What does being crazy really look like?

The only thing that tips me off immediately is when a poster has his own specialized vocabulary that he doesn't bother to define before employing it. In that case either schizophrenia or fairly acute autism has led him to forget that we don't know what he's talking about when he uses the phrases that he makes up.Otherwise, no, we don't know from the get-go. An idea may be unusual, but it cannot be mad in itself. To find out whether the person maintaining the idea is mad, we need to know how he reacts to contrary arguments.Even then, their failure may not be down to insanity as such. It may be down to gormless stupidity. Even then, it may not be stupidity as such, just a specific disability. For example, I think that our poster Faith is not actually insane when she talks about geology, I think she suffers from a disability similar to dyslexia which we might call dysphysica: she has no ability to think about physical things actually happening.

You raise a good point.Certainly I believe that you are not mentally ill. I assert that you are not mentally ill. But can anyone prove that you are not mentally ill?Maybe you yourself could, but apparently you are not inclined to furnish us with the requisite demonstration.

Yeah, I was just yanking your chain.I shall refrain from giving my actual opinion on your intelligence or sanity, because, meh.

Oh, I think in the case of the particular deficiency I have postulated for you, you've been given an objective test and you've failed. Someone who really can't observe the merits of real geology over your version when your version violates conservation of matter does indeed suffer from "dysphysica". The objective test would be if someone looks at a pictorial representation of real geology and says "oh, yes, that's plausible" but bursts out laughing when presented with a pictorial representation of your fantasies.Edited by Dr Adequate, : No reason given.

Lines In Purple InkorE Pur Si MauveWhen Galileo first discerned
the cosmic secrets, and he yearned
to tell a baffled world it turned,
he said: "They won't believe what I reveal,
unless, to show them that it's true,
I write in ink of rainbow hue:
of amber, crimson, yellow, blue
and violet, viridian and teal."When Newton, that unequalled sage,
revealed his knowledge to his age,
he wrote it in magenta, beige
and turquoise, for he said "They won't suppose
my insight can be very keen
unless I tell them what I mean
in russet, indigo and green,
and lavender and burgundy and rose."When Darwin wanted to defend
the notion that we all descend
from monkeys, then he wisely penned
his words in tones of olive, plum and puce;
for as he very sagely said:
"To prove I've not gone off my head,
I'll write in cyan, mauve and red,
so folks won't think my theory is obtuse."They say when Albert Einstein dared
disturb the Universe, and shared
the news concerning mc²
he worried they might think him just a loon.
To prove that he could really think,
he wrote his arguments in pink,
vermillion and purple ink,
and terracotta, orange and maroon.So if you also wish to reach
their shade of eminence, then teach
in hues of lilac, cobalt, peach
and scarlet, so that people know you're right.
My friend, I'd think it just too bad
if folks decided you were mad,
but if your thesis looks like plaid,
they'll see your theory's plain as black and white.

Well, save your breath.As I say, I think you suffer from dysphysica. You are actually unable to distinguish between things that physically might take place, and things that couldn't possibly take place, but which you can nonetheless put into words.I recently noticed your commentaries on my "Introduction To Geology" thread on your blog. It is genuinely hard for me to imagine someone being as stupid as you. I have made myself clear in front of adults and children, but confronted with your drooling helpless stupidity in the face of the obvious, I can only conclude that it is actually impossible for you to understand certain things; that you simply have a mental defect that makes you incapable of understanding things that would be obvious to a normal person when it comes to fundamental concepts of physics that would usually be obvious to a child of eight years old. You simply can't reach the level of an eight year old child, and you embarrass yourself when you try.This is not to put you down absolutely --- I am sure that there are things that you are very good at. Go forth and do those. But your dysphysica is actually embarrassing not just to you, but to me. I feel squeamish talking to you about it. But such is the case.

But these are the crazy people. That's what madness is.As someone cleverer than me once said: "A fanatic is someone who can't change his mind and won't change the subject."

No, dysphysica would still identify the things that are wrong with your head.Even though the geological record has been patiently explained to you, you are still unable to understand it. Well, at this point a sane person would realize that you can't understand it.And I would recommend sanity to you. You are obviously too fucking stupid to understand physical processes. Well, I will never be able to play the violin. Therefore, I don't appear in public and try to do so. I would only humiliate myself. In the same way, if you had any fucking sense, which you don't, you would stop humiliating yourself in public, which you won't, because you are too fucking stupid to realize how fucking stupid you are.

This is the difference between us.