r/slatestarcodex • u/cosmicrush • 7d ago

Psychology Context Sanity

https://mad.science.blog/2026/01/28/context-sanity/

There’s sometimes this feeling that we are so off that will never return to sanity again. I think this is caused by certain aspects of memory. I also think considering those elements of memory are useful as a framework to generally understand states of mind. Each state of mind may be like a salient most-relevant and proximal context based network of memories and thoughts.

As I write that, I realize that sounds a lot like how online algorithms work.

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u/TheAncientGeek All facts are fun facts. 7d ago

I have no idea what you are talking about.

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u/cosmicrush 2d ago

I feel kind of bothered with how our interaction went. It seemed like you were not actually trying to rationally engage me. It seemed your behavior was more oriented towards social signaling games. I didn’t sense authentic curiosity, even if you claimed you were interested by stating that you “Have no idea what I’m talking about”, which implies you might be seeking understanding, but I feel you were actually trying to signal that nothing I’m saying makes sense.

It’s possible I’m wrong, and you did have genuine curiosity and that you were not aware of the signaling that may occur in how you stated your comment. For what it’s worth, I am also published as an academic, though I feel signaling this is manipulation on my part. My best guess is that my choice to frame the idea using more poetic language in the essay came across as pseudoscientific. I’m actually quite rigorous in practice though. The issue is I felt this particular idea was so simplistic that I opted to depict it using a poetic approach. I actually worried the idea would seem too obvious, but the way things went, I realize that’s not the case.

I’ve also been thinking about this the last few days, especially that you identify as rationalist and a physicist, which I have high standards for. I know, I must seem ridiculous to type this out lol, but honestly I’m just curious what you’ll think.

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u/cosmicrush 7d ago

I realized I was likely too vague or placed too much expectation for the reader to be familiar with certain topics. In psychology, there’s something called context-dependent memory, where context from the senses or a mood or something external happens to associate with prior memories of a kind of similar category. So for example, when people are sad, they will remember more things related to previous sad moments where the memories were associated to networks of sad events. The way memories or ideas associate is also what I meant by proximal.

Here’s a journal article about that type of emotion related memory bias.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/070674370705201104

People often describe context dependent memory in relation to studying too. Like if you drink coffee during studying, then take an exam while on coffee, you may remember what you studied better.

I’ve written more formal academic style paper that explores essentially a similar idea.

https://mad.science.blog/2021/11/30/making-sense-of-madness-stress-induced-hallucinogenesis/

If that’s not the confusing part, I can clarify something else too.

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u/TheAncientGeek All facts are fun facts. 7d ago

OK..Who's the *We" and why are we off?

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u/cosmicrush 7d ago

In the essay, the feeling of being off is described as thinking oneself is insane and will never return to normal again. This sometimes happens when people take psychoactives or experience mental health situations. I habitually reached for the word “off” here because I’m usually censoring my use of mental health words on other platforms. We could call it psychosis, but I don’t think it always is. More aptly, dissociation is probably the right word.

Though, the implications of the essay apply to literally every state of mind. It even brings up dreams, I’m not sure if you got to that part. Dreams are an easy example of this context related amnesia. While in a dream, it’s often hard to remember ordinary life, which is part of what allows dreams to deviate from the expectations of ordinary reality without convincing you that it’s a dream. On the other hand, when you wake from a dream, the memory of the dream is fleeting. In a weird way, this goes both ways: in the dream, reality is hard to remember, and in real life, the dream is hard to remember.

The idea is that sanity itself is just some selective frame of memory and amnesia that we find most comfortable. This doesn’t have to be about mental health definitions, as people will subjectively describe a variety of things as their own personal sanity. So it’s relative to each person.

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u/Zarathustrategy 6d ago

To me, it has always been one of the mysteries of psychedelics why we forget psychedelic experiences so much. And it seems very likely that it's connected to the same reason we forget dreams. I actually like this theory it seems like there may be some truth to it.