this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2026
63 points (92.0% liked)
Showerthoughts
44020 readers
346 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:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
Rules
- All posts must be showerthoughts
- The entire showerthought must be in the title
- 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
- Posts must be original/unique
- 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 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
What if it had? Do you think that makes it acceptable for the AI to decide to pull the plug (as per the OP's scenario)?
Are you going to be the one to tell those other ten people's families that their loved one is going to die because another family wants to watch their brain dead Uncle breathe for a few more weeks?
Actually, the conversation usually goes something like this:
Patient/family: do you have a kidney yet?
Doctor: no, not yet
(no mention of the family dealing with a difficult, personal decision about their loved one)
The larger question being presented is who gets to decide whether to pull the plug? Do you want such a decision about your spouse or child to be in the hands of another?
Forgive my theatrics, just trying to put you in the mindset of 10 people that died because your human brain chose to state at a vegetable. No, probably not even that. They'll keep him on life support and go back to their own lives. And more and more people will die as he lays there alone and unaware.
Human emotion makes lots of bad decisions.
So does AI. So do algorithms.
It sounds like you're OK with the decision being in something else's hands. which again brings us back to the point of the OP.