892
The definition of "insanity" (lemmy.villa-straylight.social)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml 98 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] a1mlezz@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago

I too hate this quote for that reason, thank you for your service o7

[-] boonhet@lemm.ee 13 points 1 year ago

You're also in a meme community, commenting on a meme, so while technically correct, it's not super relevant.

[-] showmustyugo@lemmygrad.ml 13 points 1 year ago
[-] ThaNook@lemmy.zip -3 points 1 year ago

the original commenter was who downvoted this

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] Butters@lemmywinks.com 8 points 1 year ago

You miss 100% of the DSM that doesn’t get discredited 3 years from now.

—Michael Gretzky

[-] Uli@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 year ago

For me, it's the definition of Flamin' Hot Cheetos.

[-] lobelia581@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 year ago

it's also what i do when i run my programs over and over again hoping the bugs fix themselves

[-] buckykat@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 year ago

Yeah but Vaas is iconic and absolutely arresting in every scene he's in.

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] Klear@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Quote Investigator tracked it to some AA meetings around 1981.

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] DmMacniel@feddit.de -1 points 1 year ago

Iconic only for those who played it or randomly encountered him via meme propagation.

[-] buckykat@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 1 year ago

You should play it 3 is the best far cry game

I mean, Jeffrey Dahmer was universally considered insane and he didn't "do the same thing over and over and expect different results". He just killed and ate people over and over and expected them to taste good.

[-] Bene7rddso@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago

So they tasted good? If not, where's the difference?

[-] PapaStevesy@midwest.social 4 points 1 year ago

Idk, if you're doing the same thing after your training that you were doing before, you either didn't need training or you weren't successfully trained.

It's an idiom, it's not meant to be a clinical diagnosis. Like, yeah if you're psychiatrist says it to you qnd tries to have you institutionalized, that's obviously a problem. But I highly doubt that's ever happened, certainly not in the modern age.

Ultimately, it's actually the same exact idea as "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it," but in less politically correct terms.

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] boonhet@lemm.ee -1 points 1 year ago

For the training, I'd argue that you're not trying to get different results.

Each time, the result is minor growth in whatever your goal is, be it strength, muscle mass, or endurance, etc.

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] ThaNook@lemmy.zip -2 points 1 year ago

think the meme has some grounds for truth. of course it was designed to be a dramatic speech for a scary character but it has some grounds to it: this may not be the truth but its how it feels. By doing the same thing over and over again and seeing no chance you go insane, and as such it feels like doing so is asking for insanity, thus the characters speech!

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] gun@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

Not to mention it's always attributed to Albert Einstein which is not something he said and not something he would ever have said. Doesn't stop people from continuing to invoke this "definition of insanity" as if its a smart thing to say.

[-] squaresinger@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

What a lovely twist on an annoying misattributed quote!

[-] lorez@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago

If you're getting different results it's because you're adjusting something. That's training.

[-] Sol0WingPixy@ttrpg.network 1 points 1 year ago

Doing the same thing over and over with an expectation to see differing results is also science.

[-] BCsven@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago

Actually when you create a hypothesis and test it and prove it out, it is meant to be 100% repeatable by anyone following the metgod. Otherwise your method or hypothesis is wrong.

[-] TheActualDevil@sffa.community 4 points 1 year ago

Right, but the reason you run the experiment repeatedly is to test the validity of the hypothesis. You're looking for something different to happen. That's the point behind rerunning the tests.

[-] BCsven@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

Right, but if you find a difference you alter the method or hypothesis, to get repearbility. An insane person (not neccessarily crazy person, but one that doesn't follow sane rationalizarion) will keep repeating exact same thing.

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] boonhet@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

But also if you keep running the compiler without changing any of the code hoping for the errors to be magically gone, you are insane. So there's the same logic being applied to insanity in computer science

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] kadu@lemmy.world -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Not a meme, it comes from a thought experiment trying to disprove quantum mechanics. It's often attributed to Einstein, though that's very likely not true.

EDIT: This is wrong.

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] kadu@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well, digging further it seems like we are both wrong.

Rita Mae Brown's quote is not the earliest example of it being used, so it's certainly not the origin. Though the misattribution to Einstein was adapted into the quantum argument I knew about. Both are not the earliest mentions of the quote, and the exact origin is debated. The most likely scenario is that it originated in a Narcotics Anonymous setting.

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml -3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] kadu@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

What an overly aggressive reply. But sure, let's play.

Would you look at this, a 1981 Narcotics Anonymous pamphlet that contains the exact quote: "[...] Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results."

Hmm... 1981... But the book was released in 1983... But your previous comment so eloquently said I'm totally wrong, so you've just proven time machines exist! How cool! Einstein would be proud!

[-] 7heo@lemmy.ml -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
[-] Sol0WingPixy@ttrpg.network -4 points 1 year ago

Doing the same thing over and over with an expectation to see differing results is also science.

this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
892 points (96.3% liked)

Memes

45152 readers
2002 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS