# What do you know is true/false intellectually, but still feel like it's "wrong"? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465 "2012-03-22T02:39:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/41 "2012-03-22T18:06:01Z")
Despite reasonable and obvious arguments to the contrary, I simply cannot accept that my consciousness - my inner “me” - will be gone forever after I die. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/42 "2012-03-22T18:10:50Z")
Airplanes. So, you take something that’s as big as a building, fill it with people and stuff, it weighs tons TONS! And just because it’s shaped a certain way, and moves forward relative to the ground at a certain rate, it can end up floating in the air! Yeah, right. :dubious: Sure it can, tell me another one… I suppose next you are gonna tell me you can make my voice heard by someone halfway around the globe while I’m talking…:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/43 "2012-03-22T18:21:07Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Of course it’s actually true. How many fatal plane crashes are there per year in the entire world? And even if you are in any plane crash, you have a 90% chance of surving. > > It’s true because the safety guidelines for flying and maintaining a commercial jet are so much higher than driving a car. If you read the other responses I think you’ll get a better idea of what I was asking and how the answer turns out to not be so obvious. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/44 "2012-03-22T19:50:29Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > But damn it, I STILL can’t help thinking that fastballs really do rise. There’s a similar illusion in curling. Quite obviously, sweepers can’t make a curling rock go faster–they can only make it slow down more slowly. But when you’re viewing your own rock from behind, after you throw it, and your sweepers jump on it, you would swear someone set off a bomb behind the rock and made it go faster. The reason is that your subconscious bakes a normal slowdown into its perception of “constant” speed, so when something decelerates more slowly, it looks like acceleration. ---
**Author:** ![punch\_line\_loser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e7dd6/32.png) [@punch\_line\_loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/punch_line_loser)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/45 "2012-03-22T20:24:48Z")
Bracing myself - Change. Seriously. As in, breaking up bills. Ever since I was a little kid, something about the concept of making change attacks me like an itch every time I have to do it. And I mean, I get it. You owe someone ten bucks, you give them a twenty and they give you ten back, and you’re square. But every time there’s the little voice in my head saying, “You gave him _twenty dollars_.” It gets even worse when multiple parties are involved (“Okay, you give me twenty for all four of you and each of you give him five…”) I KNOW it’s totally obvious and makes sense, but my brain simply can’t handle any kind of mathematical abstraction. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/46 "2012-03-22T20:28:30Z")
Equinoxes and Solstices being the start of the seasons. I know it’s figured out by the length of daylight, but it still feels wrong to me. I prefer the Irish Way–Winter starts on December 1st, Spring on March 1st, Summer on June 1st and Autumn on September 1st. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/47 "2012-03-22T21:12:06Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Equinoxes and Solstices being the start of the seasons. I know it’s figured out by the length of daylight, but it still feels wrong to me. > > I prefer the Irish Way–Winter starts on December 1st, Spring on March 1st, Summer on June 1st and Autumn on September 1st. I was always taught that Winter starts on November 1st. Spring February 1st, Summer May 1st, and Autumn August 1st. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/48 "2012-03-22T21:13:57Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Equinoxes and Solstices being the start of the seasons. I know it’s figured out by the length of daylight, but it still feels wrong to me. > > I prefer the Irish Way–Winter starts on December 1st, Spring on March 1st, Summer on June 1st and Autumn on September 1st. Thing is it breaks down a bit when you try and have a set rule for the entire world. The concept of seasons is different nearer the equator than it is closer to the poles. Also our “book of hours” concept of what seasons are has changed over time with the shifting of the climate. The last 1000 years were far colder than what came before, for example. That said I’m not clear how the dates in your example are really that different to using the conventional season markers - the winter solstice is on 21st December, vernal equinox 21st March etc - it’s only 20 days later than what you’re suggesting. ---
**Author:** ![dataguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eada6e/32.png) [@dataguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dataguy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/49 "2012-03-22T21:16:32Z")
> [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](#): > > 2^0=1. I know it’s true, it seems like it ought to be 0. Always has, every since I learned this as a wee lad. Yeah, this one bothered me for awhile too. After spending some time on it, I finally had the realization that mathematics is an invention-not some natural system for obtaining “truth”. In a mathematical system, the answers aren’t “true”. They are consistent within the system. That’s why division by zero is illegal. In the mathematical system we use, it has no meaning. That’s not the same thing as having no answer. As far as anything to the zero power, the answer has to be 1 to remain consistent with the rest of the mathematical system. For example, exponent arithmetic. When you have exponents in the numerator and denominator, the rules of our system say you can subtract them as a shortcut. So, if for example you have 2^2/2^2, that should be the same as 2^2-2, or 2^0. That answer has to be consistent with the fact that any quantity divided by itself =1. Maybe that will help you like it helped me. The answer is not “true”. It is mathematically consistent. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/50 "2012-03-22T21:26:08Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Airplanes. > > So, you take something that’s as big as a building, fill it with people and stuff, it weighs tons TONS! And just because it’s shaped a certain way, and moves forward relative to the ground at a certain rate, it can end up floating in the air! > > Yeah, right. :dubious: Sure it can, tell me another one… This! I sit and watch the planes overhead, near the airport. I can see 'em clearly, but, even so, a little nagging part of my brain is screaming, “Hogwash! There’s no such animal!” > [@ultrafilter](#): > > . . . So in ten dimensions, the “little” sphere which is tangent to the sphere contained in the cube will have a radius that’s bigger than the sides of the cube. . . . Hypervolumes are weird! Hypersphere hypervolumes go up in quantity, until a specific dimension (I forget, but I think it’s the ninth) and then the numbers start to go down again. Basically, it’s because all the hypervolume is getting concentrated close to the center. After that, you have a tenuous, vague, cloudy outer “shell” of hypervolume, with a really dense center. And each further “revolution about the center” only concentrates it more. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/51 "2012-03-22T21:33:50Z")
I hate it whenever I realize I’m doing this, because it makes me start questioning whether I’m actually right about _anything_: “Hmm… I _think_ it makes sense that adding 1 and 1 always equals 2, but then again…” One that’s been bugging me again lately is: “Your new neighbor has two children. At least one of them is a girl. What are the odds the other one is a girl?” My first instinct is always to think, “Well, there are three types of two-child families: two boys, two girls, and one of each. Since we’re ignoring ‘two boys’, that leaves two types, or 1/2 odds that the other child is a girl.” I _know_ that the correct answer is 1/3\*, and I can explain why [in](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14881146&postcount=155) [agonizing](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14881299&postcount=159) [detail](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14891474&postcount=171). But the only reason I can do that is because I’ve looked at this problem eight ways from Sunday trying to reconcile my intuition with the math. And I can’t do it. The fact remains that it \*feels \*like the three groups (two boys, two girls, and one of each) should be equal, even though I know that they’re not. \*Or 1/2, depending on how you parse the question, but not by my instinctual method. ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/52 "2012-03-22T22:22:42Z")
Electricity. _Something_ goes through these wires, and then…electronics turn on! [You can’t explain that!](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/bill-oreilly-you-cant-explain-that) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/53 "2012-03-22T22:23:43Z")
I know that current theory has the expansion of the Universe to be speeding up, so that one day in the far, far future the distances between atoms will be greater than the distances between galaxies today. But that just sucks - it’s like growing old, forever. I much prefer the Big Crunch - puts a nice endcap on things. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/54 "2012-03-22T22:42:17Z")
Jumping or falling into water at terminal velocity - I know the physics means the outcome is pretty bleak, but I can’t help thinking “if I just point my toes and enter feet first…” ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2012, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/55 "2012-03-22T22:52:02Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Equinoxes and Solstices being the start of the seasons. I know it’s figured out by the length of daylight, but it still feels wrong to me. > > I prefer the Irish Way–Winter starts on December 1st, Spring on March 1st, Summer on June 1st and Autumn on September 1st. **You are not wrong about this.** Similar to you, I prefer a meterological definition of the seasons. That is, the warmest three months are summer, the coldest are winter. So, as you agree, summer is June 1 through Aug. 31 (or Memorial Day through Labor Day, as has been taught as the canonical summer season _semper, ubique, et ab omnibus_), autumn is Sept. 1 through Nov. 30, winter is Dec. 1 through the last day of Feb., and spring is Mar. 1 through May 31. There is no rational support for starting the seasons on the dates of the equinoxes and the solstices. (If you define summer as the season with the greatest insolation, the summer solstice should fall in the _middle_ of that season, not at its beginning.) ---
**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:** [March 23, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/56 "2012-03-23T01:40:05Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Free will. Intellectually, I can’t bridge the gap between a mechanical universe and a creature that can direct its own thoughts and actions . . . but I still believe in free will. This is exactly one of the ideas that makes me question the reality of personal identity. If this is a _determinate_, mechanical universe (and it seems hard to prove that it isn’t), then volition is entirely illusory. If it isn’t really ‘I’ doing anything, the whole concept of ‘I’ becomes pretty meaningless. But that just. doesn’t. seem. right. > [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Despite reasonable and obvious arguments to the contrary, I simply cannot accept that my consciousness - my inner “me” - will be gone forever after I die. Relax. It may never have existed in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/57 "2012-03-23T06:12:02Z")
I know intellectually why people, for millennia, considered women to be inferior to men. For some cultures it’s rooted in complex economic and social structures (such as the switch from nomadic hunter-gatherers to sedentary agriculturalists) as well as a lack of basic education/literacy, and a tradition steeped in religious dogma. But if I were ever magically transported to some culture/time period where women were considered chattel, I would have to restrain myself from shaking someone by the shoulders and shrieking “THEY’RE HUMAN BEINGS TOO. IF IT WEREN’T FOR THEM YOU WOULDN’T BE HERE. TREAT THEM THE WAY YOU WANT TO BE TREATED. WHY ISN’T THIS OBVIOUS TO YOU??” Same thing goes for slavery. I get that your economy depends heavily on it. But again…HUMAN BEINGS. ---
**Author:** ![Dominimus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7993a0/32.png) [@Dominimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dominimus)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/58 "2012-03-23T07:45:13Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Free will. Intellectually, I can’t bridge the gap between a mechanical universe and a creature that can direct its own thoughts and actions . . . but I still believe in free will. > > And my brain tells me that the Republicans know a lot more about economics than the Democrats . . . but damn, they’re wrong about so many other things . . . . > > And then there’s the old 0.99999 . . . =1. Panache, you just saved me 5 minutes worth of writing. 🙂 ---
**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:** [March 23, 2012, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/59 "2012-03-23T09:33:59Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Equinoxes and Solstices being the start of the seasons. I know it’s figured out by the length of daylight, but it still feels wrong to me. > > I prefer the Irish Way–Winter starts on December 1st, Spring on March 1st, Summer on June 1st and Autumn on September 1st. Except this year, in which Fall became Spring, with no intervening Winter . . . and Summer started in March! ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2012, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465/60 "2012-03-23T10:59:03Z")
It’s true that we, and everything around us, exists. But it seems illogical to me. Either something came from nothing, or particles and whatnot have always existed. Neither one seems right to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-know-is-true-false-intellectually-but-still-feel-like-its-wrong/616465.md?page=4)