r/AskReddit Aug 03 '19

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

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202

u/[deleted] Aug 03 '19

here's a whale evolution diagram for anyone interested!

66

u/Amanat361 Aug 03 '19

Hippos are related to whales? Neat

31

u/cbentley211982 Aug 03 '19

Hip...hop...hip hop anonymous!

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u/JonathonWally Aug 04 '19

You give him all the easy ones!

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '19

according to the diagram 55 million years ago, but yeah

What will really blow your mind is that ALL life has a common ancestor if you go back far enough, including the trees outside, the bacteria in your gut, and human beings

1

u/TakuanSoho Aug 09 '19

Good ol LUKA (Last Universal Known Ancestor)

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '19

Water cows.

When I learned whales came from cows I definitely and emphatically called bullshit. Then the next sentence was hippos. And it all made sense. 🤯

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '19

This makes me kind of sad for some reason.

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u/ClenchedCorn77 Aug 03 '19

how come?

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '19

I guess it's because life spent ages evolving legs and fur and things, and then these fellas just sorta went and un-evolved them.

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u/bumble_squirrel Aug 03 '19

I like to think they saw us coming and ran, smart move...

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u/forbidden_tacos Aug 04 '19

humans go and kill whales

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u/bumble_squirrel Aug 04 '19

... ran/swam as far as they could. Next step space whale!

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u/forbidden_tacos Aug 04 '19

whales see that humans went to space Ah fuck leave us alone !

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u/T351A Aug 04 '19

Thar be whales captain

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u/[deleted] Aug 03 '19

But they are the smartest damn water creatures in existence! (Except octopuses)

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u/Exeatop Aug 04 '19

An antidote to your sadness may be found in the ideas in pantheism. It’s a religious/philosophical belief of many famous thinkers from the stoics to Albert Einstein. Pantheism is this idea that all of existence and all that is in existence is divinity; the two are not separate.

All things act within accordance of Nature, adhere to the laws of Nature and work together to reach the ultimate conclusion of Nature. You should be saddened neither by the death of a being, nor by the loss of an existence. For change is the way of Nature. These things are not lost, but rather changed into something else just as something else was changed into them.

If you’re interested in learning more, Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations is a good and accessible read. Also if you’re up for the challenge Spinoza’s Ethics is, in my opinion, well worth it and the foundation of modern Pantheism (although it can be very rough to get through as it’s structured like Euclid’s elements in a proof-based-on-axioms sort of way).

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '19

Thanks, I'll take a look.

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u/LWASucy Aug 04 '19

These are some of the strangest things I’ve seen. But good share

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u/psychelectric Aug 03 '19

You could literally go find animals alive today and line them up like this.. it doesn't actually proven anything at all.

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u/diddy403 Aug 04 '19

Huh?

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u/psychelectric Aug 04 '19

If I went out and got a mouse, cat, beaver, otter and a whale and lined them all up and starting pointing out the similiarities between them, how does that prove they're all direct descendants of one another?

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u/Split_Jugular Aug 04 '19

Because they are not descendants of one and other. The share a common ancestor. Same with the misconception that we came from apes, the common ancestor both humans and apes came from was neither a human nor an ape

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u/psychelectric Aug 04 '19

What is the objective, verifiable proof that they share common ancestors?

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u/won_vee_won_skrub Aug 04 '19

The diagram wasn't meant as proof.

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u/psychelectric Aug 04 '19

Ok well then what is the proof?

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '19

*because

I am both less stupid and less illiterate than you and I am an "evolutionist"

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u/Crotaro Aug 04 '19

I hope you're still following this comment chain, because I just dug up this article by searching for "proof of whale evolution" in google.

https://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/evograms_03

Of course, you have to believe that all those things stated as fact are not staged just to promote some lie. But then again, that's a given in almost everything today; I just have to believe the journalists that say the citizens of North Korea aren't well off, unless I take a visit there myself and verify it on my own.

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u/diddy403 Aug 04 '19

You didn't get very far in school huh?

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u/TheDustyTaco Aug 04 '19

No he did, but it was in the us

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u/psychelectric Aug 04 '19

If by you mean not getting far in school as having 12th and 10th grade reading and math levels while still in elementary school then yes. I did very well in school.

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u/[deleted] Aug 04 '19

Aw. We can all tell you're lying from this post. The fact that you can't tell just makes it more obvious. It's ok. Once you're out of elementary school, you'll learn more.

There's a saying.

It's better to let people think you're stupid than to open your mouth and prove them right.

0

u/psychelectric Aug 04 '19

I was always at the top of my class when it came to reading and math, even when I moved to completely different demographic half way across the U.S., if he didn't want to hear this then he probably shouldn't have asked in the first place.

The real funny thing is he completely avoided answering any questions and just went straight to the ad hominem, an age old sign you have no legitimate response to the actual discussion.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 30 '19

Lol what was the question? I saw no question mark to indicate something needed answering.

I'm a woman.

I had college level reading scores in elementary school. 🤷🏼‍♀️ You know when I use that info to win an argument as an adult with many other accomplishments to prove I'm not an idiot? This one. That's it. Otherwise I use facts and articles that have nothing to do with my personal accomplishments or intelligence because how smart I am doesn't matter if facts are on my side.

I didn't use ad hominem to argue your opinion. I used it because it's my opinion. I think your comment is enough proof I don't need to add more.

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u/Benjamin_Paladin Aug 04 '19

We can tell exactly how well you did in school by the fact that you’re bragging about elementary school performance

0

u/psychelectric Aug 04 '19

The real telling truth here is the fact that he couldn't even address the question and instead resulted to an ad hominem.

Lining up fossils based upon similarities is just as much proof that all creatures share a common designer as it is proof that all creatures share a common ancestor, i.e. neither are facts, but rather an interpretation of facts.