this post was submitted on 10 Oct 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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I'm not sure if I just thought this up sitting on the tiles in my shower room or if I dreamt it, but still.

Edit: I'm being cynical and I hate our blind faith in and reliance on LLMs.

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[–] Zexks@lemmy.world 30 points 2 days ago (1 children)

So let me tell you about insurance review panels

[–] klankin@piefed.ca 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

My favourite dystopian theories are always the ones it turns out america has already been doing for 150 years.

Like the torment nexus ain't just inspirational, its systemically foundational.

Edit: Lmao someone else was creating credit score from first principals below

[–] AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world 40 points 2 days ago (10 children)

Calculating is exactly what AIs don’t do.

[–] klankin@piefed.ca 8 points 2 days ago

I think thats OPs point, Ai doesn't provide answers, it provides confidence.

So when they get it wrong 99% of the time, it doesn't actually matter cause we decided pleasing stakeholders is equivalent to actual success.

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[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Who the fuck is us? Certainly not me.

[–] akunohana@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 days ago

No idea. But probably the same people that take AI summaries at face values, without vetting the sources. Who knows.

[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

It is the perfect tool for the rich, they can influence it, you can't see how it makes its decisions, and it can't be held liable.

[–] daannii@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Have you ever seen this episode of Star Trek voyager?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_Care_(Star_Trek%3A_Voyager)

The algorithm will be altered to say poor people don't deserve healthcare because they are more replaceable and their life has less value to the shareholders and billionaires. They will be denied medical treatment which will cause early death.

[–] weps@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

just like real life now

[–] Radical_Socialist_t00t@lemmy.ca 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

So the same, just automated. If you believe capitalism cares about or values poor people right now well I've got bad news for you 😂

[–] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] yermaw@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Even at 10 years old i couldnt believe they allowed that to come out

[–] redballooon@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Why not? It makes some people nod "finally that's on screen", feeling a little not of relief, and then nothing changes.

[–] Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

That was an excellent episode of Voyager.

[–] nbsp@programming.dev 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] Crackhappy@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Your username + instance informs your comment.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago

It won't calculate the odds of survival. It'll calculate the revenue that can be extracted from you.

[–] farmgineer@nord.pub 10 points 2 days ago

it'll become acceptable to us

Speak for yourself. This is fully unacceptable.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Why not? Apparently, it's acceptable to use AI to decide bombing targets.

[–] selokichtli@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 days ago

TBH, I'd be surprised if it isn't happening somewhere already.

[–] FrickAndMortar@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 days ago

It’ll never be acceptable, but they’re going to shove it down our throats anyway

[–] Apeman42@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

Maybe it'll be acceptable to you, if you're a degenerate techbro ghoul...

[–] rayyy@piefed.social 6 points 2 days ago

More like calculated the cost to the insurance company.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

not if will smith has anythihg to say about it.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Estimated Time to Death (ETD) feels like a near future stat used to justify killing terminal patients.

[–] GroundedGator@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

And in a few decades we can start using Estimated Societal Contributions to determine how much a person's entire life might be worth and at what point it becomes financially irresponsible to continue providing any sort of support.

[–] klankin@piefed.ca 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I think we started that a few decades ago with credit score?

Like we don't directly kill anyone I suppose, but definitely indirectly increase the odds when they are less helpful monetarily.

Just for example with the gen Z suicide epidemic, by definition people are killing themselves not being killed. But to a company this is financially beneficial, cause a left-wing bias has on average resulted in more restrictive laws and a lower profit margin. It becomes an important business strategy to ensure they remain poor and anxious (and of course this causes some to be suicidal). Vice versa for boomers of course, elder care has never been better funded across human history.

Or another example, credit score companies would be "throwing money away" if they weren't also doing this for like union-oriented families, ie ensuring those who have statistically unionised (or follow any trends that might be too union-y), they're marked less valuable.

So they can kill people by letting them starve/OD/get in a car accident, or just shorten their lifespan with cheap housing, all without ever having to see a poor person.

[–] GroundedGator@lemmy.world 2 points 20 hours ago

Hadn't thought of it that way, and you're absolutely correct. So many things require a good credit score.

[–] Cherry@piefed.social 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] GroundedGator@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

I think that is a very optimistic number. The first 15 years are already a negative contribution.

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