this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2026
383 points (95.3% liked)

Showerthoughts

39117 readers
1452 users here now

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.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

When I was young and starting out with computers, programming, BBS' and later the early internet, technology was something that expanded my mind, helped me to research, learn new skills, and meet people and have interesting conversations. Something decentralized that put power into the hands of the little guy who could start his own business venture with his PC or expand his skillset.

Where we are now with AI, the opposite seems to be happening. We are asking AI to do things for us rather than learning how to do things ourselves. We are losing our research skills. Many people are talking to AI's about their problems instead of other people. And they will take away our jobs and centralize all power into a handful of billionaire sociopaths with robot armies to carry out whatever nefarious deeds they want to do.

I hope we somehow make it through this part of history with some semblance of freedom and autonomy intact, but I'm having a hard time seeing how.

(page 2) 39 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 week ago (18 children)

Bud.. they said the same thing about computers when I was a kid in the 70s.

load more comments (18 replies)
[–] barryamelton@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Unless you were a hard GNU fan when you were a kid, it was the same process of giving power to billionares. Just that now it sits on 50 years of wins for the billionares side. So it's closer to the endgame.

[–] realitista@lemmus.org 5 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I've been a GNU fan since 1995. And yes, while buying software did make some billionaires, I never felt like it was taking away my abilities or autonomy or freedom until now. Back then I felt like it was giving me more of those things.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Apytele@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

If AI can even half ass your job you barely had one to begin with. All us healthcare workers and the tradies are still making a half decent wage for real work just like we always have. And the food service and sanitation workers still aren't doing the absolute best but they're not hurting for work either. I'm not going to tell you I like the way my work is valued under capitalism but at least I'm tangibly benefitting other humans.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] ji59@hilariouschaos.com 0 points 1 week ago

I have to disagree. The only reason computer expanded your mind is because you were curious about it. And that is still true even with AI. Just for example, people doesn't have to learn or solve derivations or complex equations, Wolfram Alpha can do that for them. Also, learning grammar isn't that important with spell-checkers. Or instead of learning foreign languages you can just use automatic translators. Just like computers or internet, AI makes it easier for people, who doesn't want to learn. But it also makes learning easier. Instead of going through blog posts, you have the information summarized in one place (although maybe incorrect). And you can even ask AI questions to better understand or debate the topic, instantly and without being ridiculed by other people for stupid questions.

And to just annoy some people, I am programmer, but I like much more the theory then coding. So for example I refuse to remember the whole numpy library. But with AI, I do not have to, it just recommends me the right weird fuction that does the same as my own ugly code. Of course I check the code and understand every line so I can do it myself next time.

[–] YeahIgotskills2@lemmy.world -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

When I was a kid being interested in computers was a sure-fire way to avoid getting laid.

[–] realitista@lemmus.org 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yes, I remember the day I quit the football team and started hanging out with the nerds. I lost a lot of friends and coolness points, but I was so much happier sitting in the library for lunch playing with computers.

[–] YeahIgotskills2@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Don't get me wrong - I spent many a lunchtime in the library and the computer lab. Loved it. But by 16 I had to repress it and get into drinking and music (which, honestly wasn't hard), just to fit in and meet girls.

The taboo of IT stayed with me, so I never openly discussed my interest in it.

Happily, online life has been normalised and teens and adults game all the time without it being seen as odd.

Ironically, despite being into 16-bit games in my teens I never really allowed myself to get into gaming in the suceeding years.

I regret that now, as I reckon I missed out on a Golden age of gaming that I would have enjoyed had I just been born a decade or so later and been less uptight about what people think.

[–] realitista@lemmus.org 1 points 1 week ago

Yeah I also started partying in my teens and met lots of girls.. Also kept my IT hobby mostly to myself. But gave me a great career and as you say, now it's fully normalized so no need to hide it too much, though there aren't a huge amount of 50 year olds that are into gaming and home automation as I am outside of forums like Lemmy.

load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›