[extropy-chat] why do we stop laughing?

[Steve Davies]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Spike" <spike66 at comcast.net>
To: "'ExI chat list'" <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 6:36 AM
Subject: [extropy-chat] why do we stop laughing?


>
> I was cutting up with some guys at lunch today.  A
> question occurred to me: why is it that when someone
> does or says something funny, people start to laugh,
> then something must happen in our brains to adjust
> something.  Otherwise we would keep on laughing at
> that joke indefinitely.  Sometimes some event is so
> funny we cannot stop laughing for some time, but after
> a period of time we always do stop.  Good thing, eh?
> But what actually occurs in our brains to allow us
> to stop laughing?
>
> spike

I think there must be some chemical feedback mechanism in the brain. Magic
mushrooms clearly interfere with this because their main effect is to make
you find everything hilarious and laugh nonstop for hours - I can vouch for
this.