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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[–] wraekscadu@vargar.org 41 points 1 week ago (12 children)

Quite a few assumptions being made and quite a lot of hyperbole.

  • The richest man in the world is not representative of the human race. Also, settling Mars (within timelines that musk is suggesting) is not treated seriously by any institution with significant power.
  • We aren't putting earth's ability to host life in jeopardy. Not even close. Yes, human caused climate change is bad. Worst case outcomes lead to most human settlements going under water and extinctions in a manner that the planet has seen only a few times. But again, not even close where we need to abandon earth cuz we "ruined it" or whatever. Not even nuclear war would lead humanity to come to this conclusion.

As for why a civilization should be interested in spreading out as much as possible in case it wants to survive:

  • spreading out reduces the probability of extinction. Right now, one gamma ray burst that's close enough, and that is aimed at earth can render the entirety of humanity extinct. But if we were more spread out, not all humans would have to die. The same logic can be applied to relativistic weapons aimed at earth.
  • spreading out gives us access to a lot of resources. Earth's gravity and atmosphere makes it hard to manufacture and launch megastructures. Megastructures can allow us to create really cool stuff.
  • many humans find exploring the universe really cool!

If alien species are anything like us, I highly doubt that they'd come to the conclusion that you've posited.

[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 19 points 1 week ago (6 children)

I can point to examples of many civilizational collapses based on comparatively minor climate abnormalities in the last mere 7,000 years, and can say with certainty the earth has gone at least 5,000,000,000 without being bombarded by even one gamma ray burst.

I think any alien civilization with basic math would prioritize the bird-in-hand.

[–] Sir_Gkar@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

You can point to those civilizations because their collapse was not the end, life continued on. We haven't been hit by a gamma ray burst or any other complex life ending disaster since we are here to discuss the scenario. But that's no guarantee that we won't be.

The odds of anything happening to render Earth totally uninhabitable are very small... in our lifetimes. But as long as we keep existing, the time frame will keep growing, the opportunities for disaster will keep accumulating and the odds will keep multiplying. The basic math looks very different when you multiply by infinity. Even the sun won't last forever.

Obviously, this is no reason to neglect Earth and rush to other planets. But it is reason enough to reject the idea that we should never spread to other worlds because Earth will always be enough.

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