Continuing the discussion from Most chilling quote, by creating a thread for general sanity discussions:
So let’s talk about sanity. Although in this initial post we won’t be doing much more than defining the problem.
The galaxy is absolutely fucking bugnuts.
Eh, maybe define that a little more stringently.
The majority of species - including humanity - grow up alone in the universe, and aren’t terribly philosophically-minded, or at least not all that inclined to listen to philosophers. (And, to be fair, given what some philosophers get up to when no-one’s looking, this may be a good thing.) As such, they tend to carry unquestioned for much of this pre-exognosis period the assumption that the all-set of minds is, if not identical to the them-set, is at least close to it.
As a result, they tend to invent crude standards of sanity along the lines of “Well, we’re normal, and obviously the mostest of us are the normalest of all,” and then proceed to write up nice formal standards based on regression to the mode. Sometimes with the help of drugs and electroshock.
At a later point, assuming their mode isn’t too ridiculously homotoxic, they head off into space and are rapidly disabused of this notion when they run into a whole lot of minds that aren’t, in fact, much like theirs at all. Leaving aside those future members of the Interstellar League of Tribal Chiefdoms and Rogue State Club whose mode is xenophobic enough to double down on the attitude, at this point they tend to realize that a more objective standard is required.
(Also some apologies to the people on the wrong end of the drugs and electroshock previously, but, yeah, that happens.)
Now in terms of what that standard is…
Also, of course, there are some distinctions to be made between sanity (in the strict sophotechnological sense); sanity (in the legal sense); and sanity (in the sense of up with which we are prepared to put 'round these parts). When I get around to making more posts on this thread, you betcha we’re going to distinguish the hell out of those.