Sometimes I think about how much I take for granted my
basic human mental safety mechanisms. One of my philosophy
professors told a story about a student in her class who,
upon studying radical Cartesian skepticism, went crazy
doubting everything and had to be taken away to a hospital
for a while for his own protection. I’m sure I’ve
encountered philosophy stranger than that, and some of it
I don’t have an answer for, but I don’t go insane for the
simple reason that when I encounter a philosophical
problem I can’t solve I just shrug and say “Mmmm, that’s
interesting” and go back to my normal human life. And it’s
only been recently that I’ve realized some people can’t do
this—that I see people studying philosophy that’s no
longer even interesting to me, like determinism or
reductionism[,] and having existential crises over it.
Yes, very relevant. Just know that there’s MUCH more potent stuff out there, even maliciously designed. Not really a lot of it thou, and the vast majority of stuff damaging enough to avoid it is in already known dangers like cults. Still, there is some really nasty stuff out there that can get around even extremely good defences.
This reminds me of something Yvain said:
Yes, very relevant. Just know that there’s MUCH more potent stuff out there, even maliciously designed. Not really a lot of it thou, and the vast majority of stuff damaging enough to avoid it is in already known dangers like cults. Still, there is some really nasty stuff out there that can get around even extremely good defences.