Game (Score:1)
Excuse me? (Score:2)
Was that a joke, cadet? Are you authorized to make jokes, cadet?
I can just see it (Score:2)
Trapped in a space capsule with Carrot Top of a year and a half. Someone's going out the airlock, either him or me, problem solved either way.
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If it’s him, you’ll be solving OUR problem as well...
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Funny I came here to post this exact thing. Carrot Top even.
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What the hell did Carrot Top do to his face? It's spaced out.
Re: (Score:2)
He claims to have never had plastic surgery. If true, he put is face into a blender on "liquify". He is a good candidate for "Botched".
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For one, his eyebrows went funny. They weren't like that during his "skinny" days.
Clowns don't know what clowns are for. (Score:2)
They don't need a comedian. They need a sufi shaman.
Good News/Bad News (Score:2)
The good news is the remaining team is feeling a lot better, and all agree his gruesome death was the best joke Tom ever told.
You don't need a comedian (Score:1)
You just need a cat, with little velcro booties, and buttered toast on its back, maybe half dead, or half alive, depending on your POV, and if you looked.
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This was the best thing I read all day.
y'hoser, eh (Score:2)
Sorry.
Uh huh (Score:2)
Anyone who thinks this is a good idea has never actually known a comedian.
Comedians are not machines that hand out jollity. You're thinking of clowns. Comedians are frustrated idealists, and in that capacity are the most depressing people that you will ever meet.
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...Comedians are frustrated idealists, and in that capacity are the most depressing people that you will ever meet.
+1 insightful. I like many comedians, but have often thought "damn, this person would be hard to live with".
They should study people... (Score:2)
... who are naturally don't mind being alone rather. AKA monks, etc, people who can naturally be away from society or others and years at a time and see what is different about them and how they deal with it. I'm sure they'd be better then sticking comedian on board.
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Monks practice like hell to change their experience of reality. They aren't born that way. If you managed to detach from your ego to a large extent, you wouldn't feel compelled to do a lot of your current lifestyle stuff, either.
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Thank you for pointing out that it was a joke. It appeared to be lame so it was easier for the casual browser to think it was another repetitive racist rant. It would be better if the guideline provided by the AC above were followed: "not being a racist and being actually funny would be better?" Or even being a racist might be fine: funny is funny, and all should be able to take a joke every now and again.
Any good cracker jokes out there?
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So two crackers walked into the Ritz..
Two Words (Score:2)
Don Rickles in Space (Score:2)
After reading the headline, the first thing that popped into my mind was Don Rickles floating around in a space suit, ridiculing everything every other astronaut was doing, and now I can't stop laughing about that.
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Yeah, great sight picture, I too had thought of a Rickles type or other insult comics.
"That's not a hockey puck, you shmuck! That's your dinner, you hockey puck!"
Hold the Pros (Score:1)
Robots (Score:3)
We need more robots in space, and less clowns. NASA needs to focus on real shit.
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+5 insightful
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It's not mutually exclusive. [wikia.com]
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We need funny robots. Interest in space exploration would sky-rocket!
Opposites... (Score:3)
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+1 :)
Like Interstellar (Score:3)
Cooper: What's your humor setting, TARS?
TARS: That's one hundred percent.
Cooper: Let's bring it on down to seventy-five, please.
Um, team building? (Score:4, Interesting)
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Just don't end up cooped up with someone who thinks it hilarious to share the endings of novels!
The detriment of spoilers is vastly overrated. In reality they have an opposite effect of enhancing the experience.
Re: Um, team building? (Score:2)
Guess they didn't read the Mars trilogy (Score:2)
Remember how Arkady worked out?
Mariners Solved These Problems Long Ago (Score:2)
Music. Singing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CuyLbC2TZo
Also, the U.S. Army's (that also using singing heavily (Cadences) research shows that food has the greatest impact of all--quality and quantity. Actually NASA's research show that its the place of eating that people find their sanity and most happiness.
Seems I found the first space shanty on youtube (Score:2)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDXfQTD_rgQ
I think perhaps we need to work on these... In my opinion, everybody needs to keep a sense of humor. And it's best to have a few people who can play some kind of musical instrument, like a violin.
Personally, I'd like a large pipe organ in my spaceship.
Joking Apart? (Score:2)
Personal space (Score:2)
So we're sending Pinkie Pie into deep space..? (Score:1)
As long as she has her Party Cannon, everything will be okay. :LOL:
mnem
What could possibly go wrong?!?