# What are we all wrong about? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 10, 2009, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308 "2009-06-10T05:51:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/1 "2009-06-10T05:51:37Z")
There is something that we are all wrong about, no doubt, and it’s a bloody nuisance. Any idea what it could be? It will seem to you to be right, no doubt, but it will perhaps be good if you guess 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/2 "2009-06-10T06:00:21Z")
Exposure to adult ideas turns children into axe murderers. AKA the need to Disnefy. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/3 "2009-06-10T06:08:05Z")
but many people disagree with that. what are we ALL wrong about? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/4 "2009-06-10T06:10:09Z")
That there is something we can universally agree on. (Except I disagree with that statement.) There’s going to be “many” people on any side of anything, regardless how bizarre. So if you’re going to stick to your guns, this is going to be a short thread. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/5 "2009-06-10T06:14:32Z")
not necessarily. we just need to find something that we’ve never, ever, considered. something taken for granted no doubt, even by the solipsists. it can be done. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/6 "2009-06-10T06:57:42Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > not necessarily. we just need to find something that we’ve never, ever, considered. something taken for granted no doubt, even by the solipsists. it can be done. No, I think you’re wrong about that. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/7 "2009-06-10T07:07:02Z")
There’s enough variety in human thought, that I think it’s safe to assume that regardless of the issue, there will always be \*\*\*someone \*\*\*with an opposite viewpoint. So I doubt that there’s anything that we’re \*\*\*all \*\*\*wrong (or right) about. So one thing that you, specifically, are wrong about is the idea that there’s something we’re all wrong about. Of course, I might be wrong about that. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/8 "2009-06-10T07:11:18Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > There’s enough variety in human thought, that I think it’s safe to assume that regardless of the issue, there will always be \*\*\*someone \*\*\*with an opposite viewpoint. So I doubt that there’s anything that we’re \*\*\*all \*\*\*wrong (or right) about. > > So one thing that you, specifically, are wrong about is the idea that there’s something we’re all wrong about. > > Of course, I might be wrong about that. I’m pretty sure you’re right about that, **panache**. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/9 "2009-06-10T08:15:28Z")
What are we wrong about? The belief that the Earth is something more than a tiny speck of dust in a near-infinite universe. Mankind has an overinflated sense of its own importance - it’s the only think that keeps us sane. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/10 "2009-06-10T11:42:17Z")
If there is something we are ALL wrong about, by definition no one will post in this thread to say so, because if they did, we wouldn’t ALL be wrong. So it’s a question that literally can’t be answered, because if an answer is provided it invalidates itself. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/11 "2009-06-10T13:46:39Z")
> [@Angry Lurker](#): > > not necessarily. we just need to find something that we’ve never, ever, considered. something taken for granted no doubt, even by the solipsists. it can be done. God’s real name? Rufus. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/12 "2009-06-10T14:08:58Z")
The world is overpopulated. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Poster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Happy\_Poster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Poster)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/13 "2009-06-10T15:58:07Z")
I suppose the first step has to be to find something that we all agree on, and whatever it is it has to be something that none (or very few of us) have ever thought about, so it has to be something taken for granted. Maybe we can call this thought the fundamental thought? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/14 "2009-06-10T16:26:17Z")
> [@Jettboy](#): > > The world is overpopulated. But there have long been plenty of contrarians (Julian Simon, Ben Watternberg) arguing that the world is not overpopulated. Sorry, that’s not something “everyone” is wrong about. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/15 "2009-06-10T16:42:10Z")
[parrot lady]I think that the majority of right-thinking people are wrong![/parrot lady] Stranger ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/16 "2009-06-10T17:17:48Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > What are we wrong about? > > The belief that the Earth is something more than a tiny speck of dust in a near-infinite universe. Mankind has an overinflated sense of its own importance - it’s the only think that keeps us sane. What are you talking about? The earth doesn’t even _qualify_ as a speck. Seriously. And sanity is overrated. ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/17 "2009-06-10T17:38:42Z")
ALL? Nuttin. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/18 "2009-06-10T17:44:11Z")
Okay, I’ve got it. We’re all wrong in our assumption that the world is not a large puppet show controlled by a large seventy-trillion-armed man named “Ste7e” who simulates all physical laws by precise real-time manipulation of matter itself with his physical hands - and we all see this happening but ignore it. This is actually what’s happening, but nobody believes it, and we’re all wrong about that. (There’s actually one guy in Hoboken who _almost_ is right, but he erroneously thinks that the being’s name is “St3ve”, so the unanimous incorrectness is maintained.) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Love](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Dr.Love](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Love)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/19 "2009-06-10T18:30:14Z")
Depends on what you mean by “wrong.” If you have fairly liberal standards on what constitutes a “good guess,” then there’s a good chance that someone is correct given any question. Or, maybe it’s like math class, where a correct final answer gotten through an incorrect process still counts as wrong. Here’s something that I think no one has a _justifiably_ correct answer to (and maybe no correct answer to at all): What is the proper domain of personal responsibility/blameworthyness given the realities of how the brain works, and how attitudes towards personal responsibility affect the functioning of a society. I think this qualifies because: [ol][li]We do not know nearly enough about the brain to give a reasonable answer.[/li][li]Everybody has very strong intuitions about answer, given to us by biological and cultural evolution.[/li][li]Everybody is forced to take a position on this in our daily lives, since interacting with others requires that we determine what they are and are not responsible for.[/li][/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/20 "2009-06-11T01:46:16Z")
The direction we call “down” should actually be called “up.” The direction we call “up” should be called “down.” Somehow we’ve all managed to get that wrong. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308.md?page=2)