I agree with this in a “catgirl volcano utopia” kinda way, but I think Kaj_Sotala was pointing more to a “words as pointers to locations in thingspace” issue. The word “sane” points to taking actions that work in the context you’re facing. It isn’t sane to shout about the sky falling when the sky isn’t falling and it’s easy for sane people to notice that the sky isn’t falling and that shouting about it is insane. But there isn’t an obvious plan for what you should do when the sky really is falling, so if the sky starts falling in ways that are obvious and difficult for normal people to ignore, then the thingspace cluster that “sane” used to point to starts to come apart.
I like expanding “sane” to something like “know what’s true and do what works”… it’s an impossible standard but something to aspire to.
It seems “sane” may also point to “not indulging in dramatic emotional expressions”, like not screaming, not crying, not punching inanimate objects. But pathos works. Emotions make characters in stories relatable. So the goal isn’t to stay sane, for that is not a well defined thing to do. The goal isn’t even to look sane, for looking insane may be compelling, and looking sane to everyone all the time is probably impossible. For people in general… “don’t think about what’s sane, think about what works” is probably good advice to gesture towards the actual goal.
I agree with this in a “catgirl volcano utopia” kinda way, but I think Kaj_Sotala was pointing more to a “words as pointers to locations in thingspace” issue. The word “sane” points to taking actions that work in the context you’re facing. It isn’t sane to shout about the sky falling when the sky isn’t falling and it’s easy for sane people to notice that the sky isn’t falling and that shouting about it is insane. But there isn’t an obvious plan for what you should do when the sky really is falling, so if the sky starts falling in ways that are obvious and difficult for normal people to ignore, then the thingspace cluster that “sane” used to point to starts to come apart.
I like expanding “sane” to something like “know what’s true and do what works”… it’s an impossible standard but something to aspire to.
It seems “sane” may also point to “not indulging in dramatic emotional expressions”, like not screaming, not crying, not punching inanimate objects. But pathos works. Emotions make characters in stories relatable. So the goal isn’t to stay sane, for that is not a well defined thing to do. The goal isn’t even to look sane, for looking insane may be compelling, and looking sane to everyone all the time is probably impossible. For people in general… “don’t think about what’s sane, think about what works” is probably good advice to gesture towards the actual goal.