Things that fascinate you - your Top 5

[PeterJB]

1. 20th century political history: Mainly the rise of Communism and Fascism and the devastating effect they had on the world.

2. Religious history: The origins and development of the major world religions and their effect on society.

3. The physics, psychology and history of music: Why certain chords and harmonies do and don't work, the connection between somebody's personality and their taste in music, and how musical style is a reflection of the society it is predominantly found in.

4. Zoology: Why animals behave the way they do, and the incredible variation in anatomy, which also links in with my interest in evolutionary theory.

5. Space: The sheer size and scope of the observable universe is mind-boggling. Where did it come from? Where is it going? What is it expanding in to?

 

[Pagey279]

Not in order:

1- Ancient civilisations, the Romans, Greeks etc If I stand in the ruins of a castle, or a Roman Villa or anything like that it sends chills down my spine if I think exactly 2000 years ago the place I'm standing right now would have been filled with people going about their daily business, animals and so on.

2- Anything to do with Space, if I watch Wonders of the Universe with Brian Cox I can barely contain my astonishment.

3- Cars, I'm a big car fan like many here on GTP. I love looking at them, driving them, seeing how they work etc.

4- Physics in general.

5- Books.

There are many others but I will keep it short and sweet.

 

[Crumpet]

1) Afro's. I've always been fascinated by this huge spectacle of awesomeness that sits upon ones head. And, I have a question for those who have one.

When you wash an Afro, does the water brush through it and leave it unaltered because of the air holes? Or, does the water pile on top of the Afro and flatten it?

 

[Davidies]

No particular order here:

1. EA's stupidity sometimes.
2. Cars. I sometimes question myself ''What is that?'' or ''How does X part do Y?'' or something like that. I like finding out new things about them.
3. Space. So huge, and keep finding new things. Games like Kerbal Space Program or Orbiter just makes me love it more.
4. Electronics in general. No need for an explanation, is what I guess.
5. Physics. The amount of cool things created because of Physics...

 

[Liquid]

When you wash an Afro, does the water brush through it and leave it unaltered because of the air holes? Or, does the water pile on top of the Afro and flatten it?

I used to have an afro of sorts, and it was definitely the latter, in my case.

 

[Anathema]

1: Chemistry
Especially on the atomic level, and realizing that all that we have is made up of atoms, compounds, electrons, protons, and that fun stuff. Incredibly deep when you think about it.

2: The human mind
Why are each of us different? Why do we think the way we do, and why do we form our own conclusions on how we should live our lives? More deep thoughts.
3: 'What if's'
As in life without the Internet, electricity, etc...)
4: Mortality and life after death.
5: Cars

Didn't put women because that goes under #2, learning the difference of the mind between women and men has taken me a long time to do. Best analogy I could come up with (and the best one I've found, credit goes to the dude who wrote the book) is that guys are waffles and girls are spaghetti.

 

[Wiegert]

Not really in order, but:

1. Languages. How they developed, evolved, and how they play such a major part of our lives. Always thought of it as one of the greater human achievements.

2. Transhumanism, and the prospect of augmented human intellect and physical structure using technology. I'm actually both anxious and excited by what developments we might see or even what augmentations we could have in the next 50 years or more.

3. The variety of music that exist in and that it can be categorised by genre, as well as the emotions it can invoke.

4. That fact that I can instantly communicate with someone thousands of miles away with such ease. It's something I'm used to and do every day, but it still intrigues me.

5. How nature has shaped our world, and still does so today either through slow processes or sudden change.

 

[Katiegan]

1. 20th Century History - Specifically military history, such as the wars that happened (WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Falklands, Ireland etc etc). Strangely enough I have little to no interest in events before the 20th century.
   
2. Technology - How it has evolved in such a short amount of time, how we can do things now we would only dream of doing 10 years ago.
   
3. Cameras - I suppose this could fall under the technology category, but it has always fascinated me how we can capture those special moments in picture or film and keep them forever.
   
4. Nature and Evolution - How things came about and evolved over time, how things adapted to their surroundings and how things are now.
   
5. Cars - Not just because I'm interested in them, but their impact on human life. They are amazing things that, to me, are more than just inanimate objects that get you from A to B. I find it amazing how we form bonds with them and treat them as pets or members of the family, give them names, and essentially care for them like they're living. A metallic box on wheels can bring such happiness to our lives, and I know mine has!

Woah teh feels in that last one.

 

[250 GTO]

- Space/the Universe and everything in between. Especially life on other planets, I just CANNOT believe that we are the only living things in the Universe.

- Religion. I'm not really religious when it comes to myself. But they way religion through out history (and still to this day) has been used as an excuse to do horrible and unspeakable things to other humans. Even though pretty much every religion preaches love, kindness and respect to your fellow man.

- Life after death. There's gotta be more to life than just the few short years we get on this planet.

- Women. Pretty much everything about them fascinates and baffles me :-)

 

[AOS-]

1) The process in which how things are made: products, machining, cooking, arts, etc.
2) Visual Arts: Photography, Illustration, CGI, Animation, Drawing, highly-detailed Crafts, Videography.
3) Speed and/or work efficiency: Thinking of methods or techniques to complete a task or set of tasks in shorter time.
4) Physics. Mainly kinetics.
5) Nature.

6) Culture.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

Before you read this, I am thinking of things that interest me, but that nobody knows much about. Thisngs that when I see, I naturally gravitate towards. Interests, to me, are different, because they are understandable.

1) Space: There's just so much of it! Imagine what there is that we don't know about it! And of course, what we do know is pretty fascinating. Gamma ray burst, neutron stars, black holes, the lot!

2) Particle physics: The maths is beyond me, but the concepts are so cool. Every particle is interesting in its own way.

3) Extreme weather: Call me crazy, but I want to be hit by a hurricane, and would love to see a tornado up close. I know that they're dnagerous, but the atmospheric conditions are so interesting.

4) Cars: Well, of course! They fascinate me because of the "life force" that they seem to have, the way each car has its own character. They seem so human!

5) Politics and human behaviour in general. I'm not sure why, but I love government and politics and law and electiosn and all that stuff. Even though the loonies get more attention than all the sane people, I still like it, and if I didn't have such a passion for cars, I'd likely be studying to be a lawyer, solicitor, or similar.

 

[MarinaDiamandis]

In no particular order:

1. Modern medicine. Yes, it's part of the sciences, but I find this specific area absolutely fascinating, and it gets even more so with every passing day.

2. History, with military history being the topic that really grabs my interest.

3. Going hand-in-hand with military history, military technology. The capabilities of modern military equipment is incredible. I've always had this sort of thought in my mind:

4. Nature. I spend so much time in nature that I cannot help but be mesmerised by it. Being able to observe and be a part of such a huge tapestry is such a special treat.

5. Human nature. All branches are very interesting, but developmental psychology in children is my current favourite (partly because my house is like a nursery several times a month, plenty of subjects to observe!).

 

[Danny]

1) Battleships
2) Snakes
3) Greek Mythology
4) Psychology and human behaviour
5) Serial Killers

 

[Slash]

1. Music
2. Cars in general, restorations
3. Weather, specifically thunderstorms (ironically enough I used to hate them)
4. Human existance, more specifically why we are required to reproduce sexually and how we survive from being smarter than mostly everything else
5. ATVs and offroading
6. Death

 

[Joey D]

1.) Our ancestors, it's what drove me to study anthropology/archaeology in school and ultimately obtain a degree in it. To think about what went into creating something like Stonehenge just boggles my mind.

2.) Culture, what's acceptable or prized in one group of people is completely unacceptable in another.

3.) The rapid expanse of technology, to think when I was 5 PC's were rather expensive and were mostly those black and green screen Mac's you'd play Oregon Trail on. Now I have a device that fits in the palm of my hand and can obtain any recorded knowledge humans have, although I just use it to shoot annoying birds at green pigs.

4.) Anything medical related, having witnessed heart transplants and brain surgery first hand, I'm always in awe of just how advanced modern medicine is. I also can't even fathom what it will be in another 20 years.

5.) Time, it's as late now as it's ever been in the history of the universe. I can't even wrap my head around that.

Other notables:
- Big butts, I can't lie.
- Green Jell-o
- GTP's own Danny.

 

[Doog]

Good question. In no particular order...

Pyschology

I've been really fascinated by pyschology, or more specifically human nature in the past year. The fact that when placed in x situation, humans tend to react a certain way is intriguing. After just paying attention to things you see in life, you start to see certain patterns, whether it's the fact that people tend to have a similar reaction, or instinct when confronted with a situation, or if it's seasonal behavioral patterns. Why is it that like a switch, some people can go from consistently feeling fine to having anxiety attacks and depression for the next few months? Why that is and how that works, it all intrigues me. I'd like to know more about it.

Cars

Of course I find cars fascinating, but more specifically, over-engineered cars are of interest to me. The 1980s Benzes and Bimmers, especially Benzes, built like tanks and capable of lasting hundred of thousands of miles in tact. The amount of meticulous calculation and thousands of hours of rigorous testing that must have went into the development (and the cycles were much longer during this period) is a bit mind-blowing. But it's not just the 80s Benzes, it's the Toyotas and Hondas of the same period, particularly the Toyotas that introduced consumers to an amount of refinement that was previously reserved for the increasingly expensive German cars of the time. The quality differences between the Japanese cars and American cars of the time were hard to not notice. It sort of ushered in a revolution in standards for cheap cars.

Space

The size of it all, the sheer size of everything blows your mind repeatedly. Stars that make the sun look like a spec, the fact that when compared to the sun, Earth is a spec, and the scary black holes are all so intriguing, especially the black holes. The idea of this weird gaping hole in space where there once was a star, with so much gravity that not even light can escape it, that this random hole can suck you in so hard that it pulls you to pieces, all the while everything is so warped that you can see yourself (or at least could, if there were light) being stretched to unheard of extremes is very hard to wrap your head around. Black holes are mysterious, but they're also scary. They're so powerful, I wonder what would happen if say an entire planet found itself sucked into one. I wonder what would happen if Earth was sucked into a black hole.

Death

From an early age, the concept of death and no longer existing (I never really grasped the idea of an afterlife) is much like black holes; it's sort of hard to wrap your head around. The fact that, after x amount of years you'll expire and you may never exist again, like a permanent game over just makes my mind explode whenever I think about it. It's just such a weird concept to comprehend. I'm not afraid of death, though I'd certainly prefer it not happen soon, I just find it weirdly intriguing how after so many years you're sort of just done.​

That's only four, but I can't think of anything else that particularly stands out.

 

[Dennisch]

http://[domain blocked due to malware]/instances/400x/38056090.jpg

 

[Danny]

Other notables:

- GTP's own Danny.

Excellent taste.

 

[W3H5]

When you wash an Afro, does the water brush through it and leave it unaltered because of the air holes? Or, does the water pile on top of the Afro and flatten it?

My afro was like duck feathers. Water seems to just run off unless I had my head completely submerged for around a minute, then I got a bit damp.

 

[Daniel]

1)Dik-Diks
2) Alcohol
3) Katie
4) taaz.com
5) Dik-Diks

FTFY 👍

1) Ghost towns: It amazes me that what once could have been a bustling, lively city, be completely empty in a matter of days. It's also interesting to find out how each different place becomes empty. Be it due to nuclear disaster, memorials to war massacres, or even something as odd as a 50-year-old mine fire. Whole cities in China have been built without anybody actually moving there.

2) Lucid Dreaming: With a little practice you can do anything you want, wherever you want, however you want. Fly? Check. Conquer a phobia? Check. Blast down a highway in your dream car at high speeds? Check. Do unspeakable things to that hot guy at work? Check.

3) The Butterfly Effect: Mixed with the Domino effect, you can't help but think about how different the world could have been had you done something differently. So-called because hypothetically, a flap of the wings of a butterfly in Japan could affect the weather in Rio next week.

4) Parkour: Because who doesn't want to look this badass?

5) Music and Emotion: There are some songs that I could listen to on repeat for hours just because of what I feel like by listening to them, be it the lyrics in the song or the beat and chords of the music.

And Danny. But I'm only saying this because he's buying me a car.

 

[W3H5]

2) Lucid Dreaming: With a little practice you can do anything you want, wherever you want, however you want. Fly? Check. Conquer a phobia? Check. Blast down a highway in your dream car at high speeds? Check. Do unspeakable things to that hot guy at work? Check.

It's known that regular video game players have the ability to 'control' their dreams.

 

[Skython]

1: The meaning of humans

Well, if you look around, there are so many animals and creatures on earth, and quite a few serve some purpose... I think. So why are humans here? If you ask me, I'd say that humans are here to simply function as something to take care of the more defenseless animals on the planet... Or our reason is as simple as their not being a reason (much more likely)

2: Death

What is happening to your own existence after death? Are we reincarnated into another life form, or are our consciences/minds transcended into a constant dream state? Or a real heaven/hell?

3: Evolution

How did humans evolve into what we are, and how did all these once monkeys or gorilla's in various countries evolve into the current day human at the same rate despite living in different conditions? Or did we even evolve at all?

4: Stupidity

Really, despite all of man's achievements, how are some humans so damn stupid? Maybe it relates back to the whole evolution (or lack thereof) thing before?

5: Schooling

Children of 5 years and younger managed to learn how to walk, problem solve, play, talk, eat, drink, use a lavatory and more (with help of their parents). And they managed to do it all at their own will rather than sitting in a room being told one identical technique to problem solving that everyone else was taught. So the way they learned in the first few years is rendered useless, and having to adjust them to the way of school's teaching system in the end teaches laziness (they weren't lazy before they went to school. So the two must be connected somehow) But do you blame them? Sitting in a room being told how to think isn't ideal to an extent. Well, maybe in the 1800's it wasn't so relevant, but in today's day and age no one actually cares whether you're able to practically do something, it's all about the theory behind it.

 

[Daniel]

It's known that regular video game players have the ability to 'control' their dreams.

Now that you mention it, I do have many dreams in which I can control them. I'm not entirely aware that I'm dreaming but I remember having partial control over them 👍

 

[W3H5]

Due to my meds I have astonishing control over deep sleep, side effect of Prozac, but lighter sleeps I don't seem to remember so wouldn't know about the control levels. It is, after all, our own brain.

 

[kennylmao]

I can't make a Top 5 because I can't remember all the things that fascinate me right now at this very moment.

But the ones I could remember:

Electricity
It's the one thing which I cannot understand no matter how hard I think about it. I didn't do well in school for electronics class, and now I'm struggling with it in college. (I have to take electrical systems class even though I'm taking mechanical engineering )

What is electricity? This question is up there together with God, ghosts, etc., which are the things that I find hard to understand. The way I understand things is by visualizing them. For example, when you say, a car, I imagine the image of a car. What is God? I imagine the image of Jesus. What is a ghost? I imagine a floating white cloth with a scary face. But what is electricity? I've been taught Voltage (V) = Current (I) x Resistance (R). But what is voltage? What is current? And what is resistance? How do they look like?

I absolutely do not understand.

The moon
They say it's always in the sky, even during daytime, which I know is true because you can still see the moon during the day, I've seen it during daytime myself before. But if it's always in the sky, then where will the moon be for the people on the other side of the earth when it's night time for them if the moon is always here with me?

 

[Crash]

A lot of things interest me, so I'm going to cheat and make my top 5 things as general as possible to capture as much of what fascinates me as I can.

Engineering
How do things work? Why do things work? What are the underlying natural phenomeon that enables these things to work? How were they designed to work? What was the thought process behind all the things out there. At one point in time, most everything around us is new and novel, created by the power of human brain.

Food
Nom nom nom. Good food (and good drinks) is one of the best things in life. Period.

Beliefs, behavior and relationships of humans
I think this really drives the basis of all the "soft sciences," whether that be politics or economics or philosophy. It's so interesting to understand how we interact with each other, why we act the way that we do, the incentives that drives us, the effects of our beliefs and how all this ends up getting played out not just at the micro-scale, but at the macro-scale.

Culture
See the two above. Also, languages.

Photography
I could easily just have said visual art for this broad category, but I think that would be a bit deceiving. Art such as painting, pottery and sculpture are interesting, but they don't really fascinate me. I go to art galleries and history museums and I can certain appreciate and enjoy the works there, but they just don't fascinate me like photography does. Maybe it really boils down to me feeling like I can relate more to photography, and what I see captured in that moment.

Electricity
It's the one thing which I cannot understand no matter how hard I think about it. I didn't do well in school for electronics class, and now I'm struggling with it in college. (I have to take electrical systems class even though I'm taking mechanical engineering )

What is electricity? This question is up there together with God, ghosts, etc., which are the things that I find hard to understand. The way I understand things is by visualizing them. For example, when you say, a car, I imagine the image of a car. What is God? I imagine the image of Jesus. What is a ghost? I imagine a floating white cloth with a scary face. But what is electricity? I've been taught Voltage (V) = Current (I) x Resistance (R). But what is voltage? What is current? And what is resistance? How do they look like?

I absolutely do not understand.

I think one way to think about it is think of it as a system of fluids. Current is like water flowing, the resistance would be something like the diameter of the hose constricting the water flow, and voltage is the pressure difference of the water between the start of the constricting hose and the end of the constricting hose, or as it's called the difference in potential. The potential difference is provided by a battery (in the analogy, similar to the force provided by something like gravity or by someone rotating a crank).

 

[Klostrophobic]

1. The different ways in which people roll up their sleeves.
2. How to properly and most efficiently eat mangoes.
3. How people get up in the morning and go about their days.
4. What is the smallest amount of time mankind can measure, and what is happening in these moments?
5. Traffic patterns.

 

[Alex.]

1) What other people, usually women, think about me / how they see me and why
2) Music recording equipment, instruments and technology
3) Figuring out why people do the things they do, subconscious psychology etc.
4) Space Exploration - Existence: Creation, parallel realities, perception of our universe, extraterrestrial life.
5) Top secret military planes and projects

 

[MisterWhiskers]

1) Guns/Military
2) Cars
3) Different Cultures
4) Pokemon
5) OwnagePranks (He can prank in different voices like Buk Lau the Asian , Tyrone the African- American, Abdu the Arab, etc.) It's amazing how he does all the voices. Not only that, but he is funny as a flock of birds, too.

 

[Sage Ages]

1. Any country other than America
2. 70's Haircuts
3. Old stuff (1998 or earlier)
4. Music
5. "What if?" theories.