Life is all about perspective, and it's easy to forget sometimes how much humans historically have gone through and how "small" we technically are in regards to the universe.
But when we sit down and really think about some of these facts, it becomes next to impossible to look at our reality quite the same way again.
Curious, Redditor hunter_alves asked:
"What's a fact you learned that instantly made you question reality?"
Around Longer Than You'd Think
"The Romans figured out how to make heated floors. Central heating sounds like a modern invention, but apparently, it's been around for 2000 years."
- SnooChipmunks126
"I think a lot of people fall victim to thinking that we (collectively) are more intelligent than people from thousands of years ago. Modern humans (that’s us!) came onto the scene like 40,000 years ago, and they are no different from anyone living today."
- slingbladerapture
The Power Of The Internet
"We're the result of incremental improvements... it's why the internet is hands down the most revolutionary invention in all of history. We don't lose information anymore, it can be shared with billions of people instantly."
"If every advancement ever made through all our time had been recorded in a way that the rest of the world could have access to it/build on it/make it better? We would have been out exploring the universe a long time ago."
"Now... I'm not saying we aren't really f**king up in how many people use this amazing invention, but as a potential tool for us to advance as a species, it's unparalleled."
- PineappleOnPizzaWins
All About Perspective
"You know those fun universe animations that starts out with the earth, or maybe something on earth, then zooms out bit by bit, comparing us to something larger in the universe? Then it keeps going."
"You can't see Earth anymore, but you can focus on the sun. But then the sun is gone. And we're still getting smaller because we haven't gotten to the biggest object yet. Smaller and smaller and smaller."
"We barely even exist. But I complain about the drive to Dallas."
- girlikecupcake
Shift In Beliefs
"I was raised Mormon. When I learned how much was copied from the Freemasons, I began looking at the non-church sources for information. Finding out your whole life has been a lie is a hell I wish on no one."
- Scary-Baby15
Learning From The Wrong Creatures?
"I learned that lobsters can theoretically live forever, and now I’m questioning why we’re not all trying to unlock the secret to lobster immortality."
- Prestigious_Club_609
"That's a myth. They can live over 100 years but definitely not forever. A type of jellyfish (Turritopsis Dohrnii) is the only species that can live forever."
- ashenoak
"Yeah, doesn’t it constantly get old but eventually just revert and start getting young again before going back the other way? That s**t is pretty wild."
- matt_jay_9
"It's not a myth. A lobster, in the right conditions where molting wouldn't be so exhausting, could theoretically live forever."
- toofpaist
The Miracle Of Life
"My son is five now and I still look at him dumbfounded at times. Like, I MADE you. You grew inside of me and now you exist with your own consciousness. And continue to grow. Crazy."
- Patience_3236
"I do that with my son, too! Like, what do you mean I grew you and now you exist?!"
- mycatsnamedchandler
"I forgot how wild the whole concept of how life is created. This is quite literally awesome. Go moms!!"
- SweatyKoala3048
Different People, Different Experiences
"Some people don’t have an inner monologue or voice; and that some people literally can’t picture things in their minds."
- Late-Republic2732
"I have an internal monologue, however, I suffer from the second! It's called aphantasia. Bonus points because I'm an artist, so I can't mentally imagine compositions for pieces. I just have to sketch a few out so I can see how they look before deciding on one."
- australianbinchicken
Different Forms Of Expression
"That we had thought before we had language."
- CarboniteCopy
"I’ve been thinking about this one a lot. I have a daughter who is seven and a half months old; she definitely doesn’t understand language yet, but there is still A LOT going on in her head. She recognizes things and is clearly capable of manipulating her environment, and I’m constantly wondering what her stream of consciousness is like without thinking in 'words.'"
"But we will never know because by the time she’s old enough to actually articulate her thoughts, it will be too late for her to remember how her consciousness worked before she understood language. Maybe future scientists will, uh, find a way!"
- Hairy-Ad8559
Color Theory
"That there is no way to know for sure if you and any other person see the same color when looking at the same thing."
- DigGumPig
"This also means that it's possible that everyone's favorite color is actually the same color."
- KhaoticMess
"There was an experiment at the Exploratorium that tested color matching. It was amazing how different the perceptions of color were. Among the five of us, we disagreed more often than we agreed."
- BeardAndBreadBoard
"Not to start an argument or anything, but that dress was definitely gold and white."
- TheBookishAndTheBard
John Green May Have Said It Best: Some Infinities Are Bigger Than Other Infinities
"My physicist husband claims that there are differently-sized infinities. Apparently, a lot of mathematicians think that, too. HOW??"
- CrowRoutine9631
"Perhaps this’ll help garner some intuition for why there could be infinities of different ‘sizes.’ Two types of infinities are ‘countable infinity’ and ‘uncountable infinity.’ Something is countably infinite if you can arrange all its elements in a list."
"For example, the set of integers is countably infinite, because we can list them as follows: one, two, three, four, five… etc. perhaps a better name for this type of infinity is ‘listable infinity.’ The set of even numbers is also countably infinite, as is the set of odd numbers, and the set of prime numbers (think about how you could list these), so in some sense your intuition is correct in saying these are all the same kind of infinity."
"However, there are some things that have so many elements, it’s not even possible to list them like the above. For example, take the real numbers. How can you list these? Something like 1,1.1,3,pi,,1.1919292927, 100836.7, sqrt(2), ? You might think that sure you can list them all, just keep going!"
"But actually, it’s been mathematically proven that for any list of real numbers, there will always be some real number not on that list. There are therefore SO many real numbers, you can’t even LIST them."
"This kind of infinity seems like it’s in a whole different realm than the countable infinity I mentioned earlier, and mathematicians call it uncountable infinity."
"A bit mind-boggling, but hopefully that makes at least some sense. Also source: am doing a PhD in maths."
- Wendar00
A Conscious Decision Of Sorts
"The double-slit experiment. Even when you slow the experiment down so that it's only a single photon, electron, etc. being measured, you still see the interference pattern. Unless you put your detector behind the slits, then it's a solid set of two lines behind the slits."
"It's almost like the universe is rendering itself differently based on observation."
- Mr_Lumbergh
Countless Versions Of Ourselves
"That everyone you know or have met has a different version of you in their minds. Their perceptions are based on their interactions or impressions of you. No one really sees you exactly the same way."
- oneredhen1969
"None of us really see things as they are, we see things as we are."
- skyblu1727
More Complicated The Longer You Think About It...
"When measuring a coastline, the smaller the unit of measurement, the longer it is."
- p0tat0p0tat0
"Say you want to measure the eastern coast of the US."
"If you decide to do a very rough estimate, you could take the length of a straight line between Florida and Maine. You’d be off by a lot."
"How about two lines? Florida to Virginia, then Virginia to Maine. That’s going to be a bigger length than the first line."
"What if you go state by state? Florida to Georgia, Georgia to South Carolina, all the way up to Maine. Definitely longer."
"What if you go mile by mile? The coastline is messy, so you are still approximating, but you get a longer number."
"What if you have super advanced satellites and you go inch by inch? You could get a really good number (assuming you take a snapshot and ignore tides/erosion), but it’s still not perfect."
"The smaller your units, the longer your total. But you’ll never have a perfect answer, because your units can always get smaller."
- Falcon10301
What Are We Eating?!
"I keep thinking about that one fact about how bananas are berries but strawberries aren't really berries... like, what even is fruit anymore?"
- angelmixy
"All boils down to scientific terms not being the same as culinary terms."
- BadNeighbour
Talk About Tunnel Vision!
"I read somewhere that we can only see about 0.0035% of the electromagnetic spectrum, meaning we’re practically blind to most of what’s going on around us. It made me question how much of reality is hidden from us, existing beyond what our senses can perceive."
"Another one that shook me was learning that trees can communicate with each other through underground fungal networks, sharing nutrients and even warning each other about threats. It completely flipped my understanding of forests..."
"They’re not just a collection of individual trees, but more like an interconnected community working together. Reality suddenly seemed a lot more complex."
- syedadilmahmood
Each of these facts were fascinating, if mind-boggling, to think about, and they're each a wonderful reminder of how much is actually going on around us, how much we often take for granted, and inspiringly, how much there is for us to learn.
