Life is full of little moments of WTF. We have them daily - finding a lost something in a place you know you checked a bunch of times before, that awareness that you've done this before, thinking an intense thought and having the person next to you respond to it as if you spoke it aloud.
I like to call them "mundane mysteries" - the stuff that probably has an explanation, isn't anything too unusual like being abducted by aliens or sharing a McShake with Bigfoot because the ice cream machine was actually working.
One Reddit user asked:
What's something unexplainable that you've experienced?
And yeah ... mundane mysteries, fam. Just because there weren't any aliens, cryptids, or a working ice cream machine involved doesn't mke these moments any less mysterious.
Keep your eyes peeled for one where Reddit users suggested a potential explanation - I'm honestly not sure if the idea that all that could be caused by something so simple makes it better or worse.
Tap, Tap, Tap
I was stopped for the night at a truck stop in the desert, 60 miles east of El Paso,TX. This truck stop only has lights around the store and fuel pumps, the truck parking area is only lit by any headlights that are left on. I get to bed at about 2200 thinking it'll be a nice quiet night.
At around 0230 I wake up to a tapping on my truck like someone was trying to wake me up. I ignore it and try to go back to sleep, but the tapping gets louder and louder and eventually turns into the sound similar to someone beating their hand on my door and cab.
I get out of bed and open the curtains to the side I heard the sound coming from and there was nothing there. I open the curtains on the other side, and nothing there either. There was no trucks on either side of me. So I throw my shoes on, grab my machete and flashlight and go outside to see what the hell was going on.
There was nothing, no foot prints, no paw prints, absolutely nothing there.
I get back in my truck and turn on my side markers, so I'm somewhat illuminated. Close the doors, lock them, and run my seat belts through the door handle and buckle them in, to add essentially another lock to both doors.
I go back to bed, and wake up at 0630. The sun is starting to come out, so I go inside for some coffee, and breakfast before heading out. Other truck drivers were in there, and experienced the same thing i did that night. With no answers as to what it was, I finish my breakfast and nope the f*ck outta there.
Sh*t gets crazy at night in the desert.
Black Cat
When I was around 9 years old I found two plush toys that looked like black cats. They were 2nd hand and were the only two in the shop. I am a cat freak and adored them. But so did my younger siblings (twins).
My mum just gave them to my siblings, and told me to stop whining. I was livid. I had bought them for my self with change I had busked for. So unfair. Then, out of nowhere a third cat appeared. Exact match.
My and my older sister even went back to the shop and the owner just thought we were crazy. There definitely never was a third cat.
To this day, I have no idea how that happened.
My mum isn't the thoughtful kind and she kind of always acted like a d!ck when I was upset, so I am 100% sure she didn't try and get one for me to cheer me up or whatever.
I just think that some guardian angel got me the cat. Or well, I want to believe :)
The Uniform Policy
A few weeks before my grandad died in April, I started wearing 2 rings I had inherited from a family member on a chain around my neck. I've had them for years and always wear them when I feel like I need a bit of luck or support. Makes me feel as if someone is looking out for me even though I don't really believe in the afterlife or the supernatural.
I knew he was sick so I'd not long started wearing them again, only I'd had to put them on a chain this time because the uniform policy in work meant I couldn't wear them as I usually did on my finger. The clasp on the chain can be quite stiff to open, so I'd just throw it over my head with the rings attached because it's long enough to not have to open, so the rings and the chain had been together for a few weeks at this point without me ever opening the clasp, because there was no need.
So I was in work with another colleague about 2 feet away from me. I had the rings tucked well down my shirt (hanging right around heart level), my uniform zipped up over them, a plastic apron and my gloves on (I'm a nurse). I was busy doing something so my hands weren't anywhere near the rings, and I wasn't even thinking about them. There wasn't any way I could've touched them or got them caught on anything.
Then I felt something cold touch my stomach and the next thing I knew one of the rings had dropped onto the floor. I was confused at how it'd happened and thought maybe the chain had broken (even though it's quite sturdy) and didn't want to lose it, so I took my apron and gloves off and pulled the chain out of my shirt.
The chain was intact and still clasped tightly together. And the other ring was still on it. So somehow, one ring had come cleanly off the chain without the other one falling off, and with the chain still clasped together.
My colleague was just staring at me like WTF, and I'm not really a believer in the supernatural, like I said, so I just cracked a joke saying "I hope that wasn't a sign or someone trying to tell me something!" and laughed it off.
Not 5 mins later I got the call to say my grandad had deteriorated and I needed to come home. I left work that day to care for him and 2 weeks later he died.
I know there's got to be an explanation for it, but part of me doesn't want to know it because the mystery makes me feel like maybe I was actually being looked out for.
I wear the rings on my finger now because I can't shake the feeling that there was something more to that little mystery than the logical side of my brain wants to believe. And f*ck the uniform policy. If anyone calls me out on it I'll tell them a ghost told me to wear them.
The Rattlesnake Prophecy
I was 9 years old and I had a dream that I got home from a friends house, and as I opened the side door, out of the corner of my eye I see a grey rat scamper along the side of my house. Dream me stands there a second just watching it. Then I look down and a rattlesnake was right next to my leg.
Of course I panic and step back, but the snake strikes and bites my leg. I scream and roll around and my leg BURNS, even in the dream it burned. My father comes out and sees me on the ground and I tell him I was bit by a rattlesnake. He rushes me to the hospital.
Time gets real malleable. I don't remember traveling to the hospital or checking in, but I end up on a bed and very distinctly remember getting a couple doses of anti-venom but it is too late. I die, and I see my mother crying while holding my hand. I watch for a few minutes, then I wake up.
Weird nightmare, right? But nothing to freak about.
So I go about my day, play with my friends, and whatnot. When I was walking home that evening, I just randomly though about my dream, so I stopped a bit away from the door and actually looked around where the snake was in the dream.
Motherf*cker was EXACTLY where I dreamt he was and basically staring at me! It never does rattle. Then a f*cking rat goes darting down the side of my house, just like in the dream. I change course and go to the front door instead. I tell my dad about the snake, he goes out and kills it with a shovel.
I haven't had another dream THAT vivid of the future since. Sh!t still freaks me out though.
McBicycle In The Sky
One time me, my brother and mom were in a McDonalds drive thru getting McFlurrys, and my brother pointed to the sky through the car windshield.
There was a bike in the sky with a man just riding on it, it had balloons floating above it like in Up. All three of us saw it, it wasn't imaginary, although my brother forgot this happened (he was pretty young at the time), me and my mom have not forgot.
Bill
When I was 9 or 10, we had a big family reunion at my great aunt's big Victorian house that her family grew up in, which she inherited. I got bored though because there weren't other kids there my age, so I went exploring through the house and found a check writing machine in the upstairs office or library kind of room. I remember the machine was black and gold and had lots of little levers where you'd select the individual numbers then pull down on another lever to stamp the check. I'd put in pieces of paper that were on the desk and look at the numbers stamped on it.
I was playing with that when I very clearly heard another kid in the hallway say "you're not supposed to play with guns, Bill."
My name wasn't Bill, and I wasn't playing with guns. I remember saying "I'm not." Then some moments passed and I got curious about another kid maybe my age being there, so I hopped up and looked into the hallway to find him, but there was nobody there. And nobody around my age downstairs or outside where everybody else was either. I figured at the time it was maybe some neighbor kid who ran out.
I didn't really think about it again until I was 18 or 19 and my mother told me her father (Grandpa Bill, my great aunt's brother who grew up there too) had accidentally shot his friend in that house when he was a kid, when playing with his father's pistol. Then when I was in my 40's, I was driving my great Aunt somewhere (now in her 90's), and I asked where in the house Bill had that accident, and she said in that upstairs office.
I'm not religious, but that just seems too specific. Maybe it's a wild coincidence. I still can't explain it all these years later, and it's the only thing that keeps bugging me in my life.
- kabekew
She Has My Face
I was on public transit one time, and saw someone that was just about the same height as me and looked to have my body type. I just shrugged it off in the moment. As a taller girl with a slightly bigger frame, it's not that rare.
The only seat available was the one directly across from her, so I sat down and put my headphones in. I tend to people watch while I ride to school, so I started to do exactly that. I took a closer look at the girl in front of me, same shade, cut and color hair.
Huh. Weird.
Her head is down so I can't see her face, but when the bell dings to tell that it's the next stop, she looks up. Oh. My. Lord. She has my face!
She looks up at me and blinks twice. Same color eyes. I have very odd eyes, so brown they look black. Her eyes are so brown they look black. She stands up and walks off the bus. I turn to see her go, sure my eyes are playing tricks on me.
Aaand she's gone. it's like she walked off the bus and just fell into a worm hole. I look at the spot we stopped. No girl there. I was creeped out for the entire week.
Swearing Is A Sin
My grandmother was a deeply religious person. Catholic, so she had the fear of God in her. She was nearing the end of her life and was terrified of going to hell. So terrified, she'd have fits of anxiety where she'd cry and pray and shake. I told her of course she'd make it to heaven, God loves her (I'm not religious at all and absolutely abhor the Catholic faith, but for her sake I thought the sentiment would be nice).
She refused to believe me.
But I remembered my mom telling me about a story where this dying woman who told her son she would send him a sign in the form of phrase when she made it to heaven. And when she died, the son eventually got the sign. So I made a deal with grandma: when she made it to heaven, she would send me a sign with the phrase "hot damn, she was right!" Of course she absolutely refused, saying "I can't swear! Swearing is a sin!"
Well, grandma died. I don't know if she ever became less terrified, or if she found peace in her final moments, but she left many heavy hearts behind.
Weeks later, I was walking into a restaurant, and on the door there was a promotional ad for something unsubstantial, and it read "hot darn, she was right!"
I'm Not Checking
Recently, I was on the couch watching something and I heard a crash from my washer and dryer room. My cat also shot up and looked in the direction of the door. It sounded like a broom fell over, or maybe one of the plastic tubs. Freaked me out as I already don't really like that room in the first place, plus it was very late at night and I live alone. Also because of the pull string door that leads to the creepy ass attic.
Decided I was not going to be like every idiot in a horror movie and investigate what the noise was. I literally sat there on my couch for hours.
The next day, I decided I had enough courage to take a peak and literally saw nothing touched. Both brooms were still propped up against the wall. All the plastic tubs were sitting perfectly. I have no idea what that noise was and I don't really care to find out.
Joshua
As a kid, I had an imaginary friend who I would play with a lot. I had few "real" friends but I was also more of an outcast in daycare and kindergarten so sometimes, that imaginary friend was all I had.
My mother said I'd always describe him as very similar looking. When I was around pre-school age, my mother said we needed to talk about my friend and I said that I'm fine with keeping Joshua around because I was scared of starting school alone.
Her face just froze in shock and she never brought it up again. I didn't realize why until my grandma explained years later that I had a twin brother who didn't make it and my parents were planning on naming him Joshua.
The only logical explanation I have is that I picked it up when I was very little but my grandma said that my parents literally never talked about it because they didn't cope well with the loss at all. It's still very strange.
Say Thank You
About 9 years ago, I was searching our file cabinet for a document I needed. I had piles of papers all over the bed, searched for an hour, meticulously. Could not find it.
Suddenly, the tv across the room (which is NOT on) makes a clicking noise. I stop what I'm doing, look up and over at the tv. I see nothing out of the ordinary, so I turn back to the pile of papers....and the document I had been searching for is right on top, like it was placed there.
I looked up, said thank you, and put away the papers I didn't need.
The Bathroom Was Breathing
When I was 10-ish my mother, sister and I moved into an apartment. Two bed two bath, but from the start I couldn't handle using the bathroom in the room my sister and I shared. Something just felt wrong in there, like the bathroom was breathing and I was being watched, so I used my mom's. Eventually my sister refused to sleep in our room at all and moved her mattress into the living room.
I got sick a lot during the year we lived there. At night I sometimes woke to the sound of footsteps approaching my bed from the bathroom, and when I would sit up to look the sound always stopped. I begged my sister and her friends to keep the bathroom door closed after coming in to use it, but they'd often forget and I'd wake late at night to a black hole of an open door and that breathing sensation.
Eventually my sister's boyfriend, who often spent the night, told her he sometimes saw shadows looming over my bed at night. My religious grandma visited once, stepped into my room and started speaking tongues. I don't know, it all sounds superstitious and hoaky, but that place messed with me until we moved.
Speaking in tongues aside, this sounds like carbon monoxide poisoning.
Or mold. That sh*t can be psychoactive. Breathing in mold to the point of hallucinating takes time, like sleeping in a room next to mold.
100% there was a carbon monoxide/gas leak/mold issue in that room.
This has some information about what mold can do. Nothing about hallucinations or tongues.. But this source says it can make you hallucinate. Given the bathroom was the creepy room, water damage would be more likely, therefore mold growth isn't out of the question.
- mute-owl
Psst
I stay up late at night very often..usually I just chill, draw and listen to music, etc.
One night I decided to do dishes to make cleaning up eaiser for mum and halfway through, somebody whispered "PSSST!!" in my ear.
I felt my hair fcking move when it happened. I noped out of the kitchen and wouldn't go in it by myself for along time.
Haunted Housekeeping
I was 12 got into a fight with my mom and her, my sister and my grandmother all left for the store. The living room was a mess and my mom said if I didn't clean it by the time she got back I was getting punished.
Being stubborn I waited until I heard the front door close and left my room to watch TV. No one else was in the house besides me and I wasn't going to clean. I got bored and locked myself back in my room.
I can hear dishes clanking together and or falling onto each other in the drying rack. I heard the front door unlock and was terrified of the beating I was about to receive but my mom came in knocked on my door and gave me a hug and thanked me for cleaning up. I never did I don't know who did.
We had a 3 bedroom apartment everyone who was there left with my mom leaving me completely alone. I don't know who cleaned up, but they saved me from a beating!
- 11220611
Ghost Spiders
I have a friend who is a witch and psychic, the real deal. Not a lot of 'power' but what is there is legitimate and I've seen a few things from her. I'm an agnostic of the supernatural but it's usually something fun to witness. Not this time.
We're having dinner at a little hole in the wall restaurant next to a hospice charity drop off center. In the middle of our conversation something grabs her shoulder HARD, pulls her sideways in the booth. She turns white, gets this big fake smile on over her poorly masked freak out.
I'm like WTF was that?
She says they really want to be acknowledged and they know she knows they're there.
I know she's seen stuff before, but was always excited by the experience. Not this time.
I asked "Did you know about the hospice shop next door?"
She's says we need to leave. Now.
I look at her shoulder and finger-shaped welts are rising up like if someone strong grabbed her. I saw it happen and there was nothing that could have done that. We noped the fck outta there like there were ghost spiders.
McLight Show
While driving home from McDonald's at 2 am with my girlfriend, we were driving down the freeway when I experienced a blinding green light. We weren't near any light sources or near any homes if it was some kind of laser pointer.. we both freaked out in the car.
Later, my girlfriend told me that to her it wasn't a blinding green laser light at all. She saw a giant blue light slowly floating through the car.
The Headphones
When I first started playing video games my mom bought my a used turtle beach headset for me. When I used it I heard this guy talking like he was in a war or something. I can't quite explain it but I have no clue why i was able to hear this guy and it was really scary considering I was only like 8.
- albinodj
A Connection With Death
My mother, brother and I all lives with my very elderly, late stage dementia grandpa. My mom was his caretaker and was certified etc. But when my grandfather died, it was just me and my mom that still lived with him.
I distinctly remember waking up at like 4:30-5am randomly, something I very rarely do. I also felt weird, and felt sad. But I felt like a force leading my eyes towards the window. It felt familiar, like it was my grandpa. But I shrugged it off and went back to bed. I woke up a few hours later for school and my mom came in my room and closed my door and told me that my grandfather had died that morning at the same time I had woken up.
My grandpa who loved us all, but was very old school let me know he was leaving when he died, but also put me back to sleep so I didn't have to deal with his passing in the moment.
Apparently, the ambulance, my uncle, and mom were all there through the night, my mom and uncle grieving and my grandfather made sure I didn't see.
I was in highschool at the time. I've never been able to explain it. Its almost like I have a weird connection with death. A similar experience with my dad's passing happened just a couple years later.
I visited my dad with my cousin, she wanted to come with her because my dad had been dealing with his shortcomings poorly, drinking himself into a stupor more often then not doing so. I visit him, I tell him that after my first year of college I was gonna come back and visit him and that I wanted him to be there when I did. However I knew he was going to die. So when I left his house I texted my brother and told him exactly this
"Hey, I don't think dad is gonna be around much longer, come visit him."
Which is out of character for me. My brother visited him that next morning, also out of character for him, and found him dead in his living room. He had died the previous night. Not more than a few hours after I left his house.
Plus he texted my other brother who was a few hours away at the time and told him and he left immediately to come home and my mom told me that something was wrong with my dad and I knew he had died.
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Let's get existential ... and argumentative.
Because this is internet, people, why are you acting like you don't know what we're here for?
Reddit user Due_Abrocoma6874 asked:
"What exists, but can't be sensed with our 5 senses?"
Which means what was intended as an exploration into the ephemeral took a sudden detour into semantics city.
Because Reddit is Reddit.
Magnetisim
"Magnetism, extremely powerful (it saves us from the Sun) but you can't tell it's there unless you have something to tell you. I work in a electric motor shop and have to stick my hand in +4,000 horse power motors with dummy rotors to test them. I'm probably shooting blanks now, my 2nd answer, infertility."
- Padmei
"I think you're confusing the effects of ionizing radiation with magnetism. Strong magnetic fields have absolutely no effects on humans; MRIs are a perfect example. However, working with radioactive materials or near x-ray sources can kill irreplaceable cells in the reproductive organs of both sexes."
- Jenyweny09
"Hence the burning question, 'F*cking Magnets, How Do They Work??' "
- saruin
"Interesting job, bad answer."
"Look I'm not a 'magnestist' here, just an electrician which I guess could be one of the next closest jobs. But thats like saying you can't use any of our senses to sense gravity."
"Ever seen an object get affected by a magnet? That's sensing magnetism through our sense of 'sight'. Ever held something near a magnet - or even a magnet itself since you can feel the repllent aspect of the force as well? That is sensing magnetism through our sense of 'touch'."
"When anyone cops a belt (sparky for an electric shock) whether it be licking a 9v battery, touching live 240v conductors or even getting struck by lightning; we are feeling the electromagnetically energised positive protons and negative electrons trying to balance themselves out. We literally feel our body experience magnetism."
"Hahaha I did have a laugh at your second answer though that's probably true"
- sheppo42
"Actually, both of those are the effects of magnetism. We can't sense magnetic force, just what it causes."
- Mori_564
It's Technically Hearing, But We Get It.
"The difference between an awkward silence and regular silence"
- Jeutnarg
"YES! Have a freebie!"
- Sticketoo_DaMan
"I choose not to ever consider silence to be awkward silence and i encourage others to do the same. Yeah it's some corny sigma male sh*t but it's really made my conversations more enjoyable"
- maxverstrappin
"Once knew a guy who was having difficulties with a co-worker. HR finally just told them not to talk to each other. A week later HR spoke to him because the other guy whined about him being 'aggressively silent'. Like wtf?"
- II_Confused
"bro speaking facts"
- holdupdindindindin
"It is a regular silence until you mention the silence. Then it is an awkward silence."
- nellucd
Getting Metaphysical
"Most of reality."
- hydraxl
"And yet some brilliant humans have been able to make many of the insensible things visible through their inventions. It’s incredible how many things are known even when we’re unable to detect it without devices."
- TheYeti4815162342
"I thought this was a dark matter reference at first."
"Most of the universe is dark matter, but we can't see it, touch it, smell it, or interact with it in any way with our senses."
- stevey_frac
"This is perhaps the best and, simultaneously, most frightening answer."
"If we had 10 more senses and 1000 more IQ points we still wouldn't be able to experience even a fraction of reality."
- pezdal
"This 100%."
"Here's a rough list of things that are currently all around you but you don't know is there:"
"Countless air molecules such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen"
"Light (EM spectrum) outside of our range. Radio signals from cell phones, routers, towers, planes, etc. Xrays and gamma rays from upper atmosphere particle interactions and distant stars."
" Billions and billions of neutrinos produced by the sun that penetrate the earth (and your body of course)."
" Radioactive emissions from various natural decaying elements including Carbon"
"14 found in pretty much anything with Carbon (such as your body). Also Potassium such as in Bananas."
" Billions of bacteria and viruses all over everything."
" That Klingon Warbird decloaking off starboard!"
- salbris
Radiation
"Nuclear radiation, plus neutrinos - they go right through us."
- Ghostforever7
"Apparently it tastes like metal when there is a lot of radiation tho"
- luminaxed
"Astronauts said they could see flashes of light through their closed eyelids, so not all radiation"
"But I do agree with neutrinos"
- FrankMiner2949er
"Technically you could sense neutrinos since they could hypothetically interact with the liquid inside your eyes, but that happens so rarely and our eyes are so small that statistically it will never happen for anyone ever."
- Moikle
You Have To Imagine The Flavor
"The different flavors of La Croix."
- Tantra_Charbelcher
"La Croix flavors aren’t real, you read the can or see the color and it tricks your brain into thinking there is a flavor. I’m convinced this is true and nothing anyone says can change my mind."
- megapuffranger
"Wait... La Croix has flavors? I thought it was just different can colors"
- Tips__
"Ha! I have a buddy that always said La Croix is like drinking sparkling water while someone on the other end of the house whispers the word grapefruit."
- mrausgor
"It tastes like TV static"
- chealey21
Tricky Brain
"Magenta. Your brain makes it up"
- TrulyTynixo
"I'll take it if seeing it as grey is the only alternative."
"Crap how many things that we perceive as grey are actually exciting colours? I know certain birds, insects and marine life can see a wider scope of colours than we can."
- Chromattix
"I am so confused. I know exactly what magenta is but I googled it and there are no wavelengths? Is life a lie?"
- K_Xanthe
"Technically your brain makes up all colors and sight. I think what you are saying though is that there isn't a specific wavelength range that the brain directly converts to magenta. Actually now that I think of it, I'm not sure what that weird fact is about. I'll have to read more about it."
- c_c_c_c_c_c_d
"Even crazier than Magenta are the impossible colors which can only be perceived temporarily via an optical illusion."
" 'Stygian Blue' is a shade of blue that's darker than black."
" 'Hyperbolic Orange' is a shade of orange that's even more orange than orange."
"The 'self luminous' colors look like brighter-than-white glowing pastels."
"They're kind of trippy."
- Cybyss
Gasses
"Carbon monoxide. Unless dying counts as a sense."
- Rampant_baconator
"All gasses except for CO2 are undetectable to the human body. Not just CO"
- Rotor_Tiller
"Even CO2 is undetectable. It has the EXACT SAME symptoms as every other gas. An impending sense of doom, hallucinations(usually scary and violent) and finally random bouts of unconsciousness getting worse as the volume increases but thats hypoxia as well so..."
- MutedAd7206
"What I mean is that CO2 is the pretty much the only gas that the lungs evolved specifically to reject. A lung full of CO2 is always going to burn and generally feel suffocating although I don't have enough experience with colder co2 vapors to know what those might feel like."
- Rotor_Tiller
"If it's a lung of PURE CO2 yeah but in the toxic level you won't notice it cause it's not lethal."
- MutedAd7206
"Why is this so far down on the list?"
- alleghenysinger
I Got A Feeling Somebody's Watching Me
"When you’re being watched. You can’t hear, see, touch, taste or smell who or what is watching you. You just kinda… know 👁👁"
- Tobester2005
"I've heard that your peripheral vision is exceedingly good at detecting eyes. It doesn't tell you exactly where but it alerts that 'being watched' feeling. Technically still sight."
- Spyblox007
"Typically, the reason for this is because your brain has picked up on something that isnt quite right, wether its silence, or the absence of something thats usually there, but most times, you can't tell what that thing is, but you know something isnt right"
- helpmylifeis_a_mess
"My buddy went hiking on Vancouver Island a few years ago and told me he had that exact feeling directly behind him. Turned around and a mountain lion was staring at him from a distance."
- eddieswiss
"You can you just don't know you can. You as a being are too focused on random bullshit than on surviving its why we have a part of the brain DEDICATED TO THREAT DETECTION. It's called your subconscious or Instincts. Instincts are useful because they give you that gut feeling and deal with your reflexes. If you've ever gotten into a fight and grabbed a rock or something without thinking about it it was Instincts. If you've ever felt paranoid or afraid of the dark despite being 30 years old and having gotten over it that's Instincts. If you've ever looked at a ledge and thought about jumping off that's Instincts telling you have terrifyingly bad an idea that is(something to do with monkey brain and judging distances you can fall from safely)"
- MutedAd7206
Existential Question
"Depends what you mean by "sensed". If I look at a video feed from a satellite at the far end of the Moon, am I seeing the far end of the Moon? If I look at a picture of distant galaxies imaged in infrared, watch a vapor trail in a particles experiment, listen to a sonification of data, feel a building tremble in an earthquake, do I sense these existing things?"
"What is allowed to be between myself and the existing 'thing', to still call it sensing? Do the instruments have to be part of my body? What about glasses? Implanted lenses? Hearing aids? Skin grafts?"
"Regardless of your answer, the only thing I would say with some certainty exists, but cannot be sensed, is the future (some future) because the laws of physics forbid time travel in that direction.."
- grismar-net
"I would argue that time in that sense doesn’t even really count as existing. It’s more of an abstraction or summary of the interaction between existent things in space (spacetime would be a better way to think about it)."
"Not one thing can be said to exist without the claim being dependent on the senses."
-
Not Your Typical Wave
"Most radio waves"
- brock_lee
"More like the entire electromagnetic spectrum apart from visible light and infrared."
- Mems1900
"Up to a certain amplitude but eventually … cooked 😂"
- CutAccording7289
"Most light aka most of the electromagnetic spectrum. In fact we can't sense any radio waves at all, not with our human senses anyway, as the OP asked."
- c_c_c_c_c_c_d
"I was going to say WiFi, but that is also an electromagnet wave."
- met3_1
Now that you've argued your way through some Redditors thoughts, let's argue more in the comments.
What do you know exists even though you can't exactly perceive it?
Life is full of boring things.
Life is full of uninteresting things.
So... if life full?
That's a question for another time.
Let's focus on the things that leave us bored to tears.
Or numb with no feeling at all.
You ever wonder how people get so super involved and jazzed about some stuff and you look at it and all you can do is yawn?
That's our topic.
Redditorroscatorossowanted to hear about what things we all can live without.
They asked:
"What's something you have ZERO interest in?"
I have a long list of having zero interest in things. Give me a few more points.
Auto Issues
"Extending my car’s warranty."
reddittothegrave
"We have messaged you about your car's extended warranty."
Ashamed-Help-6662
Potions
"Herbalife."
meskal1L
"All pyramid schemes should get stuffed."
I_AM_FERROUS_MAN
"At one point my boss was hocking Herbalife and young living essential oils on the side of the business, it was a blast trying to take a sick day because she had the cure for everything."
mediumlowpriority
Never Again
"Commercial advertisements interrupting what I’m doing."
NimrodvanHall
"Let's talk about commercial ads in cinemas. I stopped going to a certain cinema (The Space chain, in Italy) for this reason. Tickets are more expensive than the family owned cinema, and before the movie starts you have at least 30 minutes of ads."
"Unless you book online, they don't allow you in if the 'movie' has started. Online bookers can go in until 30 minutes after the booked time. For some reason, my friends love it. I deeply hate it. People usually run out of popcorn before the movie starts. The last time I went there, I paid 12.50€ for a movie that had to start at 22:30, and it started at 23:20. Never again."
Liscetta
Tasks
"Raid shadow legends."
aintshockedbyyou
"I did actually download it. Played it for like 5 minutes, there was very little in the way of strategy or anything and it kept giving me new 'tasks.' Eventually I discovered a 'Auto fight' button that would literally play the game for you requiring 0 input from you. I uninstalled it."
Crackracket
Idiots
"Shows about d**chebags dating on some island."
Kramer1812
I still can't believe people get invested in those shows.
Blah Blah
"Literally whatever my neighbor wants to talk about, everyday."
maketes
Who Cares?
"Gender reveal parties. We're gonna find out soon enough."
NO_Cheeto_in_Chief
"Somebody I worked with had a cringy one of these at our team meeting, after talking shop about very serious issues in suits and ties etc. At the end my manager was like 'ok so now we have a special moment where Nadine is going to reveal to us the gender of her baby.' She got up excitedly in front revealing a big box covered in glitter and s**t, slowly cut a ribbon and balloon popped out with 'it's a boy' on it. We just all sat there and awkwardly clapped like we cared."
keepYourMonkey
They're Nobody
"Praising and defending corrupt politicians like a freaking God."
Hefty-Mistake-4290
"Corrupt politicians, more like ANY politician. I find it so strange seeing people idolise and put their political leaders on these untouchable pedestals while they crap on them, none of them care about anything other than their agenda and their wallets."
callumpenman00
Enough
"I've recently been seeing a clickbait on my social media that says, 'Did Anne Frank have white privilege? The internet is up in arms...' or something like that. I cannot even describe the feeling of shut the heeeeellll up, and total exhaustion that that question gives me."
Particular_Rav
Not a Thing
"Celebrities/ Influencer Culture."
MisterD90x
"I really hate the term 'influencer.' It just sounds so pompous and is mostly only used by people who want to feel more relevant than they actually are."
CC_Keyes
I have less than zero interest in all of this.
The times do change fast don't they? Everything we think we'll know about the future is usually false.
How much of history is littered with things we thought we'd never be able to do without?
Now we watch movies in our palms. (Instead of theaters.) We send millions of dollars through the air. (Instead of withdrawing in person, or a check.) And we no longer need pennies. (Basically)
Who would have thought?
These were all going to be life essentials.
But generation by generation, the obsolescence takes over.
RedditorVictorPumpensteinwanted to talk about what truths were hidden until it was too late for each group as we aged.
They asked:
"What is the biggest lie sold to your generation?"
Beepers. I was told my beeper would be forever. Alas...
You Still Here?
"Gen X-er here... we were told that the boomers would eventually retire. Still waiting for that to happen while rapidly approaching retirement age myself."
drsfmd
JOHNNY!!
"Don’t act up in class Johnny, It will go on your PERMANENT RECORD!!"
ThePracticalDad
"I worked in records for a public school board many years ago. The only thing colleges ever requested was transcripts and IEPs if a student had one. However, the police would request full disciplinary records of someone was going to be hired. And unless a student had a disciplinary hearing at some point, most records other than transcripts are destroyed after 7 years."
War Over
"The war on drugs."
2003gts
"Poverty and terror won theirs, too. Turns out, declaring war on a concept without attacking the societal roots of the problem is just a way to funnel more money into the military-industrial complex."
MrVeazey
"Shout out to pharmaceutical companies for winning the war on drugs."
Responsible_Tell1589
instead of cardboard...
"Plastic recycling. I remember when grocery stores went from paper bags to plastic because 'they're recyclable!' Literally everything else started coming wrapped in a ton of plastic (instead of cardboard) because it was recyclable. Single use plastics were great, because we'd just recycle the plastic, and use it forever! Turns out, it was just cheaper, and recycling had nothing to do with it. Most of that plastic can't be recycled anyway."
DifficultMinute
Food Contents
"Fat is bad, sugar is good."
Thesorus
"This is why America has an obesity epidemic. Even now, older generations tout the health benefits of low fat things, without bothering to look at sugar contents. High sugar processed foods that happen to be low in fat destroyed multiple generations. Thankfully I think Gen Z might be the turnaround. Older generations are pretty messed up."
Bulky_Consideration
Unprotected
"Medicare and social security will protect you. Based on how things are going, anyone with 30 years or more before retirement better have strong backup plans."
iteraco
Oh Medicare and social security. What. A. Disaster. We are in trouble.
Just Type
"You will always have to write in cursive."
hakuna_matitties
"I hated those cursive books and being 10 and still couldn't figure it out. My sister a year behind me never had to write cursive. I firmly believe my year was the last year to deal with cursive. This was back in 2012-2013."
chonketteseal
It's Broken
"Climb the corporate ladder."
UKS1977
"It's not a ladder, it's a pyramid. Only one person can be CEO, a handful can be executives, a bigger clump can be in some form of middle management, but the majority will always be 'individual contributors' - what an amazingly corporate term."
"You're often better off with an in-demand skill set that you can shop from company to company. Unless you enjoy fighting and scrabbling and climbing over people to keep getting promoted. Sure, you may have crappy bosses, but even the CEO has to go in front of the board and be told everything that's going wrong."
towerdweller
I'm Good
“If you don’t go to college, you’ll die broke and alone on the street.”
googlyeyes183
"I wish i hadn't been pushed so hard to go to Uni at 18. I wasn't ready yet and i didn't know what I wanted to do with my life yet. Asking a 16 year old what degree and vocation he wants is just a bad way of doing it!"
Relentless_Fiend
"My principal in high school was upset at me because I wasn't going to college. He told me multiple times that if I don't, then I am just throwing away my intelligence. I never went to college because it just sounded miserable and expensive. I worked a few different jobs after high school and learned a lot then started my own business. Glad I never went to college."
acetamethemphetamine
Not True
"Work hard for your company and they will take care of you."
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
whatintheactualfeth
So much changes over each generation. How will we ever learn?
In this day and age of sexual freedom and experimentation, why would you cheat?
It makes absolutely no sense.
Unless, the act itself is part of the fun.
No matter your decision, let's pinpoint the moment we know we're heading down that path.
Everybody can name the times you feel it in your gut.
You know it's crossed a line.
Now what?
Redditorcrabpinchingmyanuswanted to hear about the moments when we all begin to fall short of fidelity.
They asked:
"Redditors, where does cheating in a relationship start for you?"
You always know when it's wrong. At least I always did. That's why is called cheating.
Plotting
"The sneaking around. The second you start plotting to do something behind my back. You're violating the trust of the relationship."
Warkitz
Intent
"Honestly it's about intentions more than anything. If my SO started pursuing someone romantically that's cheating - doesn't matter if it's lovey dovey texting or f**king. If my SO was at a party and a drunk person kissed him suddenly against his wishes, that's not cheating."
"At the end of the day it comes down to them wanting to be with another person and they aren't being honest about it. The polite thing to do, even though it's painful and hard and sad, is to break up. Breaking up is never crappier than cheating."
NowHeres_HumanMusic
Tests
"If you would be unwilling to tell your partner about an interaction, then it's probably time to start thinking about what you're doing."
Teafairy6767
"Yeah I think the two basic litmus tests are..."
"1- Would you tell them/do it in front of them?"
"2- Would you be okay with it if they did the same thing?"
"If the answer is yes to both, it’s probably fine. If it’s no to either, then at minimum you’re on dangerous ground."
audigex
Off Limits
"It depends on what each couple would consider to be off limits. A good guide is if you're doing something you would hide from your partner or wouldn't do it if they were in the room with you, then that's cheating. It can range from having sex with someone else, to simply flirting."
j_neutrus
Omissions
"Lies. It always starts with lies. Be it texts or snaps, if one of us have to lie or hide, it's wrong and should not happen."
notyourusuallady
It's always a lie in the beginning. Don't lie... it's a Commandment.
Upon Reflection
"If you wouldn't want your partner to know, it's cheating. I wouldn't flirt with someone else in front of my partner, so I don't flirt with people when he's not around either."
kellogg888
actions/feelings/thoughts
"As cheesy as it sounds, it starts with your motive, intention, and conscience. I think there's a clear cut difference between physical cheating and mental/emotional cheating, but it all relates to your honest motive, intention, and conscience. For example, there isn't anything inherently wrong with texting with another person if you are married or dating."
"But if you know in your heart that you are texting or engaging in conversation that makes you feel guilty or it would make your partner upset, you may be doing something wrong, even if you technically did not cheat. If at any point you are justifying your actions or defending your actions/feelings/thoughts from a technical perspective, you may be at the start of doing something wrong."
orange_cuse
That's cheating...
"Cheating starts at lying, even by omission. I am okay with private conversations, meeting people she wants to meet, going away on business trips or going out and coming back late at night. But lying to me about it or about what happened? Or simply not telling me something I don't want to hear? That's cheating."
"So..."
"'I will go out tonight, to see people you don't know and talk about things you don't care about': we are in the clear, it is fine."
"'I saw X and Y last night at their place': if I know for sure that it is not true, then there is some cheating involved."
"It only works if you are not a creep, or even jealous. There needs to be mutual trust and respect. When trust and respect are gone, the relationship is gone too."
pleasedontPM
Happy Birthday
"The intent. For me, an ex of mine that would later cheat on me started a tinder profile in which she claimed she "just wanted to find friends" and she certainly found quite a few of them. Obviously, she didn't just want friends. It could be as small as reaching out to an ex to say happy birthday, but most people have the intent to do something well before it is executed."
isnoe
The Grey
"If there’s a grey area, it’s cheating. If you know they will be upset, it’s cheating. If you have to hide it/lie/omit details. It’s cheating."
SufficientBug5598
There is never a good reason to cheat. Once you know it's starting... fess up.