Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

People Break Down Which Things They Just Genuinely Don't Understand

People Break Down Which Things They Just Genuinely Don't Understand
Image by skeeze from Pixabay
Make us preferred on Google

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 GIFGiphy

How space can be infinite.

Seriously, my mind starts to itch just trying to imagine what that means.

scnr83

now try imagine it being finite, and there being a point where existence just stops

equally incomprehensible

ParkityParkPark

*sniff *sniff

How smell works.

Some Animals can smell stuff miles away.

Sharks can smell underwater.

I smell when I don't shower.

MorganOctober

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.

Crash4654

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.

sadpanda___

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.

not_better

Yep. Checks Out. Aliens.

looking season 3 GIFGiphy

WiFi, 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.

sadpanda___

This Still Makes...Less Sense.

Gravity

PhoenixsCurse

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.

Yserbius

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

King_O_Rap

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?

Nighttraincapt

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?

TheBertinator3000

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

GeneralDirgud

That belief was already present. They just need something to justify their belief. Isn't that part of the Dunning Kruger effect?

[usernameredacted]

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).

MrSmile223

It's Called Being A Human

bart simpson agree GIFGiphy

While 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.

JacobasNile

Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

More from Trending/best-of-reddit

Amy Adams
Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Apple TV/Getty Images

Amy Adams Reveals She Saved Stabbing Victim's Life Thanks To Skills She Learned On Short-Lived TV Medical Drama

We've all heard how important it is to be a lifelong learner and to try to learn something new every single day. And if you're Amy Adams, what you learn might save someone's life someday.

While on the SmartLess podcast, Adams reflected on some of her biggest roles, like Arrival, and that one time she was on a limited series on CBS, only for the channel to cancel the medical drama after five episodes, even though it was only set to run for ten. The remaining five episodes were never released.

Keep ReadingShow less
Bill Burr on The Big Podcast; Shaquille O'Neal on The Big Podcast
The Big Podcast with Shaq/YouTube

Bill Burr Epically Roasts Shaq For Claiming That The Earth Is Flat Due To His Experience On Planes

There is arguably no conspiracy theory more notorious than the idea that the Earth is flat rather than round.

Despite hard scientific evidence to prove otherwise, "flat Earthers" seem to be growing at a surprising rate.

Keep ReadingShow less
Lionel Messi
Kaz Photography/Getty Images

An Accidentally NSFW Statue Of Lionel Messi Was Just Erected In Argentina—And Hoo Boy, It's A Big Yikes

Well, they don't call it "erecting a statue" for nothing, it seems!

A new statue of soccer superstar Lionel Messi has been, yes, erected in the Patagonia region of Messi's native Argentina, and with all due respect to everyone involved, it really needed a few more rounds of quality control.

Keep ReadingShow less
Dwayne Johnson
VCG/VCG via Getty Images

Dwayne Johnson Sparks Debate After His Comments About Why He Stays Out Of Politics Rub Some Fans The Wrong Way

Former football player turned professional wrestler turned actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is facing fan backlash over recent comments he's made about remaining an apolitical public figure when most of his fellow performers have chosen to either speak out against injustice in fascism or wholly embrace it.

In an interview with Esquire, Johnson criticized his colleagues for sharing their political views with the public.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Elizabeth Warren
CNBC

CNBC Includes Hilarious Typo In Chyron During Elizabeth Warren Interview About AI—And We're Obsessed

After Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren appeared on CNBC to decry the lack of AI regulations in the United States, the network misquoted her in a chyron with a typo when she discussed AI's "funky, hinky bookkeeping."

Warren, who has been working with Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal, a fellow Democrat, on legislation to address this deficit, also pointed out that the Trump administration has no regulators to speak of.

Keep ReadingShow less