# 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:** 3
**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 11, 2009, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/41 "2009-06-11T21:30:06Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > No, solipsists doubt even that. However, even solipsists don’t doubt that _they_ themselves, exist. > > Which is blatantly wrong, considering I’m the only one who really exists. Y’all are just figments of my imagination, and if you think you exist, you’re sorely mistaken. Actually you’re wrong about that - it’s some other guy that exists and we’re all figments of _his_ imagination. And I’m not him, but I have it on good authority that he erroneously thinks he’s a figment of somebody _else_ imagination. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/42 "2009-06-11T22:36:44Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > It’s true he was a plagiarist, as was Helen Keller and as (per some accounts) was Einstein ([Cecil on the topic](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2576/was-einstein-a-plagiarist)) and many other renowned intellects. It doesn’t matter for anything, but that Cecil article doesn’t seem to really support calling Einstein a plagiarist. ---
**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 11, 2009, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/43 "2009-06-11T22:39:06Z")
Everybody is dumber than they think they are. Except me. I’m freakin’ brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/44 "2009-06-11T22:41:38Z")
“What’s the opposite of your answer to this question?”. There. Everyone gets it wrong. ---
**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 11, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/45 "2009-06-11T22:48:12Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > “What’s the opposite of your answer to this question?”. > > There. Everyone gets it wrong. “inflammable”. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/46 "2009-06-11T22:55:55Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > It doesn’t matter for anything, but that Cecil article doesn’t seem to really support calling Einstein a plagiarist. No, but it mentions the allegations (hence the qualified “Cecil on the topic”). He also wrote one on [MLK](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2449/was-martin-luther-king-jr-a-plagiarist). ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/47 "2009-06-11T22:57:52Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Actually you’re wrong about that - it’s some other guy that exists and we’re all figments of _his_ imagination. And I’m not him, but I have it on good authority that he erroneously thinks he’s a figment of somebody _else_ imagination. I vote we track that fucker down. I don’t know about you guys, but he imagines me all wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/48 "2009-06-11T23:08:29Z")
> [@Jettboy](#): > > The world is overpopulated. There’s a hole in the world like a great black pit, and it’s filled with people who are filled with shit. But not for long–not if I and my friend Mrs. L. have anything tosay about it. We’ll feed half of you to the other half, and sing while doing it. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/49 "2009-06-11T23:09:08Z")
I could tell you, but you wouldn’t believe me. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/50 "2009-06-11T23:11:37Z")
Actually, here’s an interesting one. Most people assume that inanimate matter is unconscious & non-sentient. I think this unlikely. More likely, all matter is conscious, but what makes animals’ neural networks different is the ability to collect data **& store memories.** ---
**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 11, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/51 "2009-06-11T23:14:37Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Actually, here’s an interesting one. > > Most people assume that inanimate matter is unconscious & non-sentient. I think this unlikely. More likely, all matter is conscious, but what makes animals’ neural networks different is the ability to collect data **& store memories.** Yeah, but some people believe in that - I personally am a firm believer in the perversity of the inanimate. Your blender is conspiring to kill you. Seriously. Ignore it at your peril! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/52 "2009-06-11T23:15:04Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Actually, here’s an interesting one. > > Most people assume that inanimate matter is unconscious & non-sentient. I think this unlikely. More likely, all matter is conscious, but what makes animals’ neural networks different is the ability to collect data **& store memories.** What information leads you to believe that rocks are conscious? ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/53 "2009-06-11T23:20:36Z")
Not so much rocks as their component molecules. They’re made of electrical fields which can respond to pressure. Ergo, they could “feel” touch. They just can’t remember it. I know, six of one, half a dozen of the other. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2009, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/54 "2009-06-11T23:24:50Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Not so much rocks as their component molecules. They’re made of electrical fields which can respond to pressure. Ergo, they could “feel” touch. They just can’t remember it. > > I know, six of one, half a dozen of the other. Fred? Winifred Burkle? Izzat you? ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/55 "2009-06-12T00:09:22Z")
We’re all wrong about hallucinogenic drugs. We think that they make us see/hear/feel things that aren’t really there. This is incorrect. Hallucinogens allow us to see the world as it really is, instead of the illusion generated by the collective subconsciousness of mankind. Furthermore, reality is different for each one of us, which is why two people in the same room can take acid and have different experiences. Please note that I am also wrong about this, and the reality is some third possibility, which is not some combination of the other two. A third possibility which no one has considered, and when someone figures it out, it will instantly become wrong, as this is the on thing that we can never be right about. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/56 "2009-06-12T01:06:01Z")
I’m with **Der Trihs** that this is a question that’s impossible to answer. Anyway, I submit the next closest idea: **Objective time.** Everyone _feels_ (not necessarily believes) that their _now_ is your _now_ and so on. Which isn’t the case; each and every person’s _now_, diverges from everyone else’s, even though the differences are so very, very tiny. And what makes this the “next closest thing” is that there’s no way to really tell how many nano-seconds I’ve gained or lost compared to you or anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/57 "2009-06-12T02:32:30Z")
20 years ago nobody thought Big Mac containers could destroy the ozone layer. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/58 "2009-06-12T02:39:13Z")
> [@pmwgreen](#): > > 20 years ago nobody thought Big Mac containers could destroy the ozone layer. Does that count? Count as something that we all believe but are wrong about? Well I don’t believe that because I can prove it’s wrong. 20 years ago this “fact” was the biggest news story around. I doubt you could find a week in 1989 when this “fact” wasn’t mentioned any popular publication of your choice. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2009, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/59 "2009-06-12T06:11:34Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > No, solipsists doubt even that. However, even solipsists don’t doubt that _they_ themselves, exist. > > Which is blatantly wrong, considering I’m the only one who really exists. Y’all are just figments of my imagination, and if you think you exist, you’re sorely mistaken. But more than one solipsist exists. In fact, everyone is a solipsist. And they’re all wrong. Something exists, but you only _think_ it is you! ---
**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:** [June 12, 2009, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308/60 "2009-06-12T08:09:36Z")
Everyone believes they’re right. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-we-all-wrong-about/499308.md?page=4)