Xande definetly wasn't sane. The Summoner job was invented because he told his mages/scientists that if they didn't come up with some way to combat primals (and keep them from coming back), he'd start killing one of them a day. Such pressure led to them inventing the magic behind the Summoner job as well as technology like neurolinks. So at least some of the mages/scientists were probably more concerned with "were the results they were getting keeping Xande happy" rather then "was this ethical".