The world is a big and confusing place. While our immediate job should be to understand the problems and responsibilities in front of us, it can like we don't know anything at all when we try to understand everything. Whether it be science or technology related, there can be things we will never understand, and that's okay. So long as other people don't understand it either.
Reddit user, u/gigi_c16, wanted to hear about what confuses you when they asked:
What is something you genuinely don't understand?
It Goes On And On Forever...Or Does It?
homer simpson space GIFGiphyHow space can be infinite.
Seriously, my mind starts to itch just trying to imagine what that means.
now try imagine it being finite, and there being a point where existence just stops
equally incomprehensible
*sniff *sniff
How smell works.
Some Animals can smell stuff miles away.
Sharks can smell underwater.
Working All The Time
Companies and people that work 12 to 16 hour days every day without pause or break.
I get money, but it seems pretty pointless when you don't see your family, your home, your youth.
So sick of this sh-t and I don't even have to do it every day.
We're In The Most Brilliant, Stupid Time
Media player screens. How in the f-ck does a device take a bunch of data in 0s and 1s and translate that into a picture in tiny dots of color and project it all instantaneously with tiny pixels that each glow the correct color? It's such an ungodly amount of data and speed that it boggles my mind.
The easiest to understand, and on of the biggest image file formats is just that : a BitMaP. For each and every pixel, the file stores the full color data about that pixel. The trendy one for a while has been a pallette of 16.7 millions of colors, so the number to store that information is quite big.
Yep. Checks Out. Aliens.
looking season 3 GIFGiphyWiFi, radio, cell phone data, and the cloud. I mean, I get how they say it works.....but I'm pretty sure it's actually magic. You're telling me that terabytes of data are sent from earth to a satellite, back to a cell tower, and then into my phone in milliseconds.....nope, aliens did this for sure.
This Still Makes...Less Sense.
Gravity
As someone who isn't an expert (but once read some books written by experts) no one understands gravity. The best explanation we have is by Einstein where gravity is what happens when things curve the space-time continuum causing other things to fall into the curve. That's complicated enough to start with, but a lot of the reasoning and nuances are still just "it just works". There's even a theory that gravity is caused by subatomic particles called gravitons that cause two things to move close together or something.
We're Adults. We Don't Need To Cheat.
A minor one :
People cheating in those online steps challenges. In my org, we had people averaging 70K(almost 32miles) steps daily over 3 months. People with desk jobs, mind you. There were no prizes to be had. I can't understand what motivates such people
All Together: It's A Big Ball Of Wibbly Wobbly...Timey Wimey...Stuff.
Time. If nothing changed at all, nothing moved, nothing grew or decayed, apparently Time would still exist as a thing. How can it be other than related to change?
Furthermore, all of the three spacial dimensions we can move through both backwards and forwards. Why can we only move one direction through time? After all, einstein tells us that time is intimately connected with the spacial dimensions. Why then, should it be different in that regard?
We All Have That One Aunt Or Uncle Like This, Right?
I will never be able to understand how someone can read a singular article that their high school dropout friend shared on facebook and believe they are smarter than an expert on a subject
That belief was already present. They just need something to justify their belief. Isn't that part of the Dunning Kruger effect?
Not really, the dunning-kruger effect isn't that dumb people think they are experts (although that is how it is often portrayed as, ironically).
It's more like beginners (e.g. a 2 out of 10 skill level) think they are slightly better than they are (like a 3-5 out of 10). And conversely experts (8/10) thinking they are slightly worse than they are (6-7/10).
It's Called Being A Human
bart simpson agree GIFGiphyWhile I understand what it is, as a male, I really don't get catcalling or sexually harassing a woman.
I don't get what goal some men have in their minds when they make those comments (or actions) towards women.
Do I find some women I don't know attractive? For sure.
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