Thought provoking (or not, lol) philosophical questions.

[Jem]

We've all heard/read and perhaps even pondered some of the more famous philosophical questions about our world/universe/existence...
Such as "If a tree falls in a forest, and no one's around to hear it, does it make a sound?", or perhaps "What came first, the chicken or the egg?"

I thought it would be fun to post and even discuss some though provoking questions.
They can be inspirational and truly philosophical in nature or as I've seen and heard before, quite funny. Some questions I've have seen asked have even made me question the fate of our future generations if those questions are what is considered a "deep, thought provoking statement" that "blows their mind".....

Here's a good one...

"When people talk about travelling to the past, they worry about radically changing the present by doing something small, but barely anyone in the present really thinks that they can change the future by doing something small..."

And perhaps a not so good one....but when you really think about it....does have a great point.

"Have you ever realized that humans cut down bird houses to make bird houses?"

Then there are ones that just make me laugh....are those people for real? or are they just trying to make us laugh.......food for thought.

"How are unicorns fake but giraffes are real? What's more believable? A horse with a horn, or a leopard-moose-camel with a 40 foot neck?"


Care to discuss? Any philosophical questions or thought provoking statements you would like to add?

 

[Silver Crazy]

Why when you spend the time to make yourself a nice dinner and your cat knocks it on the floor??

 

[misty8723]

"When people talk about travelling to the past, they worry about radically changing the present by doing something small, but barely anyone in the present really thinks that they can change the future by doing something small..."

I have heard it said that time is not linear. So if that's true, does that mean past has no real meaning?

 

[Jem]

I have heard it said that time is not linear. So if that's true, does that mean past has no real meaning?

I actually read a little bit on this.......and this is my so called "interpretation" of what little I know on the theory that time does not exist.
It's not so much that the past has no meaning...as it does to the individual who experiences the memories of that past. It's more that the past in itself does not really exist. Everything happens in the now...even our memories/recollection of the "past" can only happen in the now. Although we do use "our pasts" to determine what we do in "the now", "time" is a tool we humans invented and use to create a tangible thing so we can move about our lives...WE made it linear, because that is what we can understand.

 

[bbdoll22]

Why do you drive your car on a parkway but park your car in a driveway.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

Why do you drive your car on a parkway but park your car in a driveway.

Park your car in the garage and it solves everything.

 

[denice]

How do you know you are not crazy and hallucinating your whole life?

Did we invent Math or discover it?

 

[Willowy]

How do you know you are not crazy and hallucinating your whole life?

That's the Matrix theory!

Did we invent Math or discover it?

Hmm, I'd say basic math (numbers of countable things) was discovered and higher math (theoretical stuff) was invented.


I used to drive my brother's friend crazy with this one: how do we know that the color you see as red is what I see as red? Maybe my red is your blue. There's no way to know. "That would look weird" he would say. Well, no, it wouldn't, because that's always what the world looked like to you. "Red is warm, the color of fire, blue is cool, the color of ice" he'd attempt. Sure, but if my blue is red to you, it's still the color of fire in your world. Haha, he just could NOT wrap his brain around that one.

 

[aliceneko]

Do cats dream? What do they dream of?

 

[Lari]

How do babies and animals think without words? Just in images? I can't wrap my mind around thinking without language.

 

[Willowy]

How do babies and animals think without words? Just in images? I can't wrap my mind around thinking without language.

I just read a thing about why we don't have concious memories of the time before we're about 3. It's because we can't retrieve that memory with the language to describe it to ourselves. So, no conscious memories before we had language, for most people. Early experiences do affect our brain development and unconscious memory though. How does that work? Nobody knows yet.

Animals do have a form of language. I wonder if that factors in to their memories?

 

[misty8723]

I actually read a little bit on this.......and this is my so called "interpretation" of what little I know on the theory that time does not exist.
It's not so much that the past has no meaning...as it does to the individual who experiences the memories of that past. It's more that the past in itself does not really exist. Everything happens in the now...even our memories/recollection of the "past" can only happen in the now. Although we do use "our pasts" to determine what we do in "the now", "time" is a tool we humans invented and use to create a tangible thing so we can move about our lives...WE made it linear, because that is what we can understand.

What little I've read about it still confuses me. If we could somehow travel into the past as we knew it, any actions we took might change our future theoretically. However, if it's just the general past, some event we've only seen on TV for example, could we effect any changes in that timeline?

 

[Willowy]

I suppose the fear is that the future has already happened, and any changes may make things worse than they are now, or different for individuals (your SO may not be alive in this timeline, etc.). But small actions now change the future in unknown ways and it hasn't already happened, so that's not scary. Chalk it up to basic fear of change, I'd say.

 

[game misconduct]

is it really guns killing people? or people using guns to kill people?

 

[Willowy]

is it really guns killing people? or people using guns to kill people?

That's not really a philosophical question, more of what some people think is a "gotcha". Obviously, most of the time it's people using guns to kill people. Occasionally, a hunting dog steps on a gun or it falls over and goes off and kills someone, so sometimes it is the gun, or the dog . But guns make it much much MUCH easier for a person to kill someone, especially someone who's not within arm's reach, that's literally the entire point of guns.

 

[di and bob]

I would say it is people using guns to kill people. Guns do not just discharge without a trigger being squeezed, by a person. The gun is the method, but so are a lot of things, knives, rocks, even your bare hands.

 

[game misconduct]

I just read a thing about why we don't have concious memories of the time before we're about 3. It's because we can't retrieve that memory with the language to describe it to ourselves. So, no conscious memories before we had language, for most people. Early experiences do affect our brain development and unconscious memory though. How does that work? Nobody knows yet.

Animals do have a form of language. I wonder if that factors in to their memories?

i do have one memory at the age of 3 along with an old nearly gone scar on my head to prove it the day one of my lil sisters as born i was at the hospital my gramps was watching me out in the hallways of the hospital me being a normal lil boy(cant sit still) i was running around the hallways not listening ran around a blind corner and crashed into a nurse carrying one of those medical boxes(metal) i was perfect height to nail the corner of the box put a 2 or 3 inch long gash ontop of my head so i remember meeting my lil sis with a big band aid on my head and having to explain to my parents why i didnt listen to my gran pa and having to find that nurse to apologize for freaking her out that way