this post was submitted on 05 Jul 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:

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Maybe the real "Great Filter" is that once a species gets collectively smart enough they realize their own planet is a far better investment than extension into the cosmos. (lemmy.zip)
submitted 1 week ago by Earthman_Jim@lemmy.zip to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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Like, we're destroying the one place we know is a sure bet on where we can prosper if we keep it healthy, but instead the world's richest man is trying to expand to other planets while this one's ability to sustain life is in jeopardy. IMO that makes us potentially a very stupid species compared to a species that doesn't really care about meeting other aliens because they value the life on their own planet far more than we do.

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[–] AnarchoEngineer@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Other positive things to mention about space exploration:

  • If humanity spreads out across the stars, there is less of a danger for us dying from ANY centralized disaster including the cosmic ones and those we might cause ourselves
  • Similar to the above, it will be harder to create centralized governments due to extreme distances and just communication limits set by the speed of light; ergo, if some colony falls prey to a dictatorship it is unlikely to spread easily across all of humanity
  • We have lots of questions about the universe which may be answered if we travel it. And, when scientific discoveries are made they often have applications outside their initial field.
  • We have lots of questions about biology that living in novel environments would teach us (also lots of other scientific fields too of course)
  • Forming colonies will force many small groups of people to work collectively, causing those colonies to form a sense of community—something that is lacking in humanity presently
  • Isolation caused by communication limits will be scary but also will decrease our access to 24/7 terrible non-local news (inhibiting our ability to doomscroll) which will likely have a positive impact on everyone’s mental health (..maybe not on earth but in the colonies at least)
  • Exploration becoming a possibility will also likely make people happier just by showing that humanity has a future. Also, knowing that there are places you can go to escape society all together is quite a freeing thought for some
  • Last but not least WE GET TO GO TO SPACE!