The laughter thing in argument is interesting. At BHTV there are a few that use it constantly and they come across as very likable people because of it but there is also lack of rigorous thought and defensibility of the POV. Or it is just recognition of the absurd in a very fundamental way, (nihilist)? They would never admit to nihilism but i think this is practice of it.
This is particularly a good watch if someone wanted to do an essay about laughter in argument. http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/15319 (really, watch it. A fundamentalist that believes we should have lots of babies and militarize space so we can build a space elevator and go to mars.) Compare his argument and debate style with Laniers.
My Bloggingheads.tv interview with Jaron Lanier is up. Reductionism, zombies, and questions that you're not allowed to answer:
This ended up being more of me interviewing Lanier than a dialog, I'm afraid. I was a little too reluctant to interrupt. But you at least get a chance to see the probes I use, and Lanier's replies to them.
If there are any BHTV heads out there who read Overcoming Bias and have something they'd like to talk to me about, do let me or our kindly producers know.