Letter: Posting on LinkedIn — but where’s the fun in that?

Emma Jacobs’ Business Life column (“LinkedIn’s makeover is lacking one thing: humour”, June 24) concludes with a powerful message: “In a war against the machines the best defence may be #humour.”

That’s spot on and addresses a real issue in a world where genuine humour is a rare commodity. This is indeed a measurable observation as only a small percentage of a large number of LinkedIn posts manage to attract a funny reaction or a comment that has the potential to prompt a smile.

Humour has a natural attribute that most of the time it is spontaneous in delivery and that’s precisely where a key disconnect with LinkedIn lies.

I’m not sure why it is so, but LinkedIn users generally prepare and over-prepare, thereby leaving little or no scope for spontaneity and hence humour suffers.

Humour is God’s greatest gift to human beings and it differentiates us from both the machines and even from the animals to some extent. It is for this reason that when we miss or lose a human being with whom we have shared moments of humour, we remember those moments and feel emotional. Machines do not have this potential yet and may never come even close to it even if advancements grow to the highest levels.

It’s like this — architects with the help of computers can design houses but people make it home; Google Maps can advise on the best route but not the best paths; Amazon’s Alexa can advise on chartbusters but not the most loved song; likewise artificial intelligence can be a reason why we may find something funny but not humorous.

There is a difference between the two and always will be. AI can never bridge this gap from being funny to being humorous!

Tushar Garg
Scientist, India’s National Innovation Foundation (NIF) Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India; Former Associate, Goldman Sachs