# What myths do we tell ourselves to keep our sanity **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 14, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520 "2014-08-14T16:12:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/121 "2015-01-18T09:00:49Z")
I wonder if it’s not so much a place as a state. Like a path in multidimensional Hilbert space. ---
**Author:** ![Gonzori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d07c76/32.png) [@Gonzori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gonzori)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/122 "2015-01-18T16:11:28Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > What doesn’t kill me makes me whinier. > > My entry for Myth We etc… > > **It Can’t Happen Here.** Biggest truth im experiencing at the moment… ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/123 "2015-01-19T06:45:41Z")
If we were to sweep away all the myths, our eyes would be opened just as Adam’s and Eve’s were, and we would behold the awful truth: **The Universe doesn’t care!** Mass insanity and psychosis immediately ensue. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2015, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/124 "2015-01-19T06:50:28Z")
Tomorrow me will handle the things today me is too tired to deal with. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/125 "2015-01-22T14:32:37Z")
We can pay for that by raising taxes on the rich. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/126 "2015-01-23T10:46:57Z")
Tax and spending cuts create jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/127 "2015-02-16T21:55:35Z")
This is all there is. ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/128 "2015-02-17T09:15:10Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > - Everything will be all right > > - There is someone for everyone > > - All parents love their children > > - Animals don’t feel pain the way we do > > - Nobody saw/noticed/smelled that > > - Pets are far better off living with us than they would be in the wild > > - My cat loves me. (Even of the ones that hide exclusively and only come out for food/water while the owner is at work) Animals still feel pain but experience it in a different context than humans in as they do not have the same ability to interpret time and continuity. Pain is known to be very dependent on higher level belief system; for instance if a human is able to feel in control of pain by pushing a button that injects what they believe to be analgesia, even though it is a placebo, they will still feel less pain. Then there is hypnotism and acupuncture. It might be best described by the difference between pure pain, and fear and terror subsequent to the pain. Having much higher representational ability increases the level of pain perceived. For certain lower animals it is likely that they react to harm in a different physiological manner to higher animals. This can be measured by the level of cortisol generated by the actual assault on the system. So those animals have an experience of corporal damage that is not correctly described as pain. This also happens to humans being treated with morphine like medications who may have the very strange experience of the separation between knowledge and experience whereby they have very exact knowledge of the level of pain they are in, but are unconcerned about it even with no clouding of consciousness. Basically, ‘pain’ is far more complex than the folk science view of it. None of this excuses causing pain to animals. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/129 "2015-03-16T05:02:12Z")
This is going to hurt me a lot more than it’s going to hurt you. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/130 "2015-03-16T07:49:26Z")
> [@Pjen](#): > > Animals still feel pain but experience it in a different context than humans in as they do not have the same ability to interpret time and continuity. Pain is known to be very dependent on higher level belief system; for instance if a human is able to feel in control of pain by pushing a button that injects what they believe to be analgesia, even though it is a placebo, they will still feel less pain. Then there is hypnotism and acupuncture. > > It might be best described by the difference between pure pain, and fear and terror subsequent to the pain. Having much higher representational ability increases the level of pain perceived. > > For certain lower animals it is likely that they react to harm in a different physiological manner to higher animals. This can be measured by the level of cortisol generated by the actual assault on the system. So those animals have an experience of corporal damage that is not correctly described as pain. > > This also happens to humans being treated with morphine like medications who may have the very strange experience of the separation between knowledge and experience whereby they have very exact knowledge of the level of pain they are in, but are unconcerned about it even with no clouding of consciousness. > > Basically, ‘pain’ is far more complex than the folk science view of it. > > None of this excuses causing pain to animals. It’s simpler to say we don’t know; therefore I’d argue it’s not _quite_ accurate to call it a myth. Having a nervous system, detecting and responding to stimuli, do not in themselves equate to pain. Even yelping, or writhing about, _might be_ instinctive responses. But just as I assume you feel pain similarly to me because your responses are similar, so I make the same assumption about animals. The exception is animals that behave almost entirely instinctively – they don’t _learn_ significantly in their lifespan _and_ (as a separate clause) have very predictable responses to nociception. In this case there is no point in the organism having a subjective “bad feeling”; it wouldn’t aid its survival. So it may be the case that while a spider freaks out if it loses a leg, say, it doesn’t actually feel anything. IANA arachnologist, just guessing they may meet these requirements. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/131 "2015-03-17T03:06:39Z")
The conceit that anything we care about somehow _Matters_. It doesn’t. We are all worm-food-in-the-making, and all out petty opinions make no damned difference. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/132 "2015-03-17T07:05:26Z")
.999… = 1 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/133 "2015-03-17T07:13:05Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > The conceit that anything we care about somehow _Matters_. > > It doesn’t. > > We are all worm-food-in-the-making, and all out petty opinions make no damned difference. For the third time in this thread (sorry if I’m stinking up the joint), I disagree. Whether something “matters” is, as far as we know, a human construct. But that doesn’t mean it’s an illusion, quite the contrary. It means we’re judge and jury about what matters since the universe is indifferent. It matters to humans in general whether we manage to contain or eliminate ebola. It matters if we find out what dark matter is. Heck, it matters to me whether I get to see the next star wars movie. And there is no supernatural being that we know of to wag their finger and say “Actually, none of that matters”. As for the worm-food comment…would my life matter more if I lived forever / indefinitely? ---
**Author:** ![Stately\_Greek\_Automaton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aca169/32.png) [@Stately\_Greek\_Automaton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stately_Greek_Automaton)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/134 "2015-03-17T17:16:09Z")
I never lie to myself. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/135 "2015-03-17T17:25:42Z")
The little black things in my packaged cereal are just burnt flake chips or “seasoning”. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/136 "2015-03-18T21:54:23Z")
Feelings don’t mean jack. _therefore…_ Talking _about_ feelings don’t mean jack. ---
**Author:** ![Hungover\_Heartthrob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e19adc/32.png) [@Hungover\_Heartthrob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hungover_Heartthrob)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/137 "2015-03-25T17:33:26Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Once again, I must note that almost NOBODY here is posting “myths” that THEY believe in. > > Why not? Are we to believe that SDMB regulars are strong, logical, rational and well-grounded? That it’s only those OTHER clowns out there who need comforting lies to get through the day? I, for one, frequently tell myself, “My doctor/dentist/etc knows what s/he is doing.” ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2015, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/138 "2015-03-28T02:36:46Z")
> [@Hungover\_Heartthrob](#): > > I, for one, frequently tell myself, “My doctor/dentist/etc knows what s/he is doing.” No kidding. Doctors and scientists are like the priests and scholars of previous centuries; they are magic men who know all the answers and we dare not question their wisdom. Because science. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2015, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/139 "2015-04-19T21:24:06Z")
Also mechanics. What’s wrong with my car? Looks like your Johnson Rod is gone. So what’s that going to set me back? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/140 "2015-04-22T16:07:14Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > No one ever said on their deathbed “I wish I’d spent more time at the office.” I fully intend to be the first. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520.md?page=8)