Humor as Damping Term: Mathematical Formalization of Signal Homeostasis in Viral Information Cascades

Humor as Damping Term: Mathematical Formalization of Signal Homeostasis in Viral Information Cascades is a technical formalization of a previously proposed qualitative framework in which humor functions as a stabilizing mechanism during high-ambiguity, high-volatility information events. The paper models escalation dynamics using ordinary differential equations, treating humor and concrete grounding as explicit damping coefficients within self-reinforcing viral cascades. It demonstrates that when combined damping exceeds baseline amplification, escalation intensity predictably decays, pushing the effective viral reproduction number below critical threshold. Using the January 2026 St. Louis “escaped monkeys” event as a natural-experiment proxy, the model is validated across three simulated scenarios: no damping, humor-only damping, and combined humor + grounding. Results show that humor disrupts coordination synchronization and narrative capture, while grounding provides sustained attenuation of escalation. Their combination reliably produces rapid decay without coercive intervention. The paper introduces two practical text-derived stability metrics — the Composite Grounding Metric (Gᵢ) and the Potato Index (Pᵢ) — which correlate with escalation decay and can be computed in real time from information streams. These metrics provide actionable, non-punitive signals for platform design, public communication, and escalation monitoring. This work functions as a standalone technical appendix to Humor as Signal Homeostasis (Walton, 2026) and is intended for researchers working on information dynamics, social contagion, platform governance, and non-coercive intervention design. Despite its formal mathematical framing, the paper intentionally preserves the empirical insight that humor — often treated as noise — operates as a measurable regulatory mechanism in human information systems.