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The point of diminishing returns on sanity occurs sooner than almost everyone expects. Surprised nobody has yet mentioned Douglas Adams' "Wonko the Sane," who

The point of diminishing returns on sanity occurs sooner than almost everyone expects. Surprised nobody has yet mentioned Douglas Adams' "Wonko the Sane," who built an asylum turned inside out to house the whole world. Many comedians would qualify as this as well. I know a few people I would consider "hypersane," and you can't have too many of them around because they are immune to the various arbitrages that create need and value for everyone else. They are also very charismatic and hence, contagious. I understand traditionally the cure for hypersanity was either hemlock, or crucifixion.

checktheorder 7y ago
>Surprised nobody has yet mentioned Douglas Adams' "Wonko the Sane," who built an asylum turned inside out to house the whole world. Many comedians would qualify as this as well. I'm also thinking of the Terry Pratchett concept of being "knurd". On the Discworld, the opposite of being drunk isn't being sober - sober is the middle ground on the drunk/sober/knurd scale. To be knurd is to be so completely aware of everything that one can't really function in normal society.
- codesnik 7y ago
  I only now have realised it's "drunk" spelled backwards. And probably reads the same as "nerd"
  - riffraff 7y ago
    the first time I read Terry Pratchett it was in italian, and knurd had not been translated, I suppose the translator didn't get the joke or thought it wasn't fun in italian. Took me a decade or so to finally get it when I re-encountered it in english :)
    - stronglikedan 7y ago
      Since I'm sure I'm not the only one with the desire to look that up, "drunk/knurd" is apparently "ubriaco/ocairbu" in Italian.
- kijin 7y ago
  > To be knurd is to be so completely aware of everything that one can't really function in normal society. That sounds like the intense world theory of autism.
- Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
  Why would being completely aware of everything not allow one to function in a society if one wanted to? Does it imply that you can't selectively focus on things? Right now if I am to do the dishes, I am already aware of thousands other things and concepts and deep truths about reality, and sciences, etc. etc, but I can focus on this one task, it doesn't matter what I am aware of, if I choose to do it I can do it. How would being aware of more things put a dent in that? If so, then call it for what it is (perhaps "attention deficit disorder"?), but it has nothing to do with the amount of awareness.
  - arvinsim 7y ago
    > Why would being completely aware of everything not allow one to function in a society if one wanted to? > Does it imply that you can't selectively focus on things? This reminds me of Superman and General Zod in the "Man of Steel" film.
    - checktheorder 7y ago
      >This reminds me of Superman and General Zod in the "Man of Steel" film. In that Zack Snyder was fundamentally incapable of focusing on one thing at a time, and decided to metaphorically barf up every half-baked idea simultaneously, making for an ungodly confusing incompetent mess of a film?
  - zerogvt 7y ago
    First of all, kudos for your nickname. A lot of what makes the society ticks -especially any society deeply rooted in materialism like ours today- is very hard to justify even when you are in a just-sane state of mind. See "bullshit jobs" for a longer treatise of that. Yes, you can focus better on the things you wanted to focus on but you would probably find it very hard to convince yourself to focus doing the work you currently do as hypersanity would probably have its importance stripped away.
    - Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
      So if I am starving, have no money for my interests, and yet have ambitions - and cannot find a fully fullfilling job, are you saying that I will not be able to go to a "bullshit job", because I will be under the impression that sitting at home meditating or looking at trees is more important than getting food through work? That to me sounds like laziness or victim complex, or a couple of other things, but really not something I would call "sanity".
ianai 7y ago
Wonko is one of my favorite characters! I wish his point of view got more air time. The world absolutely has to be insane. There are just too many degrees of freedom for orderliness to be strong enough for normalcy. I’m not quite comfortable using the term hypersane without further explanation. It sounds like a person capable of keeping the world in “perspective”.
hyperion2010 7y ago
We must have posted at the same time ;)
hyperpallium 7y ago
I never realized you should moisten the end of a toothpick to soften it before use - the instruction instigating Wonko's asylum. DNA is one of my favourite authors, but seems I'm on the wrong side of the asylum door...
benj111 7y ago
"the cure for hypersanity was either hemlock, or crucifixion" Are you making reference to Jesus here? Hypersanity doesn't seem to sit well with certain other.. traits.
- Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
  What do you mean? (assuming it's about Jesus)
  - antonvs 7y ago
    He exhibited petulance, short temper, violence, and extremism. Hypersane doesn't really seem to apply. That's probably because the people who wrote about the character weren't thinking in those terms.
    - Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
      You seem to operate on some other set of historical books and accounts than what is readily available.
      - evultrole 7y ago
        That's an odd reply. Mark 4, Jesus basically says he doesn't want everyone to be saved so he's confusing on purpose. Matthew 15, he scolds Pharisees for not killing children like god commanded Matthew 21, he goes on an anger induced rampage in the temple Mark 11, Jesus killed a tree because he was mad that it didn't have fruit when it was out of season Do you think these things don't count?
        reitanqild 7y ago
        > Do you think these things don't count? First of all, good point! More people should read what the book actually says. It can be downright scary at times even if I have found it very useful. That said, while 3 and 4 are definitely interesting I think most agree 3 was a good thing. 1 and 2 are interesting in this context only because in one case you seem to lack context and in the next you either haven't read it carefully or are deliberately misreading it.

checktheorder 7y ago

>Surprised nobody has yet mentioned Douglas Adams' "Wonko the Sane," who built an asylum turned inside out to house the whole world. Many comedians would qualify as this as well. I'm also thinking of the Terry Pratchett concept of being "knurd". On the Discworld, the opposite of being drunk isn't being sober - sober is the middle ground on the drunk/sober/knurd scale. To be knurd is to be so completely aware of everything that one can't really function in normal society.

codesnik 7y ago
I only now have realised it's "drunk" spelled backwards. And probably reads the same as "nerd"
- riffraff 7y ago
  the first time I read Terry Pratchett it was in italian, and knurd had not been translated, I suppose the translator didn't get the joke or thought it wasn't fun in italian. Took me a decade or so to finally get it when I re-encountered it in english :)
  - stronglikedan 7y ago
    Since I'm sure I'm not the only one with the desire to look that up, "drunk/knurd" is apparently "ubriaco/ocairbu" in Italian.
kijin 7y ago
> To be knurd is to be so completely aware of everything that one can't really function in normal society. That sounds like the intense world theory of autism.
Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
Why would being completely aware of everything not allow one to function in a society if one wanted to? Does it imply that you can't selectively focus on things? Right now if I am to do the dishes, I am already aware of thousands other things and concepts and deep truths about reality, and sciences, etc. etc, but I can focus on this one task, it doesn't matter what I am aware of, if I choose to do it I can do it. How would being aware of more things put a dent in that? If so, then call it for what it is (perhaps "attention deficit disorder"?), but it has nothing to do with the amount of awareness.
- arvinsim 7y ago
  > Why would being completely aware of everything not allow one to function in a society if one wanted to? > Does it imply that you can't selectively focus on things? This reminds me of Superman and General Zod in the "Man of Steel" film.
  - checktheorder 7y ago
    >This reminds me of Superman and General Zod in the "Man of Steel" film. In that Zack Snyder was fundamentally incapable of focusing on one thing at a time, and decided to metaphorically barf up every half-baked idea simultaneously, making for an ungodly confusing incompetent mess of a film?
- zerogvt 7y ago
  First of all, kudos for your nickname. A lot of what makes the society ticks -especially any society deeply rooted in materialism like ours today- is very hard to justify even when you are in a just-sane state of mind. See "bullshit jobs" for a longer treatise of that. Yes, you can focus better on the things you wanted to focus on but you would probably find it very hard to convince yourself to focus doing the work you currently do as hypersanity would probably have its importance stripped away.
  - Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
    So if I am starving, have no money for my interests, and yet have ambitions - and cannot find a fully fullfilling job, are you saying that I will not be able to go to a "bullshit job", because I will be under the impression that sitting at home meditating or looking at trees is more important than getting food through work? That to me sounds like laziness or victim complex, or a couple of other things, but really not something I would call "sanity".

ianai 7y ago

Wonko is one of my favorite characters! I wish his point of view got more air time. The world absolutely has to be insane. There are just too many degrees of freedom for orderliness to be strong enough for normalcy. I’m not quite comfortable using the term hypersane without further explanation. It sounds like a person capable of keeping the world in “perspective”.

hyperion2010 7y ago

We must have posted at the same time ;)

hyperpallium 7y ago

I never realized you should moisten the end of a toothpick to soften it before use - the instruction instigating Wonko's asylum. DNA is one of my favourite authors, but seems I'm on the wrong side of the asylum door...

benj111 7y ago

"the cure for hypersanity was either hemlock, or crucifixion" Are you making reference to Jesus here? Hypersanity doesn't seem to sit well with certain other.. traits.

Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
What do you mean? (assuming it's about Jesus)
- antonvs 7y ago
  He exhibited petulance, short temper, violence, and extremism. Hypersane doesn't really seem to apply. That's probably because the people who wrote about the character weren't thinking in those terms.
  - Erlich_Bachman 7y ago
    You seem to operate on some other set of historical books and accounts than what is readily available.
    - evultrole 7y ago
      That's an odd reply. Mark 4, Jesus basically says he doesn't want everyone to be saved so he's confusing on purpose. Matthew 15, he scolds Pharisees for not killing children like god commanded Matthew 21, he goes on an anger induced rampage in the temple Mark 11, Jesus killed a tree because he was mad that it didn't have fruit when it was out of season Do you think these things don't count?
      - reitanqild 7y ago
        > Do you think these things don't count? First of all, good point! More people should read what the book actually says. It can be downright scary at times even if I have found it very useful. That said, while 3 and 4 are definitely interesting I think most agree 3 was a good thing. 1 and 2 are interesting in this context only because in one case you seem to lack context and in the next you either haven't read it carefully or are deliberately misreading it.