A man — Mikhailovich — obsessed, computationally, with laughter

Suslov Igor Mikhailovich, Doctor of Science, who is Head Scientist at the P.L. Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems, has been working steadily towards a goal: creating a computer with a sense of humor. The photo below shows Mikhailovich projecting his thoughts. Here are four of his research papers on the matter:

1. arXiv:0711.3197 [pdf, ps, other]

How to realize “a sense of humour” in computers ?

I. M. Suslov (P.L.Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems, Moscow, Russia)

Comments: 14 pages, 6 figures included, 2007

Subjects: Computation and Language (cs.CL); Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI); Neurons and Cognition (q-bio.NC)

2. arXiv:0711.2270 [pdf, ps, other]

Can a Computer Laugh ?

I. M. Suslov (P.L.Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems, Moscow, Russia)

Comments: English translation of the paper in Russian; 18 pages, 6 figures included

Journal-ref: Computer Chronicle (Moscow), 1994, issue 1, p.1

Subjects: Computation and Language (cs.CL); Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI); Neurons and Cognition (q-bio.NC)

3. arXiv:0711.2061 [pdf, ps, other]

Computer Model of a “Sense of Humour”. II. Realization in Neural Networks

I. M. Suslov (P.L.Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems, Moscow, Russia)

Comments: 13 pages, 5 figures included; continuation of this series to appear

Journal-ref: Biofizika SSSR 37, 325 (1992) [Biophysics 37, 249 (1992)]

Subjects: Neurons and Cognition (q-bio.NC); Artificial Intelligence (cs.AI)

4. arXiv:0711.2058 [pdf, ps, other]

Computer Model of a “Sense of Humour”. I. General Algorithm

I. M. Suslov (P.L.Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems, Moscow, Russia)

Comments: 10 pages, 3 figures included; continuation of this series to appear

Journal-ref: Biofizika SSSR 37, 318 (1992) [Biophysics 37, 242 (1992)]

BONUS: An earlier Mickhailovich worked in the opposite direction, The following passage is from the study “The Social Meanings of Swearing: Workers and Bad Language in Late Imperial and Early Soviet Russia,” S.A. Smith, Past & Present, No. 160 (Aug., 1998), pp. 167-202.:

“carnivalesque use of language was associated in Russia with the skomorokhi, minstrels whose singing, dancing and bear-baiting were standard fare at festivities. In 1648, a time of intense popular unrest, tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich banned these minstrels, making specific reference to their singing ‘impious and foul songs'”.

BONUS (unrelated): “On the Existence of Mikhailov”