I'm sure someone will point out if I am incorrect here, but:
Isn't it somewhat irrational to analyze why a joke isn't funny? Isn't it sortof like trying to use a rational analysis to demonstrate that you should or should not like the sound of birds?
I mean, hey now, c'mon.
( In any case, the joke wasn't "Descarte died thus stopped thinking". )
Isn't it somewhat irrational to analyze why a joke isn't funny?
Nope. Our best guess on humour is that it is unexpected pattern-breaking. This is a function of our extremely complex pattern-matching muscle, the brain. My rational analysis of what happened in Costanza's post is that he attempted to break the pattern of "cogito ergo sum is an axiom / truism or important / obvious / wise statement" by presenting a situation where the statement's conclusion is absurd.
My post pointed out that the joke was funny to students of logic because it breaks...
Post quotes.