What's the smartest or most insightful thing you figured out as a kid that stays with you today?

There is no god and adults are assholes.

Actually as a kid I realized that what I was taught in the bible and church were metaphors and not things to be taken literally. I mean, a lot of it went against what we learned in school, and school actually made sense.
Only much later in my teens did I realize that many Christians do take the Bible literally. It was then that I decided to completely abandon my religion.
- Same, as a little kid I had no idea the adults actually BELIEVED what they were telling us, it just seemed like stories. I was so confused when I found out they believed it was all real. Then again when as a pre-teen I found out they thought homosexuality was against the rules - love? They thought love was wrong? I had gone to church for so long and that idea had never crossed my mind.
- I have never understood the metaphor argument. When I was a believer I believed it all literally. If this stuff is a metaphor then what it is a metaphor for? Also if it is a metaphor how come (especially in the prophets) the Bible spends so much time listing metaphors and then explaining them? How come when the Bible self-references it treats itself literally?
  Adam and Eve were the literal truth to Paul and he used it to create his theology of original sin.
This

That nobody is a “grown up” and that everyone is faking it.

We’re all just kids having kids.

Yes, and now, anytime I'm trying to get to know someone better, I'm strategizing as to what childish/dirty joke or well placed cuss word will break through the "fake wall" and allow me to really know this person.
You should try an initiation ceremony. It could help you feel like an adult.

When I was about 10 I realized that people of other religions probably felt just as strongly that their religion is “true” as I felt about mine and that I had no grounds to look down on them.

Fast forward 10 years and I became an atheist.

Not to mention all of those who believed in a religion that's fallen into myth, or even been completely forgotten by history. Thor was someone's Jesus

I used to spend a lot of energy being concerned what other people thought of me. How I dressed, how I acted, what I owned, etc. One day I realized 2 things:

Most people are too busy thinking about themselves to spare any meaningful thoughts for me.
I'm never going to see most of these people ever again so it doesn't matter what they think.

After that I started directing that energy into making sure that I approved of my choices rather than hoping strangers would.

It has a name its called spotlight effect
- Some people have decided to call it the spotlight effect
Why are you wearing those pants?
Why aren't you more like your father?
Why haven't you liked and subscribed?

Friends can matter to you more than family, and that's ok, but family does a lot more for you than you realize.

I didn't have a great family, but it was only when I was upset about a birthday party when I was like 12 where my mom made all the cards and buttons and stuff and I was so mad that it wasn't the cool cards and prizes that you buy that I kind of realized it.

It dawned on me like two weeks later that my parents couldn't afford any of that, but they took time out of their day, for like two weeks, even though they both worked too much, to hand-make approximations as best they could. Without me knowing, so I would be surprised.

Ever work a double shift and then spend the few minutes you have not working, sleeping, or cooking to hand-make party favors? Yeah, me either.

It still makes me cry thinking about how ungrateful I was and the look of sadness and yearning on my mom's face when I got mad at her for not buying the "good" stuff.

When I was 20, I sat her down and told her about it and how bad I felt, and how I never knew how to apologize for it. We had a good cry, and she thanked me for seeing it eventually, and how happy it retroactively made her knowing I realized it so soon after.

After my nerve damage: there are some mistakes you can only make once.

Also: Life has no rewind button and shit can go south pretty fast.
Similar experience. Got in a bad accident when I was 15, entirely my own doing. That's when I learned that some mistakes and their injuries are permanent.

Say what you mean; mean what you say.

No idea where I heard or read it, but preteen me internalized it and it's become part of my creed to this day

I can learn everything I need to know about how to be a decent person from cartoons.

Cartoons have always shown me that being a friendly person, who is honest, do right by their friends and tries to do the right thing will guide me well through life. I needed to weed through the friends a little bit but that has held true thus far

Bluey teaches me how to be a good dad
- Rag doll!
I grew up watching Looney toons, and they taught me to be an asshole.
- I did once try to drop my largest book on my dad's head from as high up as I could get, my logic being that since it wasn't an anvil, which was clearly artistic license, he'd probably be fine.

In school, I happened to notice exactly when some random topic went from "uh, I guess I kinda understand this" to having it actually "click". That clued me off to the difference between e.g. knowing a bunch of shitty formulae, and actually understanding the topic to the point where you can actually use it for problem solving. Also, that all the teaching and books I received revolved 100% around the former.

I had that moment when learning to code. I had like 98% or what I needed to know. Then one day I came across some random SO post, learned something that I really should have learned a while ago (the difference between static classes and instantiated classes, yes really) and then everything just fell into place and I realised I could actually write proper code now. It was a fun moment :)
- For me it was variables. I know it's as basic as you can get here. But when I figured out that I could store data in a little box to get later I was like "oh, I can do anything with this"
Also, that all the teaching and books I received revolved 100% around the former.
This is true, because understanding comes from practice. The teacher and the books can never create that click of understanding. Only the student's side of the effort can do that.

No one is gonna stick up for you and what's right, you gotta do that yourself

...and if someone does, it's because there's something in it for them. They don't do it for you.
You gotta be that squeaky wheel
- Be the grease

Negative numbers. I just asked if there were numbers below zero when I was like 4, and my mom about pissed herself. Not that it stopped her from homeschooling me into ignorance instead.

The spawn is too dangerous. We must insulate it from too many sources of knowledge
- If it gets too curious it may burrrrrn!
It's alright, I asked why Santa would get me presents for Christmas and not my parents; was about 4.... My dad still doesn't like me today. Might be different reasons, but he has never said hahaha

There's a book series called The Hammer and the Cross about an English bastard child of a noblewoman that resulted from her being taken by a Viking raid and later escaping back to her home. Then the Vikings invade to avenge the death of Ragnar (his 4 sons are each powerful Viking Jarls).

The way it handled the two religions clashing, where each was powerful based on how many followers they had, along with it being the first time I'd seen where Christianity isn't presented as the Underlying Truth but was just another thing. I realized that it was a metaphor for how religion actually worked. If enough people believe in something, it gains power. Christianity won through politics and warfare, not through truth. There wasn't anything special separating Christianity from other former religions we largely now refer to as myth other than the one Empire that united most of Europe declared it to be the truth and people were slaughtered until they went along with it.

That's when I stopped being a Catholic that just hated going to church and was an atheist at first, then later settled into agnosticism since who knows what's going on beyond what we can directly detect with our senses and tools.

If enough people believe in something, it gains power. Christianity won through politics and warfare, not through truth.
These two sentences conflict with one another.
To make them match you'd either have to change the first sentence to:
If a thing gains enough power, people believe in it.
Or you'd have to change the second sentence to:
Christianity won politics and warfare, through being believable.
- It's circular with my version and yours of the first sentence both applying. It gains power from people believing which then leads to more people believing. Though it also depends on the aggressiveness of the religion's followers.

As a kid I got a lot of “Do as I say not as I do.”

The lesson I learned is that a lot of grown ups are hypocrites. I saw this so much it made me decide I would always be honest with myself and others about why I was doing the things I was doing. It is not always easy, especially now that I have kids of my own, but it is much healthier in the long run. I teach my kids by example rather than preaching fake piety.

"Family" isn't what you are born in, it's what you decide and stand for. Fuck that kind of "family" I was born with, these useless, manipulative, egoistic, stupid waste of oxygen.

I was about 11 or so and acting out, my teacher said my name. I just froze for a moment and it dawned on me that was the first time he had said my name all day. Completely invisible unless I was doing something wrong. Just a square shape in a square hole unless I choose otherwise and if I do it by making my life worse.

I guess it doesn't sound profound. Every guy knows this on some level but it really knocked the wind out of me at the time.

Want to join my team of supervillains?

People hate what they fear and fear what they don't understand. The path, then, to fight against hate is specifically understanding

I learned this by watching The Crocodile Hunter as a child. I remember very vaguely a point Steve Irwin made about how people are terrified and act to harm animals they know nothing about. Either he went on to further say, or I extrapolated it myself, that knowing how an animal will act informs YOU on how to approach the situation; No need for fear or hate if you understand the reality of the situation. I then further extrapolated this race relations. It's a little general, but a white person may be racist against a black person because they think they're dangerous, just as someone might see a snake they know nothing about and think it dangerous

- We're all going to die some day, and he died doing what he loved and still wanted to protect the animal that killed him. He helped many more animals than he was hurt by, so I call that a win overall.
Yeah, you should never mistread animals unless you can profit from it through a TV show. He was truly inspirational.

You cannot change how someone feels about anything. You can try, but that's only going to be some formula of what you did + plus their life experiences against how they feel about you andh ow they are feeling in the moment.

And any time it appears you succeeded in changing how they feel about it, all you really did was convince them to hide their feelings.

We were studying XYZ, coordinates during one math class in the middle school.
I asked where's the Z if X and Y were on the paper. My friend pointed with his finger that Z would come out of the paper like this.

Mind blown 😂
I still reminiscent on it once in a while.

Whatever the decision is, make it so you don’t have regrets about it.

Stay true to yourself and do what’s right for you and nobody else.

And trust your gut!

Wanking!

You don't mess with a wild badger

, Honey

I'm bad at decisions so I will name a few that stuck with me:

In 5th grade I realize that lines are hypothetical and all that really exists are line segments. (My teacher basically said yes, but you're confusing the class shut up.)
There are lies in all truths and truths in all lies. (A mantra I had).
The best way to get your way is to let someone else be the leader, act as the compromiser between the most disparate view points by saying you're adding ideas of both sides, but actually give your positions and lipservice to the others, then finally make it all seem like this was literally everyone else's idea and not yours. Ex. Working in a group project of 4 people to create a alternate energy model. A wants to make a wind turbine and it needs to be yellow. D wants solar panels made from copper. B just wants to do what's easiest. So you suggest a crank powered flash light that uses copper wiring, because it captures A's desire to have a kinetic energy conversion and using the copper wire shows D's desire to prove the usefulness of copper in alternative energy designs. A and D didn't say that's why they wanted the designs, but by making the argument in a good light and attributing it to them it makes them much more likely to go along. I believe my 4th grade teacher saw what I was doing as she had us do a lot of group work because after a while she had me do my own thing.

Don't apologize unless you actually mean it. Saying sorry when you didn't really mean it, or you did the same thing again only devalues any future apology until it means nothing to the people you care about.

Walking

Looking forward to hitting the trails when it warms up :)

No one can tell me who I am, but me.

I am an infinitesimal cluster of neurons inhabiting a large body, and none of us have any idea what the fuck we're doing.

The universe is far larger than I can comprehend.

As far as revelations when I was 10 goes, that's about it. I didn't know about girls or sex yet.

How are your boundaries?

that I could read people's minds by reading the room, reading the situation, reading their mannerisms and facial expressions. I remember having this epiphany about age four.

I think it's an ability many or most people have.

unfortunately some childhood trauma traumatized me and I lost this ability.

People who thrive in life and own companies and run businesses etc have that ability to "read people." I wish I still had that ability.

fuck trauma.

Interesting, I attribute my own abilities to trauma.
- Yup. Hypervigilance is like a super power that you can never ever turn off. Therapy and mindfulness help tons but it can get super tiring.
- Same. I can tell when someone on the other side of the room has become slightly uncomfortable, and it's because I had to be ready for my mom to go ballistic at any moment.
You're telling me if you watch any tv show on mute and no subtitles you couldn't suss out the overall context or how people are feeling/interacting?
I call friendly bullshit ;) When you are a fly on the wall, do you feel the same way still? It takes a lot of bandwith to both socialize or scrutinize the physical cues and stuff, they are as talented and smart as fortune tellers aha
- You're telling me if you watch any tv show on mute and no subtitles you couldn't suss out the overall context or how people are feeling/interacting?
  Yup, My mind pretty much goes blank and I get depressed and I don't understand the thrill or the point of human interaction. Same for social situations.
  I mean since you brought up TV shows, I literally don't watch TV and the first thing I thought of at your example was like some people watch reality shows like Jersey shore and real housewives, I'm a woman and I just don't get any of that, not interested at all. just a bunch of pointless drivel, women with plastic surgery and all their drama and crying all the time, I have no idea what's going on.
  It takes a lot of bandwith to both socialize or scrutinize the physical cues and stuff
  Exactly. I no longer have that bandwidth.
I had to develop this ability as an adult. I recommend psychedelic drugs in a ceremonial setting, as way to reconnect with humanity.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes

I so adore the popularization of FA&FO. Its just such a universal thing that needs to be better taught
Sexy fun voice: "Divine!"

How computers work. Fascinating machines.

The correct pronunciation of "trilogy"

Lol this hits home, I was saying "triOlogy" for years before I actually slowed down to read the word letter-for-letter
- Tryology was the original name for thermodynamics
- Yep, exactly that :)

Something always happens.

often try and conceptualise things, like if I thought of a thing I would question what caused that thought and run through my previous thoughts to understand it.

And I'd also think about time and how it passes how nothing is truly present as its always an idea of the present. Like one day I found myself walking towards a wire fense, with each step the fense got closer but at no point did the idea feel present, it was always a recollection.

Now I am an adult and can use more constructive words to describe these ideas but even so I still find it all profound

If you put in the work upfront it will make the back half easier. If you slack on the front end you’ll need to sprint to the finish.

Mainly came to this conclusion in school with academics, but started applying it to everything. It’s not perfect—you can absolutely work hard and still not get the results because of forces of nature (or oppressive systems). But in general I’ve found it’s a good rule to live by.

My experiences are a biased view of the world by the fact that things closer to me appears more important and things far away from me appears less important.
Knowing this, I can try to readjust my views but this bias will in part remain and this is unavoidable.
(this taught is from before my teenage years)

That feats of cryptography can be done using any material. Or rather I'd expect it to be a common conclusion. When you look at quipu, braille, or morse code, does nobody ever think "I wonder what random randomly assorted things might also be an embodied utterance"? Nobody looks to the colors of flowers or the patterns in sounds, they always wait until the mind seizes upon letters and numbers before they go into expect-a-message mode.

What a precocious child you must have been
- Not particularly, I was slower than the average child but who happened to have a unique epiphany like every answerer here. I never understood though how people limit their expectations when it comes to communication. If the word "cryptography" here is what throws anyone off, it's not some advanced field of study, it just refers to the physical manifestation of messaging, which a child can get behind. A child will learn any form of communication you provide, from sign language, to flagging, to anything that exists that can be called "patterned" (involving any usage of any of the human senses), just not "top percentage" cryptographers in our writing-centric culture for some reason.

When I was a kid I heard people talking about how kids learn better than adults.

So I realized that the "way a kid's brain works" is probably correlated with "the way it feels to be conscious as a kid" so I used my autistic super-memory to save a snapshot of the feeling of consciousness itself.

Then I instructed my brain to keep track of that, and never lose it.

Now I'm in my 40s, and I can still learn like a little kid.

Brain plasticity is absolutely a thing, and there are exercises you can do to maintain and even regain some of your brain plasticity.

How to spell freind and feild correctly

Everyone will let you down eventually

That's an unfortunate lesson to learn in childhood.
There are good people out there, but even the best aren't perfect. The good people will recognise when they slip up however, and try to make good on it somehow.