Keiran posts
a nice essay about a speciality of his: the world of human organs exchange. Since I know that Keiran is a fine humorist I’m confident that he has wandered into this line of research because it is so rich in outrageous amusing edge cases. Examples where the symbolic structure of the situation crosses over into physical humor. Slapstick. In these situations the humorist has the pleasure of watching his audiences eyes roll.

I see these all the time when reading the economic liturature about public goods. I just wish I was confident that the economists were aware of how amusing their work is. For example yesterday I read the following parable of about social goods.

A grenade is tossed into the trench. If one man throws himself upon it all the others will survive. But, if he doesn’t then he retains the chance that he might just survive. Hence nobody leaps upon the grenade and all the soldiers die.

Therefore public goods are unworkable and Libraries don’t exist.

While I suspect there is some varient of Godwin’s law about this kind of thing it does entertain both the speaker and the audience. The micro-motives of story telling.