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Recently this question has been bothering me. What is normal? What counts as normal? What makes something normal?

Is normal mundane? Does this mean for something to not be normal you have to just not care when you see or hear it? If everybody walked around with a shotgun handing off their backs nobody would bat an eye because that's considering "normal" for the neighborhood. At least, nobody that lives there would think it odd. If somebody then has a sword over his back, however, people would pay attention because it breaks from the "normal" order of things. Does this mean that you're only supposed to think about normal when something breaks away from it? What do you guys think about what it means to be "normal"?

Well, I have some simple answers for you.

A real or complex matrix is called normal if there exists a unitary matrix U such that U*AU is diagonal.

A subgroup is called normal or normal divisor if it's closed under conjugation.

A ring is called normal if it's free of zero divisors and if it equalizes with its integral closure in Quot(R).

A field extension L/K is called normal if there exists F ⊆ K[X] such that L is the splitting field of F over K.

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Truth be told, that's a very deep question you have here. In my terms, it's a terminology which grows from a certain "consens" of humanity about what is good, what is bad and what is usual. It's a filmsy word, the limits between "normal" and "unnormal" are fluent, and you shouldn't give too much about philosophical, in fact esoteric, discussions.

Living like "I'm deciding what's normal" is bad, just as living like "I don't care about what's normal". I'm just trying to find a good middle way, as usual. Maybe Doram or something has a better answer to give.

I'm not necessarily expecting a solid, concrete answer. I'm more asking to see what you guys think. I don't think on this subject too often. Sometimes I do though, so I thought I'd bring it up and see what comes of it.

Normal, by concept at least in my opinion is something at least the average of a certain number of people agree on. You mentioned guns, well around here, majority of people (or at least the minimum required) thinks it's normal to forbid anyone to carry any type of fire weapons, as long as they belong to police force, military or something related, otherwise it's outside the normal and most will automatically feel weird about those things.

Normality and it's standards are defined by a mass of people, or at least this is how it's supposed to be.

I don't actually believe normal is a thing. I just think people like to use the word normal to reassure themselves if they feel insecure.
In reality, I don't think anything is truly the 'same' or the 'norm'. Maybe a better term would be a majority or what's most common, but not normal.

Also, like I said in the other thread, it refers to what most people is like.

And it's not necessarily a positive word. People shouldn't be striving to be just like everyone else.

All right. THIS is a useful conversation.

There IS a problem with how we view and use the word normal. For a species, that for all intensive purposes has broken free of the majority of Darwin's grip, we have NOT specialized into just one thing. We are, in fact, the most UNspecialized species on the planet. We fly AND run AND swim. We live in cold AND hot AND everything in between. We can build gigantic cities that hold thousands of people, or we can live in a tent. We do so many things, across the entirety of the spectrum of everything, that we pretty much can do it ALL, and THAT is why we are the dominant species on the planet. THAT is why "normal" is such a hard thing for us.
There is no such thing as NORMAL for Humans.

Doram slams on the brakes.

But why is there such stress over normal? Why are people so interested in the idea? Because Darwin still exists. Darwin has trapped every other life-form on the planet into their specialized niche. What defines a species (other than us)? Their normal: where they always live, what they always eat, the way they do things. What is their normal = what defines them. So, we look around, and say "Yes. Darwin had an awesome point, and this is how the world works." In fact, it's hard-wired into our brains that if we have a word to describe something, then we "understand" it. Once we can pin something into a statistically significant box, we call it processed, accepted, and good. And then we turn back around and look at ourselves...

Uhh...............

History: Mankind has warred with itself throughout the ENTIRETY of history, over these very same concepts. You are different than me in ANY way, like living in the mountains instead of the valley, thus you are other, and thus I must eliminate you for my own safety. For the safety of "my" people who live here, and eat these things, and do these things. Even if you eat these things, and do these things, you live somewhere else, and are thus not the same. You are not my normal, thus you are bad. And individuals fight -> tribes fight -> kingdoms fight -> countries fight. You have different colored skin. You worship a different god. You like roses...

Is everybody as bad as that? No. BUT, if you have ever looked at something and thought to yourself "That's weird" you have tripped over that precise line. It is only weird because it is not normal. Normal is what you have experienced, and what you have been taught. Nothing more. For some people, eating insect larvae for breakfast is normal. For some, NOT burping after you eat is rude. For some, clothing is optional. Everybody around you does it, and you have done it all your life, so it is "normal" to you. Normal has nothing to do with definitions or limitations or requirements. It is merely another word for perspective. From the perspective of the people in my area, insects are gross, burping is gross, and nudity is gross. Not everyone would or should agree. Just about everyone who drives, drives a car. That is normal. Some small group of people drive motorcycles. That is not normal. Not normal = bad, thus driving a motorcycle means you are a bad person. This logic is broken.

Worse yet, as has been mentioned in the History section, the concept of normal has been used to abuse and oppress people far too often, and really should not be a goal or an ideal in any sense of the word. So, embrace your weirdness, people. It is what makes you who you are. It is your special gift, and most precious quality. Screw normal.

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tl;dr humans use words to classify -> our brains work better when we have boxes for things = "understanding" normal = good humans use words to divide and conquer -> excuses for bad behavior = "justified" not normal = bad If one is good, the other must be bad, right? If it's not light, it's dark. So, yeah. ... NO! Faulty logic. Lazy thinking. WRONG!!! Normal can be anything because normal is relative - it depends on your frame of reference. Normal is meaningless. Whether something is normal or not normal should not be used to justify or explain anything, ever, really.

normal is whatever lets you be least noticed

You do have a good point, MK. If hiding is your goal, then being just like everyone else will help with that (and it's an easy goal to choose in the toughest social part of your life - school as a teenager/high-school). The problem with hiding, is that you can spend your whole life doing it, and your uniqueness doesn't go away, and eventually, not using your uniqueness builds up, and explodes from lack of use. It's called a Mid-Life Crisis. You've compacted yourself and denied yourself for a lifetime, and that's not satisfying for any human being, and your uniqueness explodes in a bunch of "irrational" behavior. Look at the psychology of the Mid-Life Crisis. It all boils down to having spent too much time making the safe, boring, and normal choices, and not being exceptional enough to experience exceptional things. This is not an uncommon thing, and it teaches us one thing: Humans have a need to be unique and exceptional. It's our point. It's our greatest success, and our greatest satisfaction. Being unique and getting recognized and appreciated for our uniqueness is the greatest achievement we can imagine. It's called Fame. You are famous when you are so unique and awesome that the whole of the species recognizes and appreciates it.

I am not joking when I say that being unique is important to us as a species. Screw normal.

Though being unique and actually being a positive contribution to the society are two different things.

Should I rob a bank or take a life and get noticed because it doesn't make me normal?

On the other hand, too much of a good thing is not a good thing. There needs to be a balance somewhere. In this case, normal helps create that balance by nullifying overly crazy aspects of people.

We can't expect ourselves to be so different from humanity and become superheroes. We're only human. How we utilize our balance for the good of society (and ultimately ourselves) is, what I believe, ideal.