Things that are actually pretty weird when you think about them?

Languages - how there are so many different ones spoken by one animal (makes me wonder if animals have "foreign" languages, dialects etc - there's apparently evidence they do) how language developed and which countries ended up not only speaking different languages but even completely different symbols for those languages in the form of alphabets and accents etc

The two things that really blow my mind when I think about them in any depth are space - the vastness of it

look up the true meaning of awe - that's what you're feeling applies to much of this thread really - great thread op

How does something as massive and heavy as an aeroplane stay up in the air? as a fight phobic I really struggle with this one, I know the physics and understand them basically but I still don’t feel safe!

Christmas Day how strange it is that most people are doing exactly the same thing and eating the exact same food up and down the country!

have you been on mn long? Every year TONS of threads full of posters adamantly arguing that the way THEIR family does Christmas is the RIGHT way against others equally adamant.

The 1st time I spent Christmas with another family I was completely thrown that they did things DIFFERENTLY! And I was 17!!

@Mizydoscape We don't know our full selves either as we can't see how others see us not really

As someone born before home computers were even a "thing" tech absolutely fucking blows my mind!

I've gone from being taught to do long multiplication and division with pencil and paper to having a scientific calculator permanently to hand on not 1 but 2 devices in my home. From not having any phone at all in my home to being permanently contactable via several options. From having a tv that was black and white and needed to be tuned to change the channel and had a wire coat hanger as an aerial to having a handheld device on which I can access all the free Uk tv channels plus catchup services and via streaming services and internet can access and watch almost any tv show I want (except bloody quantum leap!). From having a pen pal in Canada as a kid that I wrote to monthly via snail mail and eagerly awaited her replies to being able to talk to ANYONE in the world including world leaders if I do wished via any number of options of sm and email. From avidly reading encyclopaedias and atlas books to being able to learn about anything I care to quickly and easily from a device I can carry in my pocket.

Astonishing!

That 2 numpties like me and my ex managed to produce a dd who is smart, kind, gorgeous and capable. Thank fuck she got my brains and his looks!

and not burn off all the calories from a croissant just by concentrating extra hard to burn them but you can do this if by concentrating you exercise enough to burn the cals off

On food generally all the stuff that happened eons ago and we don't really know how or why the 1st person who did or discovered x was not only safe to eat (ok I get there's an evolutionary factor here the ones that ate the bad shit died!) but things like why the fuck would you think an egg was a suitable thing to eat? Or cows milk? Or that certain things taste better cooked? Or that certain parts of plants tasted good but other parts of the same plant didn't? Or how the use of herbs and spices developed? Right up to using lots of ingredients to make a particularly food - like bread, cakes, chocolate, alcohol? Or in an odd way - like tea! I mean how fucking weird is that?! Take a bitter tasting leaf from a particular plant, rinse it, dry it out, mash it up then cover in hot water for a few mins REMOVE the plant and drink the flavoured water! Let alone who the fuck came up with adding milk/sugar/lemon/honey/herbs/spices/fruit/syrup/butter/salt/cream/alcohol to it?!

If you can't tell already I love my food and this UTTERLY fascinates me, like where the hell did the ideas come from?

What other combinations haven't been invented yet?

Love this question

@dayswithaY the prescribed meals you describe are peculiar to the Uk, in other countries they have things we would consider lunch or dinner items for breakfast etc there's long cultural history behind meals

Currency -

Has no value other than what we assign to it. Coins and notes are no more than ious in effect "I promised to pay the bearer..."

Certain types of Preppers are particularly aware of this and so have stashes of gold and other valuables in case banks collapse

Sex!

The first time I told dd about it she looked at me as if I had 2 heads and thought I was winding her up!

As a vegetarian -

Meat eaters being squeamish about exactly what meat they eat! From offal to animals not generally consumed in this country but happily consumed in others - seems odd and hypocritical to me

Whoever thought 'if I mix flour, butter, milk and eggs and bake it, it will turn into a delicious soft sponge...

Go back a stage.

Who had some fresh milk with cream floating to the top and though, "I know I'll stir / shake this cream and see if I can get something I can spread on bread"?

Cheese I can understand, it's basically milk that has gone off, but butter?

And on the subject of dairy - The amazing fact that most Europeans evolved to eat dairy as adults and a tolerance for alcohol.

I get this when I drive on the motorway. Where tf are all these people going and all at once, all day every day?

When I was studying biology I used to think how weird it was that I was a bunch of cells learning about cells.

Having babies. And the fact that people do it so casually.

Computers. How come those little bits of metal circuitry can do so much? Each time I pay for something with my phone using Touch ID, I get ever so slightly weirded out.

Space.

Flying. This gigantic metal box. With trusting people in it. Yes I know, physics. But still, it’s weird.

And who made God? Or what was before the Big Bang?

In fact do you all exist? Is this real or just a dream?

Hi Op I agree echo similar favourable comment to @Namechangeme87
Really good ,thought provoking,refreshing thread.
I find it fascniting and wonderful how nature works and the moon and the planetry galaxy and sun interact with each other,the fact that moon, the sea tides are created by the way the moon interacts and how our menstrual cycles the moon plays a key part and how if women are living in communal setting their menstrual cycle synchronizes.
I find insects and how they interact and slimly creatures like slugs and snails how they sense things but they have no brain quite interesting too ,also crabs,molluscs and sea creatures all wonderfully weird and intriguing too.
Thanks for thread idea

Why is it that my torso is so much smaller than a man’s yet I can fit an actual baby in there. WHAT is in a man’s torso that he needs so much extra space and doesn’t even have space for a womb? Are his organs much bigger or is there loads of just wasted space?

Why are we not born at 1 years old? (I think there is an Asian country perhaps that does do this?)

Is there a law that means if you commit a crime but would not have committed the crime if you knew a 'test' could be done to prove you did it - for example so back when fingerprinting was discovered 'I would not have broken into the house if I knew that the new fingerprint test would prove I did it' not saying morally about the crime and no I have no desire to commit one just wondering the legalities of it

Our brain takes in everything in our life so why do we remember little things on our life more than some big things

'This rock is 10 million years old' sure it is not that I disagree but how can you prove it, you can do a science test or say it because of other reasons but how do you actually know?

How do you know if you go into space and turn left then keep on going you don't end up with another planet with human type creatures on it

All these questions are what means I can't believe in religion - if you can't prove to me god exists how can I believe

among any other questions I have

and OP the baby in my body thing freaked me out a bit when I was pregnant (not badly just in a amusing way)

humans are complicated and irrational, prey to hormones and emotions. The excuses they make for themselves are wonderful

I once heard that they've done psychology tests which show we make decisions then justify them afterwards. Rather than make decisions based on reasoning. Odd!

Just picking up on a few.

Dinosaurs: how do we KNOW they were X amount years ago? Who was taking notes, how and with what?? Plus the moon mars earth stuff. How do we know there isn't another existence similar to earth out there? And how do we KNOW these planets are X billion years old?

On another morbid note. Death. Watched a film with youngest today, the lead characters mum had "died" but was living on the moon. Daughter reunited with mum. I know there is another trailer for a film cartoon style where son goes to meet dad in the other life after death. I can't help but feel it gives a false hope?

I need to read this thread in detail when I am properly awake. Although some of the weird thoughts might just freak me out.

It's probably already been mentioned, about sleeping, that not only is it weird but also how much we need it. We can live without food for weeks, but without sleep we only last a few days.

This is a wonderful thread! Worthy of Classics. Thank you @PutItInYourpocket

Blurp Yes. My godson told me that he found it way weirder that rhinoceros had once lived here in Cambridgeshire than that dinosaurs had lived anywhere else ever.

The concept of Cambridgeshire is weird: politically, geographically, existentially.

Everything is weird. Looking at the night sky is looking into the distant past.

No one can agree on anything. Everyone there at the same time sees a rainbow but we all see a different rainbow.

Time is what stops everything happening at once.

Although they claim to be supremely rational, humans are complicated and irrational, prey to hormones and emotions. The excuses they make for themselves are wonderful. And sometimes horrible.

And yes, the space between atoms: how does that work?

That our brains maybe aren’t developed enough yet to understand the world. We’re 99% identical to chimpanzees and just consider the cognitive differences.
Imagine some species that was 1% more developed and what their mind would be potentially capable of.
🤯

Ants and bees. They are always busy and doing tasks. How do they all know what to do? For that matter babies immediately knowing what to do when presented with a breast, 20 minutes after birth.

Language. Who actually sat there and decided the names for everything. In reality if a different name had been chosen we could easily be eating poop on grass instead of eggs on toast for breakfast or apples could be called socks etc etc.

Weird.

Like someone said earlier. That so many people just think we’re here by chance. I mean, how can they NOT believe in a creator. The proof of God is everywhere. I just don’t understand how they can’t see it.

Love this thread !

Mine is phones / especially mobile phones .

How can I be in one time zone - Australia - yet call my parents in UK and be able to hear them thru a tiny handset thousands of miles away like yesterday!

The phone lines under the ocean on landlines I kind of get but MOBILES! A wee tiny metal box lets me communicate through time zones !!!
Aaaaahhh

Pretty weird that we likely all feel like "I am the centre of the universe" and what's happening around is a show just for "me". Hard to get that its not just some play/drama made up for me and when I am gone it all will be too. Maybe it is just me that feels that way. Hard to comprehend others are equally having this human experience, and though i feel all inportant likely I am a speck of nothing

And the fact I will die - that is weird - at some point I will just stop. I feel like i have always been and even though I know I was born and I know I will die. Both are so terrifying that I cannot compute that I am not always what I am now forever.

Aging is messed up - grow up for a few years of prime to fall a part and unlearn everything.

How space goes on and on forever. If it stops and there's a wall then what is on the other side of the wall? Nothingness cannot exist.