this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2026
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

Rules

  1. All posts must be showerthoughts
  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
  3. No politics
    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
  4. Posts must be original/unique
  5. Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS

If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.

Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.

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[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago

From an evolutionary standpoint, we have the most advanced pattern recognition in the world. It is, in some sense, what makes us human. It is also the root of our capacity for language, reasoning, music, etc.

Looking for exceptions to complex patterns is key to our survival over great lengths of time.

[–] JustTesting@lemmy.hogru.ch 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

But only for good things. That rare medical condition, complication during surgery, traffic accident etc, nah, won't happen to me.

[–] Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 4 points 2 weeks ago

Not likely.

[–] BadJojo 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 weeks ago

May they be ever in your favour.

[–] kbal@fedia.io 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

"But will it work?"

"It has to, sir. It's a million-to-one chance."

"Oh, then we don't have to worry. Everyone knows million-to-one chances always work."

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

But the trick is that they have to be EXACTLY million-to-one.

GNY Sir Terry Pratchett

[–] Shellofbiomatter@lemmus.org 6 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

And that has always completely baffled me. What's the reasoning behind it? Why? Are they delusional? Do they consider themselves somehow special? If something has 99%+ chance of failure, theres absolutely no point to evne try or consider it as something that can happen, it's basically a statistical anomaly.

[–] EffortlessGrace@piefed.social 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

What's the reasoning behind it?

We crave validation from others and ourselves by being considered "rare" or capable of creating "rarity" in an ocean of mediocrity and banality to justify our state, choices, and attitudes. We consider "rarity" as inherently valuable and a virtue to aspire to.

[–] Shellofbiomatter@lemmus.org 1 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Makes sense. I wouldn't say being mediocre is bad, but each to their own.

[–] EffortlessGrace@piefed.social 4 points 2 weeks ago

"Mediocrity" (sort of) implies "middling", etymologically, which is what most people are. Average.

Reminds me of some lyrics by the Foo Fighters, "There goes my hero; he's ordinary."

[–] folkrav@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 weeks ago

Something being rare doesn't make it inherently mediocre.

[–] NONE_dc@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

Because it's fun. And if it does happens, cuz they may be low odds but they aren't zero, is something worth telling others about.

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Odds and stakes are different, for one

[–] Visstix@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

Well it's hard to stay excited for something that's common.

[–] riskable@programming.dev 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The likelihood that you were going to post this today was quite low.

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I always avoided /r/nevertellmetheodds over on reddit because I always wanted to post "100%" in the comments.

It'd've made me laugh, but not a very original joke, nor funny to most people.

[–] riskable@programming.dev 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Who cares? Those who can laugh at themselves are the human equivalent of self-powered fusion reactors, fonts of happy energy.

Sometimes the happiness spreads, sometimes it doesn't. Either way, someone is entertained 😁👍

[–] daychilde@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

Who cares?

Well, there's two answers to this and I think both are valid viewpoints to consider:

  1. Who cares? Be yourself, be who you're going to be, spread joy, even if that joy is only seen by yourself
  2. Who cares? We all care. We're all part of the communities in which we exist and participate. Don't shit all over those communities.

Which is sort of how you can differentiate between the individualism as emphasized in the US, vs. the communalism as seen in places like Japan. Each has advantages and disadvantages.

So you're right, and I agree with you. Except it's tempered with caring for others. :) <3

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

No one else has the same story as your life.

You are all unique!

Yes! We are all unique!

[–] Quilotoa@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, I guess we're all the same in that way.

[–] Mesa@programming.dev 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Which is why it's so strange that minority groups receive such negative discrimination. We're the shinies.