Human brains read each other all the time — it’s the most fundamental way we learn.
Our ‘mirror neurons’ are gently mimicking everyone around us, all the time.
There are several reasons that someone falling over is funny, and one of them is these mirror neurons.
When we fall over or get surprised, our brains send out flashes of electrons, thrashing about just as we flail our arms when we trip.
When we see someone fall, some of our neurons fire as if we were the person falling over. We experience the ghost of it in our subconscious — our brain is ‘tickled’ by theirs.
So even when we fall, we create a little spark of joy.