People Share The Best 'How Did Humans Ever Figure That Out?' Conundrums
Getty Images / Handout via Getty Images
Humans have figured out a lot in a short space of time. There is no doubt about that.
However, if you've ever engaged in one of these tasks that takes a lot of finesse and work, you begin to wonder--how DID this process get perfected? How DID we as humans do this?
u/Work_Confusion asked:
Here were some of those answers.
Which Seed Is Which?
Coffee. Who thought to pluck the seed from a coffee tree berry, roast it, then grind it, then mix it with boiling water, then filter out the grounds? That process must have taken centuries to perfect.
I actually know this! Goat herders noticed how their goats went nuts after eating the coffee beans, so that's how they figured out what kind of effect coffee has. Things like roasting, grinding, etc. were discovered by trial and error over time.
Anthro Language
Spoken language in general. If I utter a lot of noises in a very specific order, you understand my thoughts. I understand evolution, both social and biological, but it still blows my mind.
Thanks, Volcanoes, For The Information
What's inside the earth? I read somewhere that if you imagine the earth as an apple we haven't even drilled past the skin yet, so how do they know?
Continuing Trial And Error
Anything that becomes edible only after several steps like a mushroom you have to boil twice, what was it discovered by a murder on a budget who used the same poison mushroom in 3 pots of tea? Cover it in lye bury it in the ground for a month then it should be good to eat...this fish is deadly except this one tiny bit.
Taking Great Care
The Fugu pufferfish. Contains the world's most powerful neurotoxin, but if you cut that sucker just right, you get tasty-fish that sells for $100 a plate. And the best chefs will be able to taint the meat with just enough tetrodotoxin to give the diner a vague sense of tingling, but not die.
Since 1958, fugu chefs must earn a license to prepare and sell fugu to the public. This involves a two- or three-year apprenticeship. The licensing examination process consists of a written test, a fish-identification test, and a practical test, which requires the test-takers to prepare a dish of fugu and and eating it. Only about 35 percent of the applicants pass. Small miscalculations result in failure or, in rare cases, death.
Imaginary Numbers
That's something that we never really figured out, so we invented imaginary numbers to just kinda make sense of certain things. I always imagine it went like this:
"The equation won't balance unless I throw in a root -1! And I can't do that!"
"But we don't get the grant if we don't solve the equation...."
And a week later, a paper on imaginary numbers is published.
It Only Takes A Moment
Tapioca pudding. Raw cassava is poisonous (cyanide) but if you peel it and grind it down it makes tapioca pudding. So how did that happen? How did a person figure out that after cooking it was OK? So maybe some tribe was starving and sitting by a fire and a cassava tuber fell in the fire and after it cooked they said, "F*** it, I'm gonna peel it and eat it." A mystery to me.
Necessity Does A Lot Of Work
Sailing upwind. Sailing with the wind is one thing but how did they ever figure out how to design a boat capable of sailing upwind is beyond me. I understand the physics of why it works however it still baffles me that humans figured that out as early as they did.
When We Could Have Listened
A friend showed me a video on a building that was discovered buried under sand in Spain--I think it was in Spain. Can't remember what it is called. But one of the buildings was so immensely beautiful and detailed. Even the tiled floor had paintings on it that had been preserved over time. Just boggles my mind. They even had an amazing plumbing system and other things you'd never thought was possible for the era it was built. I'll have to find the documentary and link it - it's amazing.
Chz
Milk/cheese.
Humans were pretty much all lactose intolerant for a long time, only babies could really drink milk because of feeding.
So at some point, people just said "screw it" and brute forced milk into adult diets. Created cheese and ate so much that a significant portion of the world can now drink it as adults. Even modern lactose intolerant people just do not care and still eat/drink milk and cheese products.
Image by analogicus from Pixabay |
Society is an odd conundrum when you attempt to wrap your head around it. This phenomena typically occurs whenever you witness a new trend or share experience and everyone seems to go along with it. Only much later, when you think about it with a bit of critical thinking, do you notice something might be off.
Going against society can be strained, difficult, like pulling back a sticker that's been on way too long, however sometimes it's necessary to get rid of what we probably shouldn't be so welcoming of.
How Do You Think You're Reading This Now?
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTUzMjQwMS9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMjQ5NjEzNH0.SfIQtzxQcyZ2CqKrGk9oYZ4dH0cJ8CLDdnmD0K9bjzY/img.gif?width=980" id="a2c23" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="7fd9243855a105b3716f0824807b33c2" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="250" data-height="183" />the simpsons nerd GIFGiphy<p>Making fun of someone's intellectual/creative curiosity, cfr. the use of nerd or geek in the negative</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l3p1fk/whats_the_worst_thing_that_is_socially_accepted/gkhpu0j?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">atTheRealMrKuntz</a></p><p>World wouldn't be as advanced as it is without the geeks and nerds, so keep it up, I'm proud.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l3p1fk/whats_the_worst_thing_that_is_socially_accepted/gkil9qi?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">deadshotelite22</a></p>Keep Your Kids Offline Until They Know
<p>Posting dozens or hundreds of pics of your kids online and social media. That is so violative of their privacy and rights to grow up without the entire world creeping in.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l3p1fk/whats_the_worst_thing_that_is_socially_accepted/gkh9t7g?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">llcucf80</a></p><p>When I was younger (11/12) my dad took a picture of me at the beach that I found really unflattering and embarrassing and revealing. I asked as he laughed at my appearance if he wouldn't post it and he said sure.</p>Forever In A State Of Slight Inebriation
<p>Excessive drinking/constantly drunk/high</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l3p1fk/whats_the_worst_thing_that_is_socially_accepted/gkhcq86?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">CharlieMBTA</a></p><p>Agreed. It's quite literally one of the most unhealthy things I know of that is not only socially acceptable, but encouraged. Leads to countless health conditions, cancers, heart disease, GERD, Depression, just a ton of sh-t (that is all now super common in society) and yet if you don't partake, you're somehow no fun.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l3p1fk/whats_the_worst_thing_that_is_socially_accepted/gkhidr2?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank">[deleted]</a></p>Hypocritical Values
<p>Being proud if your son got laid or confessed to having an S/O but judging your daughter if she did the same exact thing</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l3p1fk/whats_the_worst_thing_that_is_socially_accepted/gkhaoei?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">lens_princess</a></p><p>This. So many tales of fathers fist-bumping their sons for soliciting BJs under the bleachers (metaphorically speaking) yet threatening to kill any boy their daughter brings home (100% serious). Mothers slut-shame their daughters too, definitely, and they can be even worse sometimes. But it just feels - it might not be true, but it <em>feels</em> like - boys are not criticized or judged <em>nearly</em> as much for being sexually active teenagers.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l3p1fk/whats_the_worst_thing_that_is_socially_accepted/gkhg06u?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">Hip_Hazard</a></p>Abuse Is Abuse. Doesn't Matter Who It's Against.
<p>Women being violent to men. A lot of the time that gets brushed aside and laughed off.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l3p1fk/whats_the_worst_thing_that_is_socially_accepted/gkhe9sr?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">StarryNovaSaiyan</a></p><p>When a woman slapping or punching a man is funny but the reverse makes him a criminal.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l3p1fk/whats_the_worst_thing_that_is_socially_accepted/gkhvp5i?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">Totaler166</a></p>Prancing Around On Stage
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTUzMjM0Mi9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY2NDcxMTA3Mn0.8ji0uL_cYjuCwYlRLohbq4OpcFXxx7-w_Xx9emwNwas/img.gif?width=980" id="0cec6" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8e1de8152bf089e1145f6278543c77f5" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="480" data-height="362" />speaking out season 4 GIFGiphy<p>Pageant shows for little girls. Looking at you toddlers and tiaras...</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l3p1fk/whats_the_worst_thing_that_is_socially_accepted/gkhzrmu?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">ThePipeGang</a></p><p>That's nothing but a bizarre off-label Munchauson's Syndrome by Proxy, just using performances instead of diseases.</p>Size Doesn't Restrict Influence
<p>Treating cigarette butts as if they are not litter</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l3p1fk/whats_the_worst_thing_that_is_socially_accepted/gkhy44q?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">rumblepony247</a></p><p>As a smoker myself it just annoys me when i see them all over the ground. Definitely when its next ro a bin or ashtray. Just f-cking use it.</p><p>If there is nothing around while im smoking, i just put it out and put it in my back pocket until i get to a bin. Thats probably gross but its better than [littering].</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l3p1fk/whats_the_worst_thing_that_is_socially_accepted/gkix43a?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">ValhallaFalling</a></p>A "No" Means "No," No Matter What The Movies Say
<img lazy-loadable="true" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTUzMjMzNS9vcmlnaW4uZ2lmIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1OTA4NzIyM30.dSeycTq7wRd85UjknmSxIWYJffMiPYX-Xc8sXshollk/img.gif?width=980" id="3bf44" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="75096fffefd8c007ae957d24fc916602" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="480" data-height="362" />homer simpson no GIFGiphy<p>"Pursuing" someone after they have made it clear they are not interested. I blame most romantic movies.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/l3p1fk/whats_the_worst_thing_that_is_socially_accepted/gkhfvsf?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">loritree</a></p><p>100% agree, and reflecting on being a young man a long time ago... it's confusing as sh-t. That was so reinforced on TV and movies in the 80s and 90s... and when young guys are coming of age and just getting into dating, it's very confusing... lots of nerves and hormones and things, and even though your senses tell you that you should let it go, you have these voices all around you telling you to "not give up", or that "they're just playing hard to get"... or that "girls like it when you fight for them" etc...</p>Businesses have been known to cut corners and abuse their employees to make a buck. It's a trick as old as the institution of employment itself.
But it does come back to bite them... eventually. Every once in a while a business owner feels the effect of the pain they have caused on other people.
Not The Animals
<p>A veterinarian I once worked for tried to make me reuse bloody IV tubing between patients, "just rinse it out" he told me. He charged the same amount for a pain injection for a 5 lb pet and a 150lb pet, he over-worked and underpaid his employees, he was rude to his clients, and tried to make staff carry out tasks they were not qualified/educated to do. He would cut corners in any possible way.</p><p>Several of us reported him to the board.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/EhDub13/" target="_blank">EhDub13</a></p>Yeah Just Do It Fam
<p>Hostility towards raises. Rewarding your existing employees is almost always cheaper than hiring new. Ive had a manager that scoffed at a single 3% raise for someone who had no raise for 5 years. Good luck hiring a new person with that experience and for less money. There's a reason why job hopping gets you more money, and it's not because hiring new is cheaper.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/KourteousKrome/" target="_blank">KourteousKrome</a></p>This Is Called Entrapment
<p>Any company/service that allows you to sign up using the internet with minimal verification but requires you to either produce ID, bills, proof of address, or show up in person to cancel that service.</p><p>if i can set it up via the internet i should be able to cancel using the internet too.</p><p><span></span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ThatKiwiBloke/" target="_blank">ThatKiwiBloke</a></p>Buzz Buzz Buzz
<p>I used to serve at a restaurant where we wore pagers that buzzed us when a table's food was ready. Good idea right? Well the owners had the policy that you had to immediately go pick up the food no matter what, and that included if you were in the middle of taking another table's order. They said that people "understand" and are cool with it. Of course they weren't though. Every time I stopped taking a table's order and went and got the food, they were totally pissed off. I could not believe the owners did not understand why literally no other restaurant on the planet does it that way.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/whinecube/" target="_blank">whinecube</a></p>Stealing!
<p>I use the term "business" loosely, but I once did graduate research with a professor who was in the process of trying to get a major auto manufacturer to invest in our lab. They liked us, but wanted an example of some of our work. So rather than directing them to some publications of ours, my professor gave them a zip file containing <em>all</em> of our recent unpublished research, including the basis for a patent application.</p><p>My professor was shocked when they just kept it.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/RealHot_RealSteel/" target="_blank">RealHot_RealSteel</a></p>She Done Closed
<p>I worked at a restaurant that wouldn't let people get a refund on their food even though there was a cockroach in it. Instead they offered a 10% discount on the food as per their "policy". Needless to say this restaurant no longer exists.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/FlintstonesViagra/" target="_blank">FlintstonesViagra</a></p>Forcing You To Quit
<p>Trying to get employees to quit. My managers at fast food didn't want to keep long term employees due to having to pay them more and firing them means unemployment costs. Us quitting means no unemployment and not having to give raises.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/calverygirl/" target="_blank">calverygirl</a></p>Fraud....
<p>So this store put a massive discount on weighted blankets. They were originally selling for $150, but were now being offered for $39.99.</p><p>The catch? You'd need to sign up for free as a VIP member online. Urm ok no harm done.</p><p>So i signed up and bought the blanket. And so did thousands of other people.</p><p>The store cancelled our orders and refunded our money, claiming that they weren't able to fulfil our orders. And now they had a couple thousand more new names on their mailing list.</p><p>And sure enough marketing emails came pouring through. I unsubscribed once but still had emails coming in.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/MalaysianOfficial_1/" target="_blank">MalaysianOfficial_1</a></p>THE POOR DOGGOS
<p>I heard this one from a friend: She worked at a dog kennelling business that would tour prospective clients through the front of the building and show off how each dog would get its own indoor/outdoor run area and specialized attention, etc. Then when Thanksgiving and Christmas came and they got more bookings then they could accommodate, they set up cages and stacked kennels in a back room and people were paying big dollars thinking that their dogs were in a nice roomy pen while the business crammed as many dogs as they could into these basic cages. It was shameful.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/headcase-and-a-half/" target="_blank">headcase-and-a-half</a></p>A Rock And A Hard Place
<p>I worked for a big car rental company in the returns department. They would push us to find and charge customers for any new damage on their cars by awarding bonuses on top of our monthly salary. </p><p>We were given mirrors to look for scratches under the cars where costumers would normally not have checked before they rented the car, often leading to heated arguments over if it really was their fault or not. The company did not care either way and made us charge their insurance deposit if they refused to pay. The daily verbal abuse and stress from being sandwiched between my managers and angry customers has definitely left a mark on my mental health and I will probably never work in the traveling industry again.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/bjarl/" target="_blank">bjarl</a></p>People Who Were Friends With Someone Who Became A Murderer Describe What They Were Like Beforehand
Every one of us harbors evil and malicious intent. It is completely normal to have dark thoughts. The difference between the everyday person and a psycho is intent and lacking empathy. It's frightening to realize that someone you may have spent a significant amount of time with could take a life with cruelty, but it happens more often than we want to realize.
When I was 18 I used to play in a weekly game of pool, I was awful, still am. My friends would sneak me into this bar/club in Ft. Lauderdale that was 21 and up. We met an enormous amount of fascinating people.
In the Room
<p>Not friends but I worked at a charity with two hilarious guys. A year or so after I left, one killed the other with a car bomb. It feels so unreal, like it was complete fiction. Can't believe I was in a room with them both on multiple occasions. I live in Northern Ireland and it appears that the motive involved some lingering sectarian/paramilitary tensions. That stuff has been quiet for most of my lifetime but there are still wounds.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kyjb6z/people_who_were_friends_with_someone_who_later/gjh359j?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Aichon08087</a><span></span></p>Normal
<p>He was completely normal from as far as we could tell, just a regular high school kid. Played soccer, was in the advanced classes, kind of quiet but a nice kid.</p><p>Then one weekend he and another kid went and murdered a couple of professors with the intent of stealing their money and absconding to somewhere in South America I believe. </p>Rodman
<p>I knew a girl that let her boyfriend into her family's home and he killed her sister and brother that were around 10 years old, her brother who was 15, her father, and stabbed the crap out of her mother.</p><p>She's in prison for life. She was quiet. I didn't know her as well as I did her other siblings. Her boyfriend didn't attack her older sisters. We had always thought that the sister who was a year older than her was going to be the psycho. Her sister had anger issues. </p>A Normal Dude
<p>A normal dude. Somebody tried to rob him during a drug deal and he did what he felt he needed to do. Got 10 years for it and was released not long ago. From what I can recall, he was set up. Some neutral guy acted as the buyer, and when he went to make the deal. A few guys he had fought with in the past showed up trying to rob him but had no weapons, they just outnumbered him. </p>The Roommate
<p>I was childhood friends with a guy who beat his roommate to death with a bat. He was a regular middle class kid who got good grades etc. The roommate's dog was not fixed and was having her period all over the house and the roommate wouldn't clean it up or go to the vet. He just snapped one day and started beating the guy as he slept on the couch. </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kyjb6z/people_who_were_friends_with_someone_who_later/gjhhobe?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">QualitySeycoTimepiec</a></p>Hostages
<p>Not friends, but I grew up with a guy (neighbor) who held his dad hostage for hours and then killed both of them. he was a couple years older, so i didn't know him too well, but my brother was closer in age. Said he was quite nice, really quite funny, but obviously doesn't say much. </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kyjb6z/people_who_were_friends_with_someone_who_later/gjglyx7?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">lizzyolivia</a><span></span></p>The Creeps
<p>My boyfriend and his old roommate were friends with this guy who seriously gave me the creeps. He would always try to hit on me, even though it was my boyfriend's house, and was really awkward. One night after a party my boyfriend and I were asleep when I heard his door open. It was the creepy guy. I shook my boyfriend awake and he asked what the guy was doing. </p>ISIS
<p>I had a chem lab partner in college in the midwest, 2013 or 2014, he was a very nice guy, very smart too. We were both into the walking dead, so we talked about that frequently. Then one day I saw the news, as well as a campus wide email, and it turned out that he had just been arrested at the airport for trying to flee and join ISIS. So ya, he may not have been a murderer, but I think eventual terrorist fits here. </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kyjb6z/people_who_were_friends_with_someone_who_later/gjhefre?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">taintedthrowaway91</a><span></span></p>The Fisherman
<p>Perfectly normal kid. We went fishing and hiking together, and attended the same church. Lost touch after high school. In his thirties he murdered the boyfriend of his ex-wife. </p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/kyjb6z/people_who_were_friends_with_someone_who_later/gjh6lqu?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">p38-lightning</a><span></span></p>Augustus
<p>So I was friends with Augustus. He was on the quiet side but was into MMA and UFC stuff and I remember driving him to a few amateur fights when he lived at my home. I've known people that I didn't like and even feared but knew they were the kind of people you would want on your side if crap hit the fan, Augustus was that but I never felt I had anything to fear from him. He was a 'gentle giant.' Well he moved away and I hadn't heard from him in several years when another mutual friend told me about the trouble he found himself in. You can read about it here: <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/montana-man-pleads-guilty-double-murder-putting-bodies-acid-n948196" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/montana-man-pleads-guilty-double-murder-putting-bodies-acid-n948196</a></p>Parents Describe The Times They Forced Themselves Not To Laugh While Punishing Their Kids
Disciplining your kids is a necessary evil. It helps them to understand there are consequences for their mischief so they will behave better in the future.