We've often been told that we're too sarcastic, and that we should really learn a new brand of humor, but listen folks, science recently discovered that sarcasm plays an important part in human social interaction and is a much-needed survival skill!
That's right—Darlene Conner, Daria, and Dr. House really are more evolved than everyone else.
According to neurophysiologist, Katherine Rankin at the University of California, San Francisco, damage to your parahippocampal gyrus, which is located in the right half of the brain, can result in a loss of the ability to pick up sarcasm. People with dementia or head injuries in this area often lose their ability to understand these types of witticisms. This indicates that sarcasm is a normal, healthy part of human nature and basically a good thing—evolutionarily speaking.
Now, why would sarcasm have evolved in humans? What good does it do us? Well, science hasn't really answered that question fully, apart from saying that humor is a definite necessity in human interaction, and sarcasm is just a “darker form” of said humor.
Well, we may be dark, and we may be misunderstood, but at least we've got proof that one half of our brain is working properly, and there's obviously something to be said about that.
Via LiveScience.
