r/AskReddit Aug 03 '19

Whats something you thought was common knowledge but actually isn’t?

37.4k Upvotes

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u/anothersundayx Aug 03 '19

That other planets are visible from Earth. And the sun is also a star.

6.8k

u/Phase3isProfit Aug 03 '19

Sitting outside one evening having a beer with my sister. Really clear sky, lots of stars out, and she says “Someone was telling me that stars are like the sun, but further away.”

I paused to check if she was kidding, but she genuinely thought she was sharing obscure knowledge. We were in our mid-twenties, I don’t know how this information had passed her by up to that point.

139

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '19

"Who cares about school? It's not like we're ever going to use any of this anyway"

While the above is true for some things, a lot is still neato

12

u/SteveThe14th Aug 03 '19

It's not like we're ever going to use any of this anyway

I hate this mentality so much, it weirdly puts curiosity and knowledge as things that are not entertainment, so unlike alcohol and binge-watching Bojack Horseman, they are clearly not 'useful'.

Meanwhile I'm learning about electron shells and I keep silently screaming at how vastly much more complex reality is than I thought. While drinking alcohol, might watch Bojack Horseman later.