The majority are always sane - Ringworld by Larry Niven

When I first started college I studied Psychology. After taking a couple of classes I figured out that the so called science of psychology was a bunch of garbage. So I got into computers instead.

In the book Ringworld a character states "The majority are always sane". If you define insanity as being different than the norm then this is true. If you define insanity as being irrational then this is not true.

The problem I had with psychology was that it tried to define sanity as being "normal". Behavior that was different than normal was something that needed to be treated. I felt this was wrong, that sanity had more to do with rationality than what the majority of people do or think. Over the years I have seen plenty of evidence that I was right, and yet the majority of the population (and I am sure the majority of psychologists) still believe sanity is about being normal.

So let me put out some arguments to explain my reasoning.

The vast majority of people have never killed anyone. Killing people is considered bad and certainly isn't normal. Does this mean policemen and soldiers are insane? If you define sanity as being normal then they must be insane. If you define sanity as rationality then they are sane because they are killing people for a reason, usually a well thought out reason that caused them to accept the position they are in.

Long ago the vast majority of people thought the world was flat. Does that mean that anyone that thought the world was round was insane? People at the time certainly thought so. But the people who thought the world was round had a well thought out reason why the world was round. They were rational, but not normal. It also turns out they were right.

To summarize: Sanity can't be determined by what the majority believe. Being outside of the norm doesn't mean a person is insane. On the flip side, being rational isn't a guarantee of sanity. A person can be rational for most of their life then suddenly slip into insanity. Or they may be rational on some subjects and irrational on others.

To summarize my summary: People are complicated. Learn to live with it.

Argh

I was born a natural problem solver. It is the one ability I have true excellence in. I am happiest when I am given a huge mess and asked to clean it up. The reason I got into computers in the first place was because it was all problem solving.

But right now with Michigan's economy being in the dumper businesses are dealing with problems far beyond my ability to solve like what if our largest customer goes bankrupt, and they don't have the time to deal with the issues that I could possibly solve like giving them a computerized knowledgebase or redesigning their accounting system. My current place of employment has cut IT staff to such low levels we are having a hard time supporting the computer systems we have in place now, so even if they wanted an innovative solution we don't have the staff to deliver it.

What does a natural problem solver do when all the problems are beyond his ability to solve? He sits and gets very frustrated. Lately I have been exploring the very edges of theoretical database design, object/relational databases, design theory, etc. But it isn't the same. I need a problem to solve. Of course due to work agreements and conflict of interest issues that problem would have to come from my employer and that isn't going to be happening soon.

It is all very frustrating.