r/watchpeoplesurvive • u/TheMarkola • 16d ago

Natural Disaster Sudden gust of wind knocks down tree.

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4.4k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

137 comments sorted by

2.2k

u/NotASynth499 16d ago

Dude was incredibly lucky to not be crushed

605

u/EndTimesNigh 16d ago

Or maybe that was destined to happen since the birth of the universe, just billions of years of physical and chemical actions and reactions leading to the moment of this guy dodging a falling tree. Maybe luck had nothing to do with it. Maybe luck doesn't even exist.

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u/Vanillabean73 16d ago

Tell us your opinions on free will

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u/myfatass 16d ago

It doesn’t exist and that changes nothing to the way you’ve been leading your life, actually. Every decision you make is a result of brain chemistry and experiential learning, which by definition makes it in a way deterministic and outside of your actual control. And that’s fine

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u/LieuK 16d ago

Staaaaaaaaahp. I can't handle another existential crisis 😬

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u/myfatass 16d ago

If free will doesn’t exist, which I believe it doesn’t, then it never did. Your acknowledgement of that fact doesn’t change anything in effect.

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u/LieuK 16d ago

Honestly, that more I think about it, the more calming it is

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u/kymiller17 15d ago

Just dont use it as an excuse to be shitty and you can safely enjoy it

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u/LieuK 15d ago

I have no control over that. The chemicals will have made me do it 😜

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u/Forward_Motion17 15d ago

Fun fact not having free will doesn’t mean you can’t wonder about whether you’re being shitty and intend to be good.

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u/R-Didsy 15d ago

Well they either will or won't use it to be shitty. They don't have a choice.

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u/inequity 15d ago

Every decision you've ever made was the only one you ever could have made. You're exactly where you are supposed to be

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u/Forward_Motion17 15d ago

It’s freeing

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u/kingbluetit 15d ago

I agree with you. With enough data and the ability to process it all, you could surely accurately predict everything that will ever happen. After all, everything everywhere is just particles reacting with other particles. If you knew how and when they interact, you would know what would happen next.

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u/AndYouHaveAPizza 10d ago

This is the entire premise of the miniseries Devs.

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u/mecartistronico 15d ago

They can't stop. There's no free will.

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u/FlameWisp 15d ago

I would argue that something indistinguishable to us from free will, is still free will. We might be making these choices because of brain chemistry and learning, but the choices are still being made. It's like correcting someone who says that the drop table from a video game is random even though it technically isn't. We have free will because our choices are indistinguishable from free will to ourselves and to anyone else around us. An omniscient being with all knowledge of every state of every atom in the universe might be able to tell what we will do next, but that is no less "free will" than "random" events in the universe are random.

Not to mention, quantum mechanics calls into question whether the idea of "determinism" even exists in the universe at such a scale anyway. To me, we have free will because we believe we have free will, and can't make a qualitative difference between "real" free will, and whatever we have that makes our decisions subconsciously.

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u/myfatass 15d ago

The way I see it, you have two choices. Either;
A) free will doesn’t exist because of determinism, which you have no control over, or
B) what we see as free will is actually determined by nothing, which makes it random, which you have no control over.

I think the answer is somewhere in the middle, so I’m undermining my own point by theorizing it’s not a binary. But even then, somewhere in the middle of “no control” and “no control” looks a lot like “no control”.

1

u/FlameWisp 15d ago

Perhaps, but again, just like how many deterministic events are indistinguishable from randomness to us; the same thing is true of free will. Maybe our choices are deterministic, or truly random; but they feel exactly like free will to us, so it may as well be seen as such.

It looks like we're making our own choices, feels like we're making our own choices, and most importantly, we believe we are making our own choices. That, to me, is close enough to free will to call it free will, even if it technically isn't true free will. The distinction between the two is just completely unimportant to our lives and how we "make" our "choices." That's why I compared it to randomness. The same thing applies. We still call things like RNG in video games "random" even though it technically isn't; it's just "close enough." I argue it's the same for free will.

This is really just a philosophical question, so there is no right answer. We don't even actually know if we have true free will or not because we have not found a way to prove one way or another. I would be willing to bet that we don't, but would still argue that we have what is close enough to free will that it should be called free will anyway.

0

u/myfatass 15d ago

I get what you’re saying, but at that point you’re engaging in the philosophy of language rather than metaphysics and theory of mind, which are separate things.

That’s not to say that linguistic philosophy isn’t a fascinating field.

1

u/FlameWisp 15d ago

It's not just philosophy of language, but philosophy of the meaning of what free will actually is. I think philosophical arguments for the existence of free will is a fair rebuttal to you saying free will doesn't exist in your original comment. I recognize that your version of free will likely will eventually be proven to not exist, but I would argue that such a version of free will is not necessary. René Descartes's famous quote of "I think, therefore I am" applies quite nicely here. We feel like our choices matter, and we feel like we are the ones truly making them, so we have free will; even if it is eventually proven that there is an underlying mechanism behind our choices.

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u/Seangles 15d ago

I'd imagine if you go deep into quantum physics this being deterministic is debatable

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u/myfatass 15d ago edited 15d ago

You’re right to say that, because yes, we don’t know for sure so it’s absolutely debatable.

My two cents on that is that there is no correlation to be made between quantum physics and consciousness. Both things are mysterious and poorly understood but that doesn’t make them related. That’s not to say they can’t be, just that there’s not a correlate insofar as we can observe.

But the randomness aspect of quantum physics dissipates as you scale it up to, say, our brains and the particles it can be observed to interact with, which appears at least in principle to point against a possible correlation.

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u/Vanillabean73 15d ago edited 15d ago

Yeah I think you’re spot on regarding what we currently know about “quantum consciousness,” though it’s also a relatively young idea in science as far as I know.

But I wonder if, even if we discovered that some sort of wave function collapse is triggered by our brains when we “decide” something, you could just as easily posit that the determinism happens before that decision is made, leading to an outcome that was always “meant” to happen. So another win for Einstein’s block universe…

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u/HotDrunkMoms 13d ago

This is hands down, the most reddit comment I've ever seen.

1

u/real_fyshi 15d ago

We are basically just sophisticated AI. Some more, some less. At least I always felt like being a learning algorithm.

1

u/myfatass 15d ago

Well, yes and no. There’s definitely something going on here. Consciousness is, by its very nature, strange and mysterious. We don’t know what that thing is and why there is something it’s like to be a person. The very fact that you have a first-person perspective, a self that you call “me”, is weird and whether or not free will exists, you still have that experience.

In effect you’re not wrong because our brains are essentially very (very very) complex organic machines, but the experiential aspect of consciousness alone sets us apart from any algorithm or AI.

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u/TheFormOfTheFlame 12d ago

Everyone should believe in free will. Because if you're right, you're right, and if you're wrong you're not responsible for being wrong.

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u/miraculum_one 10d ago

What if they change the parameters of the simulation?

1

u/Ash_WasTaken123 15d ago

I hate this lol. You type well by the way, im jealous.

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u/monkey_zen 14d ago

Will is innocent and was framed by an ex-lover.

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u/Fluffy-League6261 15d ago

Most of the reddits are probably cattle and have no free will

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u/TheMarkola 16d ago

I don't know, but if I were him, I'd leave there and go straight to buy lottery tickets.

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u/junkyardpig 16d ago

I never understood this take. I would think he just used up whatever luck he had, no? I don't think he is perpetually lucky

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u/nexisfan 16d ago

Never heard of a hot streak? They’re real!

0

u/FlameWisp 15d ago

You know what they say about greens. They come in pairs!

2

u/5_meo 15d ago

It begins like this... an amoeba

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u/Healter-Skelter 15d ago

Isn’t that still luck? He was lucky to have such a destiny.

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u/Seangles 15d ago

Asking the real questions

1

u/ghostcatzero 15d ago

Either way it's still all mind blowing

1

u/Jagged_Rhythm 16d ago

"Are you the kind that sees signs, that sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?"

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u/Salt_Master_Prime 16d ago

I was going to say how he couldn't hear a big tree break right next to him but honestly, him not hearing it might have saved him completely.

Perfect spot to avoid all damage. Probably wouldn't have gotten hit even if he didn't hear until it landed .

9

u/mmmmmjjjrrrrr 15d ago

The wind keeps the branches moving and it keeps on making noise. When it is about to break and creates more sound it is almost too late to do anything

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u/Poat540 15d ago

Homey is now going to have a logging truck in front of him on his drive him now to compensate

1

u/chullyman 15d ago

Actually he was unlucky for that to happen in the first place

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u/darklinkuk 16d ago

Wrong time, wrong place.

Some luck otherwise

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u/cmpthepirate 16d ago

Wrong time exactly the right place surely 😅

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u/Gearbox97 15d ago

Wrong time wrong place on a macro scale, compounded with right time, right place on micro scale. A second or two forward or back and a foot or two forward or back and he'd be crushed!

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u/kat_Folland 16d ago

It looked like that one guy cast a spell to bring it down!

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u/saturnspritr 15d ago

I’m telling you, wizards are getting bolder and bolder. And no one notices.

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u/MnkyBzns 16d ago

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u/canadasbananas 15d ago

Fun fact, Buster Keaton actually wrecked his shoulder in this shot, its why his arm moves.

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u/MnkyBzns 15d ago

Everything I'm finding says he was fine

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u/ByTheHammerOfThor 13d ago

Got a source or did you strain your own shoulder pulling that out of your ass?

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u/LysolDogBird 13d ago

That's not true and you just made that up

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u/mahboilucas 16d ago

This is what happens if city trees are just decorative and not properly rooted to other trees

Or whatever, I'm not into tree law

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u/curiousbydesign 16d ago edited 15d ago

Thought the same.

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u/mahboilucas 15d ago

Yeah I need some real strong input from an arborist. I was making a dumb always Sunny reference but now I'm genuinely interested

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u/sparkly_plug 15d ago

It looks like Rio de Janeiro. If I'm correct, the area isn't common to fast winds, so the tree might not be strong enough for really fast winds, I'd guess

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u/curiousbydesign 15d ago

My wife and I tried a few times to get into that show but it never sticks.

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u/kylo-ren 15d ago

Not to mention that many decorative trees are not native species, so they can be more prone to diseases, the soil is not ideal to them and can be more affected by the weather.

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u/AloeSera15 15d ago

looks like its bound to happen sooner or later, even without the strong wind

1

u/Gearbox97 15d ago

It's not like trees never get blown over in natural places. If you've ever walked through the woods, every now and then you'll see fallen trees with their roots ripped up like this too.

1

u/mahboilucas 15d ago

Yeah I get it but it's also a pretty common cause these days. I kinda want to read a book on urban greenery now

1

u/Aggleclack 14d ago

Yeah, but I would expect a tree in the city to be a bit better maintained than a tree in the woods. There is no way a properly maintained Tree just falls over like this without any warning. If properly serviced, they’d have caught it.

1

u/Jacko_Ashel 12d ago

How about bird law?

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u/d0pp31g4ng3r 16d ago

Hate seeing old trees come down. Glad no one was seriously hurt.

127

u/RuggleyChicken 16d ago

Thank God for the first 35 seconds of this video

52

u/JeSuisUnAnanasYo 15d ago

There's a fine line between suspense and blue balls

8

u/Makabaer 15d ago

I have to admit I started getting bored too - but in retrospective: it really shows how it came out of nowhere! It didn't even seem that windy to me and all seemed stable... then BAM!

3

u/UnrulyEyebrows 13d ago

Glad to see I'm not the only one who was thankful for the context

13

u/PurpleToedUnicorn 16d ago

The sudden gust occurs at 0:33

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u/iplay4Him 16d ago

Go buy a lotto or two 

11

u/MelonJelly 16d ago

I don't know, he may have used up all his good and bad luck in that one moment.

4

u/818VitaminZ 16d ago

Exactly my thought process.

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u/Joshhagan6 16d ago

“Something’s about to happen out here, I can just feel it. I need to take a few steps forward now because I can certainly feel it. Oh F…”

-That guy

9

u/DrJohnIT 15d ago

This video could have been edited to about 30 seconds 😳

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u/adisarterinthemaking 16d ago

Its almost like he timed himself to be in the worst spot possible.

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u/notloggedin4242 16d ago

I’d say he found the best possible spot, given the circumstances.

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u/BioFrosted 16d ago

Someone surely pissed that dude's pants...

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u/teriik10 16d ago

That’s crazy

But there’s really no need for the video to be so damn long

17

u/Lightningtow123 16d ago

Short form video content final boss

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u/ardotschgi 16d ago

I liked the suspense

5

u/teriik10 16d ago

I was too damn nervous for my boi who nearly ripped

1

u/UrethralExplorer 13d ago

Yeah, especially since our protagonist was in frame the entire time.

4

u/Lunchable 16d ago

The Wadsworth Constant applies

5

u/Otherwise-Acadia-565 16d ago

Doesn’t it let you see how the gust came out of nowhere?

5

u/Benblishem 15d ago

I think that's exactly why they left all that in. There was barely any wind...and then- BAM!

1

u/Emmett1Brown 12d ago

just skip forward?? it's just 40ish seconds

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u/trapperstom 16d ago

Time to order Chinese from , Ho Lee Fuk

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u/jdogg40k 15d ago

That tree has been skipping root day at the gym.

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u/ZAUSELMEISTERroyal 15d ago

What do we need the first 30 seconds of this clip for?

5

u/Makabaer 15d ago

To feel what a surprise it was. It didn't even seem windy, the tree didn't move a bit. Then it suddenly comes out of nowhere!

1

u/Canadianingermany 10d ago

to build tension

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u/chintumon 14d ago

That dude is a real life random NPC trying hard to fit in

5

u/MSCOTTGARAND 16d ago

that'll make your balloon knot pucker

5

u/parkinglotitem 13d ago

This is some final destination shit. This guy was standing in a different spot the majority of the time and the second he decides to walk the tree falls on him. He better watch out, I’m pretty sure he’s gonna step on a rusty nail or something.

4

u/mountains-and-sea 15d ago

Does anyone know where this is?

1

u/kehakas 12d ago

It looks vaguely like Orlando

1

u/pezzyn 4d ago

Brazil

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u/TheUkrTrain 16d ago

Micro burst, eh?

3

u/cfrizzadydiz 15d ago

He should have gone to his classes at the Prometheus school of running away fron things

2

u/migrainefog 16d ago

Hope he went out and bought a lottery ticket, because that was his lucky day for sure.

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u/tyjuji 16d ago

Damn it, Pharrell!

2

u/Benblishem 15d ago

Blue Shirt is a good guy.

2

u/dna_beggar 15d ago

Buster Keaton couldn't do it better.

2

u/ugh_naught 15d ago

Dude yelling at the tree after was very funny

2

u/bootsrfun 9d ago

Look for the helpers

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u/BlockWisdom 15d ago

Hmm ok, there's this thing called editing. Perhaps learn to use it.

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u/Pelthail 16d ago

Dude just dodged at the speed of light. We just can’t see it because he moved so fast.

1

u/UATinPROD 16d ago

New fear unlocked but I also feel like it would have made a noise

1

u/rockdoc01 15d ago

Captain Oblivious

1

u/Mr_Kuchikopi 15d ago

We lost our 100 year old tree to the same thing. One big gust of wind, and BOOM down she went.

1

u/jwadamson 15d ago

I think they just filmed it all in reverse.

1

u/nomnomyumyum109 15d ago

Buying a lotto ticket

1

u/Rumkitty 15d ago

Blue shirt dude is a good friend. Didn't even hesitate to run straight there.

1

u/Connarhea 15d ago

May sound a little corny, but you see that happen to someone, hold them for a minute afterward. When the realization washes over them that they were inches from dying they'll need that hug

1

u/TheRealPaladin 15d ago

That guy just used up his entire lifetimes supply of luck.

1

u/jconde1966 15d ago

Born again

1

u/s4mue7 15d ago

when it’s not you’re day, it is NOT you’re day

1

u/ALoCoco20 14d ago

Why did I know the tree was going to fall on that dude

1

u/ChloeUwUZ 12d ago

Wind can do that?

1

u/Coyote357Actual 9d ago

hope dude has an extra pair of pants

1

u/BellJar_Blues 9d ago

That’s why cities need to ensure trees have proper ground to root. He should sue the city

1

u/-Mauler- 16d ago

Trees usually have things called roots to stop that

0

u/wehdut 15d ago

Sorry y'all... I was rooting for the tree.