> Maybe the evolutionary basis for laughter is that the pleasure of unexpected outcomes helps us cope with being wrong.

Yes, but I think it's more nuanced than that. Laughter doesn't come from unexpected outcomes, it comes from things that are unexpected in unexpected ways.

E.g. not being able to find your shoes because they're under the coffee table vs duct-taped to the ceiling.

I wrote about this here: http://alexkrupp.typepad.com/sensemaking/2010/06/how-writing...