this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2025
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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: 1

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  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
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  4. Posts must be original/unique
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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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And what are we pretending to be?

"Humans".

And what are Humans?

"Not animals, that's for sure!"

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (3 children)

How can I not though? Every human is capable of doing these things. What makes us better than animals is that we can cooperate on much grander things that extend beyond death

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The problem is saying that what we're capable of makes us "better" and "superior." Says who? That "superiority" will probably also be what kills us off.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

In my opinion, our mental capability does make us better as we are able to adapt and innovate much faster than regular animals would, which can get us out of awful situations.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yes, we are very adaptable, which has allowed us to spread over pretty much the whole world and shape it to our needs. However, we also are destroying the ecosystem that keeps us alive, which is getting us into an awful situation entirely of our own making.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

We can and are doing terrible things, that I do agree with. But we can also do many great things. The fact that we can do so much as a species does, from my point of view, make us superior.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If you're belief is that any human is capable of these things but not yet educated, how do you humans are the only ones that can be taught?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Because humans have studied the brains of other creatures and from what we know, it is unlikely that any other species can do so.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Care to cite these studies claiming human brains are intrinsically superior? The primary difference among mammals is the size and fold density. Koalas are famously smooth-brained, but other animals have greater memory and reasoning capability with larger, deeper folds. What they lack is language. Humans developed superior vocal cords, allowing great variation in speech patterns that jump started written language and, by effect, written history. Have you not seen the videos and reports of the incredible communication and logical capabilities of other animals such as dogs learning 300 commands and using 40+ speech buttons? Have you not heard the tales of octopus escape artists defeating locks?

Survival is what your parents and local community can teach you. But innovation and invention? You are the product of thousands of years of written language passing on more information than any single person could remember and more then any single community could develop on its own. The biggest brain in the world would sound like an idiot without language. We are not above animals, we just talk like we are.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Wouldn’t that still mean that we are superior? We are capable of understanding and exchanging between each other complex ideas which animals cannot do using their basic language . Sure they can do some impressive tasks, but is it really equal to the human mind which can innovate and invent using experiences of those who came before to build something new. As for the studies I will be honest and say that I have heard of them before but wasn’t 100% sure if they were true or real

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don't believe you are capable of any of the examples you mentioned.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Because you haven't demonstrated any of it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

How does that mean I’m incapable of learning how to do it?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

So now you are moving the goalpost. Instead of "being able to" like in your original comment it is now "being able to learn to". Which I also don't believe you for the same reason.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I can do it as in my brain can gain the information required for me to do it. I didn’t mean it as in I have the ability to do it right now, but that I CAN do it if I had to