# Observations that seem profound, but you don't quite know what to do with them **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 18, 2008, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123 "2008-09-18T11:44:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Peanut\_Gallery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/838e76/32.png) [@Peanut\_Gallery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanut_Gallery)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/21 "2008-09-20T01:16:37Z")
As a teenager, lying on my back in a field one night, I had a profound revelation about the scale of the universe. Part of this was a feeling which I have never had to describe, but I will now coin as Extra-Gravity Perception™\*. My mind made it to a place where I managed to register my position no longer as “me lying in a field at the local middle school”, but as “me hurtling through space, with my back stuck to a giant rock”. For a moment I was able to really comprehend the true difference in the size of things… from the vastness of the expanding boundary of the universe to the equally-vast-ness of the empty space in atoms, and further down into their components. I gained an appreciation for the true in/significance of everything. At one scale, me and my two friends were are all there was. On another we are all just so much mold, growing on a rock, floating around a pocket of burning gas. On yet another, we each might as well be the universe itself. And all of these perspectives were equally vaild and important. This wasn’t something I thought through, though. It was just a \*feeling \*. ::checks the sign on the door:: This is Room 147, Psychedelic Confessions from Adolescence, right? This is your brain. This is your brain on LSD in 12th grade Physics class. Any profound revelations? \*Argh! I see on previewing the thread, \*\*Panda \*\*hit this one already, but he didn’t have a catchy name for it, so screw that guy. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/22 "2008-09-20T01:45:50Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Humanity. Over a trillion years of combined experience. > > Yes, I’ve had the same thought. What if there’s really only one consciousness… one individual, that embodies every living thing. Not just people, past present and future, but animals, and even extraterrestrial life. Of course, you forget it all, next time you’re born, which is why I don’t remember being you, or you remember being me. But I sure as hell wish I could remember being [Monica Bellucci.](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://bp2.blogger.com/_eDfvlSpVxwk/RwERbUs6FnI/AAAAAAAAAHs/g6pVhEuXoos/s400/21955_Monica.Bellucci6_122_1099lo&imgrefurl=http://ucarmagazine.com/category/monica-bellucci/&h=400&w=302&sz=26&tbnid=qjyl2_JqoxUJ::&tbnh=124&tbnw=94&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMonica%2BBellucci&usg=__Wy4utKsZYhMZUkzR3V00a-THYpg=&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=2&ct=image&cd=1) Especially since Monica Bellucci was in The Matrix. Cause and effect. One more relevation I’ve had.. the combined experience of everyone on earth for one second is equivilent to a hundred years. One second. Your entire life in one second. _Your_ life flashing before your eyes in one second. Woah. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/23 "2008-09-20T01:57:17Z")
On all these “just a teeny speck in the universe” revelations: I overheard something on a space documentary my husband was watching the other day, that said there are more individual galaxies in the universe than there are stars in the specific galaxy in which we live. My brain tried to form some kind of graphic to get perspective on that, and failed miserably, except for one thought that made it through: if this is true, how could we _possibly_ think we are the only intelligent life in the whole universe? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/24 "2008-09-20T01:59:51Z")
All products are based upon agriculture or mining, although you must define both quite widely. ---
**Author:** ![Peanut\_Gallery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/838e76/32.png) [@Peanut\_Gallery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanut_Gallery)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/25 "2008-09-20T03:10:44Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > All products are based upon agriculture or mining, although you must define both quite widely. I usually go for Mining \> Bronze Working \> Iron Working at the start… One more that blows my mind every time … Some of the most incredible music in human history was written by a [deaf dude](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beethoven) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/26 "2008-09-20T03:18:31Z")
One of my econ professors once said (wisely and correctly, IMHO) that a tax can either be very simple, or completely fair. It cannot be both. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/27 "2008-09-20T03:58:21Z")
Honestly, I just can’t fathom why there’s _something_, rather than _nothing_. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/28 "2008-09-20T08:34:01Z")
cmyk–I’ve lost jobs working on that one. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/29 "2008-09-20T08:44:59Z")
Forgot where I saw the graphic to this, but the largest known star in the Milky Way galaxy is 1,500 times bigger than our own sun. We is _tiny_. ---
**Author:** ![Buran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e57/32.png) [@Buran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buran)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/30 "2008-09-20T09:33:09Z")
One of many facts that I was surprised to learn, genetics and other evidence suggests that about 70’000 years ago, around the same time as the Toba volcanic eruption, a population bottleneck occurred and the human race fell to a total as low as possibly 1000 individuals worldwide! :eek: I’ve sometimes wondered if this is where the human fascination with the apocalypse and other end of the world scenarios comes from, as a species we remember when we almost became extinct, we’ve already lived through Armageddon. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/31 "2008-09-20T10:05:08Z")
> [@Peanut\_Gallery](#): > > I usually go for Mining \> Bronze Working \> Iron Working at the start… > One more that blows my mind every time … > > Some of the most incredible music in human history was written by a [deaf dude](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beethoven) Terry Pratchett explains: “Being deaf doesn’t stop composers hearing the music. It stops them hearing the distractions.” Beethoven wasn’t genetically deaf, but pathologically; he had had many years of knowing what music sounded like before he lost his hearing, and his mental ear still worked just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/32 "2008-09-20T10:13:06Z")
The Earth is basically a self-mulching machine. Earthquakes and erosion destroy everything eventually, leaving new land behind. It takes a while, but every bit of ground will eventually be consumed. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/33 "2008-09-20T10:38:18Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > I hope this isn’t too stupid of a question, but I still don’t really get Christian theology. > > I thought God was the one who made people, and Jesus was the one who saved people. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of Jesus having “created life” before. Is this common? To the best of my knowledge, no this isn’t common. But my niece is 3–her version of the facts may not be quite consistent with standard theology, but it’s mostly consistent with what her parents are trying to teach her–they are the kind of folk who are Young Earth Creationists. She’s got time to come to grips with the Trinity. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/34 "2008-09-20T14:57:46Z")
McDonald’s has over 31,000 locations, 1.5 million employees, they serve nearly 47 million customers a day, and have served over 100 billion people. That’s almost as may burgers as there are stars in our galaxy. I wouldn’t even want to count the fries. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/35 "2008-09-20T15:39:57Z")
The words for the days of the week- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. go back to very, very, very ancient times. And we still use these words honoring ancient gods- and we generally don’t think a thing about it. All this time- empires rising and falling, religions spreading and dying- and we still use the same words. Every week I when I bitch about it being Monday, I am using a word that connects me back thousands of years. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/36 "2008-09-20T15:58:17Z")
> [@Tahssa](#): > > That I, being an average Joe and not some Abraham or Einstein, will be lost in history and in less than a century or two will be forgotten to have ever existed bothers me sometimes and sometimes it eases my mind and brings me peace. Now with the internet, maybe not. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/37 "2008-09-20T15:58:58Z")
At least in the US, the largest food-service, the largest transport and the largest capital facilities operation (and perhaps the largest employer) in most counties is the board of education. Yet, almost know who is on the board of education. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/38 "2008-09-20T16:30:53Z")
> [@Influential\_Panda](#): > > Go out and look up at the stars one night. > > Then consider that “up” doesn’t really exist, and you’re just looking away from the earth into the expanding universe. Consider that you aren’t standing on the ground, it’s sucking you down. Imagine yourself on the “bottom” of the world, hanging by your feet if you will. Now spin your mental self around REALLY REALLY REALLY fast. Then throw it around a big hunk of fire REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLLY REALLY fast. > > That’s you. > > Whoah. Nope, I can do that, cuz I’ve play Medieval: Total War: in the battles, when you double click on a unit it simultaneously spins around the camera to face the orientation of the unit and sends the camera through space to the location of the unit. The first few times this happens it got me disoriented and a little bit queasy. But my subconscious brain formed a defensive mechanism to prevent this so I now have no trouble spinning and slinging myself mentally through space. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/39 "2008-09-20T16:57:25Z")
Domesticated animals. We have 2 cats and 2 dogs. Each dog is about 70 pounds and is completely and perfectly capable of doing great harm to me. Yet, instead they protect me. They sleep in our bed. They can read our moods. And I them. These 4 legged critters pretty much have the run of the house. Day and night. I’m a leader of a dog pack. The symbiotic nature of our two different species stuns me sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Peanut\_Gallery](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/838e76/32.png) [@Peanut\_Gallery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanut_Gallery)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2008, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123/40 "2008-09-20T16:57:58Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > The words for the days of the week- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. go back to very, very, very ancient times. And we still use these words honoring ancient gods- and we generally don’t think a thing about it. All this time- empires rising and falling, religions spreading and dying- and we still use the same words. > > Every week I when I bitch about it being Monday, I am using a word that connects me back thousands of years. Similarly, we have no idea why we count time the way we do. [link](http://science.howstuffworks.com/time2.htm) We only have 60 second minutes or 24 hour days because that’s how they have always done it. Not only is there no solid explanation, but it strikes me that this is one of the few things that everyone in the world just _agrees on_. Correct me if I’m wrong there. It’s kind of surprising, now that I think about it, that some egomaniac dictator hasn’t up and changed the counting of time within his borders by decree. How many other things are there that every person in the world agrees on? Not even “Murder is wrong” meets that standard! “There is a higher power” will still only get you about 90-95% agreement… [/bonghit] ETA Choice quote from the link: “That’s a pretty bizarre way to divide a day up. We divide it in half, then divide the halves by twelfths, then divide the twelfths into sixtieths, then divide by 60 again, and then convert to a decimal system for the smallest increments. It’s no wonder children have trouble learning how to tell time.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/observations-that-seem-profound-but-you-dont-quite-know-what-to-do-with-them/464123.md?page=3)