this post was submitted on 02 Aug 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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[–] Triumph@fedia.io 10 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Compare the GDP of your country to earned income, do a tiny bit of math, discover what portion of the workforce are slaves.

[–] DougPiranha42@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Mm, so if a worker creates added value, that makes the worker a slave? Interesting theory.

[–] Triumph@fedia.io 2 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

When GDP is three times earned income, labor is being undercompensated so much that approximately two-thirds of the workforce is enslaved, yes.

[–] huppakee@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

They could be slave part time though

[–] DougPiranha42@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

I will try rephrasing it: its a nonsensical, fucking stupid proposal that gdp should equal earned income, and that somehow if the two are not equal then the difference amounts to slavery.
Do you care to elaborate, why do you even think these two should be the same, and what the difference has to do with slavery, as it relates to the actual meaning of that expression, not random things you don’t like.

[–] FireRetardant@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

There is some labor out there that doesn't really contribute to the reported GDP numbers. Water and wastewater workers don't directly contribute to GDP numbers but do allow other people and businesses to contribute to GDP. The amount of treated water a city creates isn't counted towards GDP.

[–] Triumph@fedia.io 1 points 2 weeks ago

Thank you, that is a totally fair criticism.

Actually, wait. Wouldn't that mean that the earned income from labor that doesn't contribute to GDP should be excluded (perhaps not in its entirety, because that labor indirectly contributes)? Which means that the difference between GDP and the compensation to labor to create it is larger?