List of things that blow my mind
Revision as of 14:12, 12 September 2018 by TheAlmightyGuru (talk | contribs)
This is a list of various concepts and ideas that I find so profound they blow my mind. Not all of these concepts are complete, but most of them appear to be
Concept | Description |
---|---|
Determinism | Freewill is an illusion, our choices and even our very thoughts are determined by existing events entirely outside of our control. |
Emergence | Complex and unpredictable properties emerge out even the most basic rules. For example, Conway's Game of Life. |
Euler's identity | e^(i * pi) + 1 = 0. Several unrelated mathematical constants arranged in a specific order in an equation equal zero. |
Evolution | If mutation exists in reproduction, a population will evolve over time in complex unpredictable ways. |
Genetics | The recipe for life is so unbelievably convoluted that minor changes in one gene can cause major changes in seemingly unrelated areas. For example, the domesticated fox experiment. |
Microscopic and Macroscopic worlds | Entire structures exist and thrive both at levels much smaller than we can see, and much larger than we can fathom. For example, gut flora and large scale structure |
Natural selection | Organisms capable of evolution, when in an environment with limited resources, will evolve to better utilize those resources. |
Naturalism | The supernatural and spiritual do not exist. Everything in the universe behaves according to natural laws. |
Programmatic recursion | A simple function can call itself to create complex results. For example, Sierpinski triangle. |
Symbiogenesis | Some biological organisms evolved from initially separate organisms that developed a symbiotic relationship so compatible as to become one organism. For example, mitochondria. |
Wave–particle duality | At the quantum level, matter behaves both like a wave and particle depending on whether it interacts with other matter. For example, the double-slit experiment. |