12 Days of JOURNOS, Day One: Oh a Sarcasm Detector I’m So Sure

We kick off "The 12 Days of JOURNOS," a collection of weird stories we loved but didn't get to, and follow-ups to those stories we did. It's short tales told through a phone call or two.

On the First Day of JOURNOS, Brandon interrupts Stephen's "Irish Goodnight" with the story of a sarcasm detector funded by the US government's DARPA. The goal? To scientifically determine if that dude on Twitter *really* thinks we're "so f*ckin funny" or if it's all a put-on.

We discuss the puzzles and pitfalls of one of humanity's greatest inventions — language itself, a technology so mysterious we have to invent another technology to explain it to us.

Along the way we sort out what sentiment analysis means to both aspiring politicians and aspiring burritos, and figure out if a sarcasm detector might've saved some time in the court case where Judge Roy Moore sued comedian Sacha Baron Cohen for using a "pedophile detector" on him.

It's all good fun until DARPA figures out how to aim drone strikes at satire. Merry Christmas!