1.) I often wonder about if there are planets in our own solar system or a nearby one that seem desolate, but because a race similar to our own in technology possibly destroyed it and they receded under the surface, and have the means to survive underground. I wonder which planet it could be, and if we will discover them by the inevitable mining of planets for resources. It fills me with so much wonder to think about this.
2.) I often think about how amazing human’s are in that we can create so much, from nothing as an above poster mentioned. We can create, refine and define our planet so much, use our minds for such great things, but yet have a proclivity for destroying ourselves, so much so that most of our best technology derives from inventions designed for war. Maybe war is integral to our advancement as a species, its in our nature.
3.) One related to this post, I wonder why sometimes I can’t just be like what I assume everyone else is, a person who doesn’t worry, doesn’t think about consequences and lives life care free. Then I see a lot of like minded people on SDMB and it gives me a lot of hope, also makes me think that no matter how any given person seems or presents themselves as care free, they always have a lot going on in their heads too and I’m not alone.
I experience EVERYTHING described here. I always think out scenarios of how things would play out, like movie scenes and imagine how things will go. Because of my OCD tendencies, they tend to go sour and get convoluted since I think up EVERY POSSIBILITY of what could go wrong and how to fix or prevent it, but in these the outcome is favorable at least (just like a movie) Then other times it doesn’t. I have the Checking OCD type, not the contamination type, though. I don’t fear germs, and welcome them to a degree, but I constantly make sure little things are done properly to avoid an accident. For instance, this plays out at a scene in my head.
I have an adapter plugged in next to my couch, what if I push the couch in too far and it damages it, it shorts out when I’m not home, ignites a blanket, then the wall, then so and something else. How much would be destroyed, what would I buy to replace it all, where would I live while my house was getting fixed etc… Instead of the rational thinking of “big deal, it knocks the adapter out, i plug it back in”. No, instead I grab a piece of PVC pipe to put between the wall and the leg of the couch so it can’t get pushed far enough in to damage it. Then I wind up checking to make sure the damned piece of pipe is lined up properly. It’s madness. Its like a short circuit in my brain that can’t be fixed.
Sorry that you have OCD too Velocity, it’s such a pain in the ass to live with, if you have any coping tips, I’d be glad to hear them. I may have some myself, who knows.
Sorry to hear you’re a fellow sufferer. I’ve found that one effective coping strategy is the “Everyone else has to do this too” reminder - i.e., if I don’t want to touch a dirty steering wheel because the mechanic got his car-greasy hands over it, I remind myself that that same mechanic no doubt got his tar-oily hands over dozens of other people’s steering wheels and interior car surfaces as well - in fact, *millions *of Americans are driving cars that have been touched on the inside at some point by mechanics with nasty black car grease on their hands and fingers - and so I’m merely having to put up with what millions of other Americans have to put up with.
I write alternative life stories for myself in my head. I think about pivotal choices I have made and postulate how my life would have played out if I had made alternate choices.
Accidentally stepped on/crushed a snail last week. Didn’t notice it was down there 'til it was too late. Wonder if something analogous happens to people when they die suddenly. (Some superior being/god accidentally snuffs them out while going about its business)
I’ve actually written half a damn novel about that very thing, it’s titled “Other” and I just add to it as things pop into my head. It’s amazing, when you look closely, how one small thing could have changed everything.
I wonder if it will be a blocked off street with hundreds of people looking at replicas of antique smartphones. Just stumbling about aimlessly, perhaps with a giant screen overhead with one percenters laughing and gleefully rubbing their hands together.
Ever since I was a kid I daydreamed about having the ability to ‘pause’ the world at will. I, of course, would be able to wander about and do as I please while everything else on earth was frozen (was this a Twilight Zone episode?).
Once you get past the pervy stuff you could accomplish, there are loads of fun pranks to be pulled or methods of gaining advantages in life.
Well after I thought of the concept, a book titled ‘The Fermata’ was published. It’s fun, mostly erotic, and contains elements I hadn’t thought of. For example, the protagonist did not want to use his powers to ‘steal’ money, so he rationalized that if he just went from store to store and grabbed only a dollar or two from each, he was ‘working’ for his money.
mmm
When I was a freshman in college, my chemistry professor one day strolled out and placed a can of spray paint on a table in the front of the class. He said that there was more chemistry in that one consumer product than any of us would learn in our lifetimes. Pfft! You’re mad, old man! … Well, having spent an entire lifetime, I’m here to tell you that he was absolutely correct. I think about it, and have thought about it every so often for many decades.
Sometimes, I think about so many things at the same time that it’s hard for me to speak. It’s like a dozen people all trying to get out the same door at the same time. People sometimes think I am sad or mad or aloof, but, really, I am just lost in my mind and have forgotten how to speak. Imagine a short order cook preparing 6 different meals simultaneously. Or, perhaps, imagine a juggler or plate spinner. I’m just trying to keep all of my plates spinning - I’m sorry that I didn’t say, “Hi!” in the hallway. I don’t know how other people do it, honestly. It’s not natural for me at all.
That’s a great way to cope, I have something similar, its called my “Rule of 2” and it basically means take things for what they are and not think into them past two thoughts. Elaboration; When I find myself thinking about what bad could happen with that adapter, I just think “Well the couch would hit it and crack the shell open. Then I’d have to replace it with a new one” and it stops there, otherwise I go into depth and think “what If i don’t catch it, and have to replace it but a fire starts then i have to get all new stuff, it’ll be such a pain in the ass”. I basically use the method you use in thinking “Nobody else worries about this crap and they are fine, I’m not going to worry, even if so, my homeowners insurance will cover it”
This is how much thinking I do about any given trigger, its so exhausting sometimes. But when I avoid it, I can think of more entertaining things later, then I wonder “Who invented the adapter first, what were the first ones like, what did they power, such a small piece of technology makes a huge difference”.
One thing that I always think about while eating at a buffet is how good we have it when it comes to food choices. An average working class person eating at Golden Corral can eat better and has more food choices than the emperor of Rome or China at the most lavish banquet did two thousand years ago. That never ceases to fascinate me. That usually gets me thinking about what those folks would think about all the variety of food we have available. What would Henry VIII think about the food at a modern buffet?
For about the last half of her life (she died in 2007 at the age of 91), one thing my grandmother was really impressed with was that you can get oranges year-round. When she was growing up, that definitely wasn’t true.
Just a couple days ago, I was reading an online article about an experimental school curriculum that’s being tried in some parts of Africa, and one reason why it isn’t working is because the old school was mornings only and the new one is all day, with no provisions for lunch, and most of the kids couldn’t bring their own if they had any extra food in the house because they don’t have any suitable containers for it. Fruit trees and other edible plants in the neighborhood have been stripped bare, and many kids simply aren’t going because they’re too hungry to concentrate by the time the school day ends.
That’s definitely an interesting twist on school lunches.
Huh, never thought much about food before. Now I know what topic I’m going to be thinking weird things about for the next six months or so. For instance, wondering what it would take, how difficult would it be to alleviate that problem for the school kids in Africa. (Eat your peas, there’s starving school kids in [del]Denmark[/del] Africa)
Sometimes I get to thinking that everything that happens happens at the same time. Or really everything that is happening is happening at the same time. And that time is right now. That goes for everything on Earth, and everything in the universe. All happening RIGHT NOW. That’s it. It can’t be any other way.
I’m glad so many other people are doing this. It boggles my mind on a daily basis.
Yes! And then I think, is it really worth it? If we knew at the beginning that such small things would take so much effort, would we have done anything at all?
Thought about this yesterday while weeding. We destroyed a little ecosystem out there in the yard. Do the plants and creatures there have any idea what’s happening? Do they ask themselves why some are destroyed and some are spared? I bet they’re not getting the right answer.
Do you funnel this in any constructive way, like writing your will? I think about death nearly all the time, it seems, but never do anything about it.