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Things that are utterly bloody fascinating

770 replies

ElizabethBest · 06/03/2023 14:24

Let's hear it please - I love a good wikipedia rabbit hole. I'll start - The Willard Suitcases. Over 400 suitcases of possessions were found in an attic at the Willard Insane Asylum belong to patients who had died whilst inpatients so never left. The New York State Museum started a project to document the cases and their contents, and you can learn all about it and see the cases on their website.

OP posts:
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15
Peverellshire · 17/03/2023 13:38

CriticalAlert · 16/03/2023 14:20

Just the thought that the earth is suspended in an infinite universe and we are tiny tiny specks of life. It can drive me nuts thinking about it, I mean WHAT is the universe doing there in the first place? I know it's Big Bang and all that, but something had to be there to make that happen......

www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-we-live-in-a-simulation-chances-are-about-50-50/?amp=true

Are we in base reality? Are we ever likely to develop a computer simulation with conscious entities within it? Will we ever have the computing power to do so?

if we DO ever manage the above, the odds of us being ‘Sims’ ourselves ramp up massively.

CriticalAlert · 17/03/2023 14:39

Peverellshire · 17/03/2023 13:38

www.scientificamerican.com/article/do-we-live-in-a-simulation-chances-are-about-50-50/?amp=true

Are we in base reality? Are we ever likely to develop a computer simulation with conscious entities within it? Will we ever have the computing power to do so?

if we DO ever manage the above, the odds of us being ‘Sims’ ourselves ramp up massively.

You see! It's just too mind boggling to comprehend! Perhaps there'll be a point when we start to become too aware.... and we are turned off. My friend swears we're all part of a computer game.....

SinnerBoy · 17/03/2023 14:47

OhFFSMum · Today 09:33

Oh no, you've given me ideas! I often look places up on Maps and have a look at the street plans. I'm in a hotel in Darwin at the moment, waiting to join a ship, for a job.

I found a restaurant with good reviews and found a route on Maps. I zoomed in here and there, looking at places of interest and businesses etc. I sketched a route out on paper (North Up) and went to find it. I realised quite quickly that I was going 180° in the opposite direction, because I needed to go Southeast and the sun was in front of me.

The map had directed me out of the back of the hotel, which is not accessible to residents; and after 3 crossroads, I hadn't found the right street name!

Peverellshire · 17/03/2023 15:01

CriticalAlert · 17/03/2023 14:39

You see! It's just too mind boggling to comprehend! Perhaps there'll be a point when we start to become too aware.... and we are turned off. My friend swears we're all part of a computer game.....

It’s fascinating & the whole concept of Plato’s cave etc an early description of just this? Because the fact we exist at all is bonkers/incredible this ‘SIM’ concept makes sense to me. Or is just humans can’t understand eternity?

Are we an ancestor simulation? Is the ‘game’ to see how long it takes us to figure it out? Destroy ourselves? Colonise space? Are we one of many simulations? Each with a slightly different ‘input’?

Even more bizarre is the idea this reality is ‘heaven’, ‘God’ is an alien & that each person you meet & who is on earth is, in fact, ‘you’?

Are some of us avatars and some ‘main characters’?

CriticalAlert · 17/03/2023 15:31

Peverellshire · 17/03/2023 15:01

It’s fascinating & the whole concept of Plato’s cave etc an early description of just this? Because the fact we exist at all is bonkers/incredible this ‘SIM’ concept makes sense to me. Or is just humans can’t understand eternity?

Are we an ancestor simulation? Is the ‘game’ to see how long it takes us to figure it out? Destroy ourselves? Colonise space? Are we one of many simulations? Each with a slightly different ‘input’?

Even more bizarre is the idea this reality is ‘heaven’, ‘God’ is an alien & that each person you meet & who is on earth is, in fact, ‘you’?

Are some of us avatars and some ‘main characters’?

Ah ha! Then Plato was an avatar for coming up with that thinking! His Cave is an extraordinary philosophical concept, that what we see is not reality, but merely the shadows of it.....? Then when we leave the Cave....oooer, goes pear shaped! Thinking about it the SIM idea does make some sense in my little brain, but then it still begs the question, what/who put us here in the first place?? What put them there? Other avatars could be the true genius mega heads like Newton (I mean how did he formulate the concept of gravity ?? calculus???), Einstein. Greek philosophers, even Picasso. These people were way, way above the plebs. Funny thing I read about Newton was that he used to stick needles in his eyes to 'study the function of light' passing through them. Had to bandage his eyes because he nearly blinded himself! Now that's not too clever.

Another thing is that the moon is at exactly the right position for us to witness a perfect solar eclipse. Is that a coincidence, or has it been put there.....so we can start to question outer space?

Black holes do my head in as well. I mean wtf are they all about? They're dotted about the place just sucking all and everything into a particle of infinite density....er why?? What is that doing to gravity across the universe? Perhaps it's just some gigantic act of equilibrium to keep gravity in check?

But if the SIM controllers are out there I wish to goodness they'd get this world sorted. They can't be a very kindly bunch to witness continuous wars and mayhem, inequality, starvation, poverty etc. etc. and do nothing about it. (But I suppose that is a righteous God concept). I dunno, perhaps we are a mutant virus that's gone rogue, and master SIM controllers have abandoned the game. The planet was an OK place and in perfect 'harmony' before we started to destroy it. They may have a peek now and again to see if we've annihilated ourselves yet.

Peverellshire · 17/03/2023 15:48

@CriticalAlert interesting! A prototype or ‘abandoned game’ does/might make sense…

I was reading about the recent ‘planet’ discoveries on the edge of the universe..furthest we’ve ever seen with the new telescope thingy? And they are the ‘wrong size’ or something? Anomalous with what ‘is known’?

I even read that the garden of Eden/Adam & Eve, ‘apple’ is actually a ref in reality to ‘Apple’ tech! :) Some sort of allegorical pun/joke?’l!

Riverlee · 17/03/2023 21:22

OhFFSMum · 17/03/2023 09:33

Everyone I tell about this thinks I'm strange lol. But sometimes if I'm reading an article, or looking at social media and someone mentions a town or place somewhere in the world (some random town in America, or an old colleague who I follow posts her runs in Oz where she lives now) I search the place on Google Earth and go on little virtual tours, looking at the roads, what the houses / shops / schools are like there... places I'll never actually visit but by the medium of technology I can explore. I find it fascinating lol

I do that as well.

PhillySub · 17/03/2023 22:08

youngestisapsycho · 07/03/2023 08:17

Spider webs… I once sat in the garden for 5 hours watching one being made 🕸️🕸️

Robert The Bruce?

Sweetpea1532 · 17/03/2023 22:41

@SinnerBoy please do make sure your cellphone is charged so in case you go missing in Oz, you'll be able to be located..of course the WAG gang and The Happy Cafe group will all be out searching for you until you are safely back!

ProfessorLayton1 · 17/03/2023 22:43

Christianity is believed to have been introduced in India by Thomas, the apostle in AD 52, long long before the Portuguese or the British arrived.

SinnerBoy · 17/03/2023 22:44

Thanks, Sweetpea!

Sweetpea1532 · 17/03/2023 22:58

@SinnerBoy you're welcome! I don't know what we'd do if we couldn't have a daily dose of good cheer on WAGFlowers

SinnerBoy · 17/03/2023 23:13

Yes, it's cheering, all right. Have you seen the Corvid thread? That's a lovely one.

BinturongsSmellOfPopcorn · 17/03/2023 23:20

ProfessorLayton1 · 17/03/2023 22:43

Christianity is believed to have been introduced in India by Thomas, the apostle in AD 52, long long before the Portuguese or the British arrived.

There was a series on Indian music a few years ago on BBC4 that touched on this, and sent me down a fascinating google rabbit hole. It's pretty much impossible to prove the 52AD bit, but they use Syriac as their liturgical language - which means the origins are almost certainly 2nd century or earlier.

Sweetpea1532 · 18/03/2023 00:04

@SinnerBoy no, I haven't..I'll go look though.😘

Kucinghitam · 18/03/2023 06:06

The link someone posted earlier with the "spaces" in "space" between the planets, etc was incredible.

This one @Emotionalsupportviper ?

joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html

I also recommend this very enjoyable cycle ride for anybody within reach of York:

www.york.ac.uk/physics-engineering-technology/outreach/astrocampus/cycle-solar-system/

Emotionalsupportviper · 18/03/2023 09:35

Kucinghitam · 18/03/2023 06:06

The link someone posted earlier with the "spaces" in "space" between the planets, etc was incredible.

This one @Emotionalsupportviper ?

joshworth.com/dev/pixelspace/pixelspace_solarsystem.html

I also recommend this very enjoyable cycle ride for anybody within reach of York:

www.york.ac.uk/physics-engineering-technology/outreach/astrocampus/cycle-solar-system/

Ooh - thank you!

As it happens, I am within reach of York . . . Grin

Emotionalsupportviper · 18/03/2023 09:40

ProfessorLayton1 · 17/03/2023 22:43

Christianity is believed to have been introduced in India by Thomas, the apostle in AD 52, long long before the Portuguese or the British arrived.

I wrote a sermon around this once. (St Thomas is our Chruch's patron saint)

Trixiefirecracker · 18/03/2023 10:04

The isolated tribes of the Andaman Islands. Became fascinated by these different tribes when I visited some of these islands in the 90s. We were travelling on a bus up middle Andaman when we encountered a tree across the road. All the locals were instantly terrified that it was some kind of ambush by the indigenous tribes. There’s an island called North Sentinel I think we’re the people still live an essentially ‘stone-age’ life style , shun all outside contact and extremely reclusive. I seem to remember there was something in the news about how a young American went over to try and spread the word of god but was killed by the Sentinelese (not too long ago). I find their reclusiveness really fascinating and the way they have preserved their lifestyle so fervently from outside influences.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 18/03/2023 13:25

I think that was this guy, @Trixiefirecracker

www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/03/john-chau-christian-missionary-death-sentinelese

Although it turns out there has been prior contact of a sort:

listverse.com/2020/02/05/10-times-contact-was-made-with-the-last-uncontacted-tribe/

ElizabethBest · 18/03/2023 13:49

I remember reading about John Chau when it happened and being astonished that still in this day and age people have the arrogance of thinking their way of life must be imposed on a people they know nothing about.

OP posts:
SinnerBoy · 18/03/2023 13:58

Britinme · Today 11:02

I loved this:

Ha ha, dizzy gorilla!

YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet · 18/03/2023 15:43

Thanks for all the nominations. We're pleased to say that the Classics committee hath spoken - we're moving it over now.

Embelline · 18/03/2023 16:35

Yay thanks @YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet brilliant news. Genuinely think this is the best thread ever.

RE the theory of is being a simulated reality, my friend is convinced the game “the sims” was dropped into our “reality” as a tongue in cheek joke. In the same way that in the sims they have basic versions of their own world as entertainment like computer games and tv shows, that’s our version! I haven’t explained that very well…

rhe apple in Adam and Eve being “apple” is a mind boggling thought 😂🙈

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