It Never Worked Before: Nine Intellectual Jokes

Below are nine of my favorite1 intellectual jokes. In the final section, I offer a small treatise on when I like them, and why I consider many other “smart people jokes” to not reach this bar. In xenosociology class we learned about a planet full of people who believe in anti-induction: if the sun has risen every day in the past, then they think it’s very unlikely that it’d rise again. As a result, these people are all starving and living in poverty. An Earth xenosociologist visits the planet and studies them assiduously for 6 months. At the end of her stay, she asked to be brought to their greatest scientists and philosophers, and poses the question: “So why are you still using this anti-induction philosophy? You’re living in horrible poverty!” The lead philosopher of science looks at her in pity as if she’s a child, and replies: “Well, it never worked before…” _ A mob drags a man into a police station for running over 13 people, while shouting "Murderer!" "Killer!" The policeman disp

Below are nine of my favorite1 intellectual jokes. In the final section, I offer a small treatise on when I like them, and why I consider many other “smart people jokes” to not reach this bar. In xenosociology class we learned about a planet full of people who believe in anti-induction: if the sun has risen every day in the past, then they think it’s very unlikely that it’d rise again. As a result, these people are all starving and living in poverty. An Earth xenosociologist visits the planet and studies them assiduously for 6 months. At the end of her stay, she asked to be brought to their gr