I don’t take that to mean “no one actually knows what an astronaut actually is” because phrasing it like that floats in the sensationalism territory between click bait headlines and Trump ramblings. What I do take that to mean is that the term is evolving, both from a linguistics standpoint as well as a technological/societal standpoint.
What’s a phone? The average user here probably at least considers a device that makes telephone calls, but consider what’s actually sold as a phone today and what non-phone devices can communicate in phone-like fashion. The primary usage of my cellular smartphone is far from making phone calls - it’s a handheld computer with information, entertainment, and utility functions. If you argue that it can make phone calls and is therefore still a phone, then so is a modern car. If you expand to strictly internet channels such as FaceTime, zoom, or teams, then that’d include computers as phones. If someone says they’re going to buy a new phone tomorrow, we’re all picturing a smartphone.
There is no functional difference with the evolution of astronaut definitions. The accessibility is constantly improving. The purpose is expanding. The accessibility is still incredibly limited, on the global scale, so the original term still bears weight.
This is why Latin is used for sciences. The language is dead and no longer evolving. The rate of change is drastically slower, primarily driven by expanding definitions with discoveries rather than changing scientific properties entirely.
I wouldn’t call myself an astronaut after such a trip. I’d want to, I’d love to, I’d make jokes about being a spaceman, but I wouldn’t classify myself anywhere near the likes of anyone with a Shuttle or Apollo patch. I’d put it near U2 pilots and tourists
I can appreciate the personal part you added regarding losing faith. I left catholicism in my teens. Too many inconsistencies, too much abuse of power. It started by questioning how multiple christianities could have such different rules, followed by learning how most religion is abrahamic and even more diverse in interpretation, to finally saying fuck all this.
I got FC5 in 2020 and it became hard to stomach. It felt like a real potential reality of the US that year. Cults, vehement religious figures, gun fetish, and a classic Americana setting. The prior titles were all far away, imaginary lands offering even a small degree of dissociation. FC5 was just home. I’d relate it to Harry Potter villains in the sense that yeah, of course we know Voldemort is evil, but Umbridge is the most hated character. Not because she’s worse, but because we know a real-life Umbridge personally.
FC6 hit me kinda hard in a similar way. I got into it about a year ago, not long after the israel/Palestine conflict flared up. There’s a ton of genocidal themes there.