To ask for weird realisations you’ve had about life?

[goergia]

Things about mundane life that you’ve never given much thought but suddenly think “Now I think about it, that’s weird.”

I had one of these today. I live in a mid-terrace, neighbours are nice and quiet and we don’t hear a peep. A few days ago I had a snoop at one of the next-door neighbour’s house on Rightmove after seeing it was for sale, and realised that they have their bed right up against our party wall as I do mine. So even though I sleep in bed alone every night, there’s actually 2 people who I don’t really know just a couple of inches away from me! I don’t know why but for some reason it creeps me out. I’ve realised that in terraced houses you’re actually sharing one building with lots of people, many of whom you will NEVER interact with.

@Gwenhwyfar

"And that certain kinds of dreams are common to all of us. I find that fascinating."

I was surprised recently when someone said they never dreamed of being in water, either swimming or just being in water or drowning. I thought everyone did.

i have often had dreams of swimming , sometimes i have gone on holiday . the sun is setting on this lovely beach that has palm trees along it and in the dream i cant wait to start swimming in the sea other times im in a nice big swimming pool standing on the edge and i cant wait to chuck myself into it and of course the irony is that in real life i cant bloody swim !! only in my dreams literally lol. i looked it up once and apparantly dreaming of swimming is conntected to our unconsious desire to return to the womb in times of stress , make of that what you will

@MuchuseasaChocolateTeapot

I always thought that doctors, politicians etc were these superhuman, mega intelligent beings who were more capable and in control than I would ever be. Then you age and realise that they are not and it’s terrifying, who is at the helm?

Have you seen the film Idiocracy? That genuinely scared me as it seemed like a prophecy of society getting dumber and adults becoming less functional!

agreed , we have boris johnson at our helm , i find that genuinely scary just on its own , and the states have an elderly man who shows signs of severe memory loss running theirs , does make you wonder doesnt it ?

@RoseLunarPink

Why, when historians and archeologists uncover things, are they always underground? Where has this extra 'ground' (soil) come from so quickly?

They're not always underground but the ones that aren't don't need to be discovered IYSWIM.

They can be underground for various reasons eg covered up deliberately by people in the past like Gobekli Tepe, built on top of like Troy, covered by sand storms/sand dunes like Skara Brae, volcanic eruption like Pompeii, or sometimes over a long time if a ruin is left alone, plants and animals will colonise it and eventually soil will build up over it.

So, for example on Time Team, when they have to dig meters down to uncover the foundations of a centuries old structure. Are you saying the soil is the remains of old plants and animals? And where has the structure actually gone?!

That there are billions of people on this planet living their lives at any time. Obviously I know I’m not the only one, but I just can’t comprehend the scale of things going on at any time.

I agree with @Jumpking. 95% of people are sheep.

How many people pretend (even to themselves - the fools) that if they lived in the 17th and 18th Century they would have not supported or benefitted from slavery?

How many people eat chocolate and chocolate made by from cocoa harvested by 21st century slave children? It's a billion pound industry and you are supporting it when you buy supermarket Easter eggs for your own children. Don't make out like you never knew.

Happy Easter everyone

Photosynthesis. It's mental

@SolarPortrait

Also I don't and won't have children (that ship has sailed) - it dawned on me that I have broken a hereditary chain that ultimately goes back to the first humans on earth.. all my ancestors diligently continuing this chain, through so many obstacles and it gets to me and stops. Forever.

Not quite, well if you are female.

The mitochondrial DNA is inherited from your mother who got it from her mother and right back to the first human female.

Now most DNA is a mixture of your parents' but this is only from your mother.

So in my case I have no children, my mother was one of three girls so they all got their mDNA from my grandmother.

So my mother and her sisters all had 2 children, my mother had me and my brother, her next sister had a boy and a girl and the youngest had 2 girls.

So 2 male and 4 female cousins with the same mDNA from gran.

We can ignore the males at this point.

2 of the female cousins have children, one has two boys, the other has a boy and a girl.

So the girl that is my cousin's daughter can pass 'my' DNA on to her daughter if she has one.

That many adults, even those in senior jobs, are very stupid and often there through a mixture of nepotism and good luck. That most of the Royal Family are really quite stupid and don’t deserve our respect.

@AliceAbsolum agreed. The conversion of EM into chemical energy using biological means is astounding to me, even if the reverse is straightforward.

@sashh the theoretical enslavement of those mitochondria and chloroplasts back in the day and the natural selection that stripped out the unneccessary genes and structures is astounding too.

That those in charge don't know anything I don't know.. That they aren't more knowing or more prepared or more in control. They may look like they have a plan but really they are just people and also freak out because a spider ran across the floor by their foot or they eat shit on a Friday night and drink too much and browse mumsnet.

I run a large Global department and everyone seems to think I am in control and know what's going on. I get glowing reviews. My best friend of 20 years is a big wig in quality doing similar. We knew each other when we were barely trusted to open bottles on our own and WE ARE NO DIFFERENT.... We occasionally compare notes and wonder when someone will notice that we shouldn't be in charge of a hamster let alone kids, mortgages and full on departments of people!

[quote Pitafalafel]@Mermaidwaves
Nothing happens I reckon. What happens to the ant that gets stepped on by someone walking to the shops? Not a lot. We’re just a bigger and cleverer version of that ant, but our lives have no more significance in universal/existential terms.[/quote]
But that's an opinion! It's not fact! That's what I was saying, we can can all have an opinion based on what happens, be it religious or spiritual or believing nothing happens, but nobody can actually say or prove what happens or not happens even though every single thing has and will die.

@MuchuseasaChocolateTeapot

I always thought that doctors, politicians etc were these superhuman, mega intelligent beings who were more capable and in control than I would ever be. Then you age and realise that they are not and it’s terrifying, who is at the helm?

Have you seen the film Idiocracy? That genuinely scared me as it seemed like a prophecy of society getting dumber and adults becoming less functional!

I had the same sort of realisation when I got involved in the arts 'scene' in a town I used to live. There were all these incredibly glamorous, clever, talented people - including so many academics of the arts who seemed so worldly and had their shit together. God, how wrong was I? It soon became apparent they were largely a group of utterly narcissistic, cliquey, drug-abusing mental health cases who knew very little about anything outside of their own little bubble and looked down their nose at anyone they deemed unworthy of being admitted into their gang. They were all terrified of their next exhibition/book/album/film sinking without a trace and so bitchy about one another.

I called some of them 'friends' for a while, but they really, REALLY weren't. Now, whenever I see some art world big cheese being interviewed, speaking so knowledgeably and coming over as so reasonable and calm, I just think: 'I wonder how many bumps of coke it took to get YOU out of bed this morning'?

I think, the big realisation was that, judging from my experiences with that bunch, anyone can call themselves an 'artist' or an 'expert' with no irony whatsoever and throw a screaming fit if anyone dares question their talent or integrity!

That you can neither create any new matter or destroy matter. All the matter in the universe has been here since Big Bang

[quote Keithlovessmash]@IamtheDevilsAvocado oh yes, there should be a photo of him in the dictionary next to narcissist!

He does it to me all these years on, ds is an adult and he can’t fathom how I could be doing a different job, have different hair. I should have stayed the same as I can’t possibly exist as a person.[/quote]
Good that he's an ex!

arghwhataminefield

So, for example on Time Team, when they have to dig meters down to uncover the foundations of a centuries old structure. Are you saying the soil is the remains of old plants and animals? And where has the structure actually gone?!

Yes soil is basically something that collects and increases where there are living things, because it's made of dead plant and animal matter and bacteria/other microbes that feed on them. So the start with the world didn't have soil - it collected over time as life moved onto land.

If a structure is abandoned, without maintenance and repair it will gradually crumble, weather will get in increasing the damage, it will loose its roof and then walls will start to collapse, finally leaving just foundations, unless it's a very strong stone structure. Even stone structures will ultimately crumble because of weathering. Once the structure is open to the elements, plants and animals can get in and grow there and the more they do, the more soil will collect. With old buildings in the past, any useful stones were usually removed for other building projects so they don't tend to be lying around, so you're often left with foundations or low walls.

here's a pic showing an early stage of the process.

sorry to start with

We bring life into the world, just to destroy it. All for a couple minutes of pleasure on our taste buds. I cant think about it too much or I'll end up crying all day.

@Mermaidwaves

What happens to us when we die? I know there are theories/religions/ believing in nothing but what actually HAPPENS? Nobody can 100% prove an afterlife or not. Think of all the millions of people who've lived, and we still don't really know.

Its the inevitableness of it that freaks me out, at some point death will come and it's a scary unknown.

Pretty sure the reason we don't know is because it's nothing. Just nothing at all. As if we were wood.

That ancestors of mine, in fact of everyone, survived the Black Death.

I think, the big realisation was that, judging from my experiences with that bunch, anyone can call themselves an 'artist' or an 'expert' with no irony whatsoever and throw a screaming fit if anyone dares question their talent or integrity!

Yes to this! My ex knows a lot of arty and muso types. I was amazed by how useless and clueless a lot of them were the more I got to know them, and that they survived by applying for grants, often based on the fact that they'd previously got a grant, and then doing some artwork which was as often as not pointless, boring and badly executed – not always, some were great but I suppose there's always a mass of mediocrity around/below each genius IYSWIM.

It made me realise that all you need to be an artist, in particular, is self-belief and the bollocks to claim to be one. Literally nothing else, no skill, not even any ideas particularly as they are generally unoriginal, just arrogance and chutzpah. Of course there are artists with brilliant skills and ideas, but a lot more who aren't like that at all. I realised I could literally do what they do if I wanted to.

DD pointed out dogs don't have arms. Which freaked me.

I think about the big scary bosses who never crack a joke and are 100% serious all the time. They come back from their summer hols with sun tans so are out and about in shorts and having fun with their kids on the beach. But it’s so far from their work persona - but the physical evidence of the sun tan is right there. Going to investigate this Sonder term, maybe that’s what this is….

That things like phlegm and scabs that come from you were made by you and were part of your being until the moment they're detached.

That somehow I can magically generate electricity with my mind and use it to animate a bag of skin containing sloshy gooey organs and blood (i.e. I can move my body). I can use that power to make the skin bag do things that make my mind happy.

That when you look at the night sky you are looking millions of years into the past because of the time it takes the light to travel to you.

That if you hold up your hand on a sunny day and make a shadow on the ground, you have prevented light, which has travelled for 150 million kilometres, from actually reaching the earths surface.