Philosophical moments...

[Rewdalf]

I'm pretty sure we've all had moments like these.
I found myself getting caught up in the theory of the universe, the time space continuum, and existance...
I gave myself that insignificant feeling, as though I was about to drift out of my body, and then snapped back to reality.
It really bothers me how quickly you can just snap back though...
Anyway, share your thoughts.
I don't necessarly love the feeling of being insignificant, but I don't hate it either. It's indescribable, and you can make all of your problems, and the problems of the whole world, instantly dissapear for awhile...
Wait, is that what doing drugs feels like?
Anyway, it's kind of hard to do on command...

Spoiler: Off topic rant...

GODAMNED HUNTED ADS!!! There are TWO OF THEM and they're LAGGING THE WHOLE SITE UP!!! Typing the first couple of sentences of this topic was HELL...

 

[Kirkby]

I get them all the time. Usually when going to sleep at night i get this, but looking at something intricate can do it too. Looking at a finger print and thinking how many cells are in just my finger can get me pretty philosophical = P

 

[nunqual]

Yeah, I have those a lot. Like you've just acheived a higher thought/epiphany, but then you are snapped back.

 

[Dr Snakeman]

This kind of thing occasionally runs through my mind.

 

[Rewdalf]

I get them all the time. Usually when going to sleep at night i get this, but looking at something intricate can do it too. Looking at a finger print and thinking how many cells are in just my finger can get me pretty philosophical = P

Augh! I totally overlooked the microscopic universe as well!
Thanks for reminding me that there could theoretically be millions of tiny universes in every fiber of what we know as matter...
Man. Imagine how many universes die every day because we're unaware of them. We're probably one of the luck ones that won't be touched in a long time...
But yeah. At any moment we could be gone. You never know what could happen. The universe is pretty unpredictable from what I can gather, and we could explode or implode or have something collide with us...
Endless possibilities. They somehow feed me.

 

[Rewdalf]

Yeah, I have those a lot. Like you've just acheived a higher thought/epiphany, but then you are snapped back.

That seems to be a good explaination of things.
I do recall a slight feeling of having all the knowledge in the world, although it's so breif that you may not even catch it.
I think I had that as a kid once, before going to bed. I remember the event so vividly because for a breif moment I felt as though I had the answer to everything.
Damnit, it fades away so fast! Is this what happens when we unlock the full potential of our brains? I need to know more!

 

[Amethyst Wind]

I've recently become near-obsessed with finding out more about String Theory for the philosophical ramifications, because what I know of it so far has failed to yield a reason why it is a more favourable theory than any other.

 

[Kirkby]

I get them all the time. Usually when going to sleep at night i get this, but looking at something intricate can do it too. Looking at a finger print and thinking how many cells are in just my finger can get me pretty philosophical = P

Augh! I totally overlooked the microscopic universe as well!
Thanks for reminding me that there could theoretically be millions of tiny universes in every fiber of what we know as matter...
Man. Imagine how many universes die every day because we're unaware of them. We're probably one of the luck ones that won't be touched in a long time...
But yeah. At any moment we could be gone. You never know what could happen. The universe is pretty unpredictable from what I can gather, and we could explode or implode or have something collide with us...
Endless possibilities. They somehow feed me.

Well if you wanna go down the tiny universe road = P Say there is teeny tiny universes in each of our cells, whats too say that we perceive time in the same way? Like we could be a tiny fleck of candle wick that is burned in an instant, but to us in what seemed like an instant to the lighter of the candle is what we perceived as the entirety of our universe. God i hope that made sense :S

Also i assume uv heard of the multiverse theory? That our universe is nothing special and theres thousands of them?

 

[AssassinJoe]

I get them all the time. Usually when going to sleep at night i get this, but looking at something intricate can do it too. Looking at a finger print and thinking how many cells are in just my finger can get me pretty philosophical = P

Augh! I totally overlooked the microscopic universe as well!
Thanks for reminding me that there could theoretically be millions of tiny universes in every fiber of what we know as matter...
Man. Imagine how many universes die every day because we're unaware of them. We're probably one of the luck ones that won't be touched in a long time...
But yeah. At any moment we could be gone. You never know what could happen. The universe is pretty unpredictable from what I can gather, and we could explode or implode or have something collide with us...
Endless possibilities. They somehow feed me.

.....You just blew my mind there.

Also, to think about how you came into existence in the first place. With the vastness and randomness of the universe, and all the infinite possible DNA strands connecting that led to us. One slight change to any of that, and we wouldn't have even been born. Instead, we would be replaced by someone else, someone who wasn't given a chance to exist.

 

[Blemontea]

I dont talk much so i can stay in my thoughts for a long time before someone talks to me, so i got to many philosophical moments to really bother type in this tiny little box.

 

[Hap2]

You might want to read William James' work The Varieties of Religious Experience. Great philosophical work that would probably pertain to what you are talking about.

 

[Rewdalf]

I get them all the time. Usually when going to sleep at night i get this, but looking at something intricate can do it too. Looking at a finger print and thinking how many cells are in just my finger can get me pretty philosophical = P

Augh! I totally overlooked the microscopic universe as well!
Thanks for reminding me that there could theoretically be millions of tiny universes in every fiber of what we know as matter...
Man. Imagine how many universes die every day because we're unaware of them. We're probably one of the luck ones that won't be touched in a long time...
But yeah. At any moment we could be gone. You never know what could happen. The universe is pretty unpredictable from what I can gather, and we could explode or implode or have something collide with us...
Endless possibilities. They somehow feed me.

Well if you wanna go down the tiny universe road = P Say there is teeny tiny universes in each of our cells, whats too say that we perceive time in the same way? Like we could be a tiny fleck of candle wick that is burned in an instant, but to us in what seemed like an instant to the lighter of the candle is what we perceived as the entirety of our universe. God i hope that made sense :S

Also i assume uv heard of the multiverse theory? That our universe is nothing special and theres thousands of them?

Actually, I did think of that.
I just decided against posting it due to its possible length.
Time perception fits snuggly into it all.
Time for insects is slower than time for us. They move so quickly, but to them it's "regular" speed...
Indeed, if our universe was contained in a cell in the wick of a candle, then we'd be doomed, but the small size of our perceived universe would cause the second of destruction to last an eternity, or even longer. Longer than our puny lifespans...
I think I'll unravel my "beginning of time" theory in the other post I was quoted in...

 

[Rewdalf]

I get them all the time. Usually when going to sleep at night i get this, but looking at something intricate can do it too. Looking at a finger print and thinking how many cells are in just my finger can get me pretty philosophical = P

Augh! I totally overlooked the microscopic universe as well!
Thanks for reminding me that there could theoretically be millions of tiny universes in every fiber of what we know as matter...
Man. Imagine how many universes die every day because we're unaware of them. We're probably one of the luck ones that won't be touched in a long time...
But yeah. At any moment we could be gone. You never know what could happen. The universe is pretty unpredictable from what I can gather, and we could explode or implode or have something collide with us...
Endless possibilities. They somehow feed me.

.....You just blew my mind there.

Also, to think about how you came into existence in the first place. With the vastness and randomness of the universe, and all the infinite possible DNA strands connecting that led to us. One slight change to any of that, and we wouldn't have even been born. Instead, we would be replaced by someone else, someone who wasn't given a chance to exist.

Also time.
One of my most mind blowing thoughts are centered around the "beginning" of time.
Who's to say that it ever began? For all we know it could have been going on forever. Millions, trillions of years, infinite universal possibilities, things we couldn't even dream of no matter how hard we try.
And then comes the theory of the end of time. Well, can time end? Can everything we know and are aware of simply stop? Well? Who knows! And if it does decide to end. Then what? Nothing. Nothingness forever. Forever. And there it is, the feeling of insignificance...

 

[swolf]

Ever check out the alt ending of "I Am Legend" in which conscious thought among the infected is more clearly emphasized? Was he a hero for finding a cure or a monster himself for sacrificing so many "monsters" in order to "cure" them. Also. I've been reading the book Dead City by Joe Mckinney in which one character talks about "philosophical zombies" and the morality of shooting them. Oh, he raises the question on how we know for certain whether or not you are the only only one with consciousness...makes me wonder...

 

[Rewdalf]

Ever check out the alt ending of "I Am Legend" in which conscious thought among the infected is more clearly emphasized? Was he a hero for finding a cure or a monster himself for sacrificing so many "monsters" in order to "cure" them. Also. I've been reading the book Dead City by Joe Mckinney in which one character talks about "philosophical zombies" and the morality of shooting them. Oh, he raises the question on how we know for certain whether or not you are the only only one with consciousness...makes me wonder...

Damn. I saw I Am Legend on a random flight to Europe...
They didn't have the alt ending, and now I really want to see it...
As for Zombies, well I can go on and on with justifications or vice versa on killing them...
The universe is arguably endless. That means the possibilities are also endless. Big picture, and at the same time microscopic picture. The human mind is not fit to comprehend everything at once, and I actually found out that if you think too deep, you'll snap back to reality quicker. I'm trying to break my limit, and I have no idea what could happen.
Although it'll probably be nothing and I'll end up forgetting everything in a week. It's quite aggrivating knowing you're smaller than literally nothing and you can't do anything about it, let alone comprehend it all...
Oh wait. I seem to have branched off in a whole new direction. Sorry.

 

[ThatLankyBastard]

I had this feeling when I calculated how many atoms were in the dot I made with my pencil..

And then again when I saw Inception...

Trippy...

 

[MajorKris]

I get this feeling all the time as well. What I think bothers me the most are those who do not care to understand what is beyond this planet, or even the town they live in. The Universe is out there, we need to accept it, we need to try to understand it. Seeing it is only half of it.

It's hard to imagine ourselves as small, insignificant specks, but that usually just motivates me to work harder to better humanity. Pursing adventuring out into space is the first step we can take to prove that we can live beyond this planet. And that we can prove that we are meant to continue on.

We don't know if there is any kind of life out there that is even equivalent to our intelligence, but I know that we should work to find out.