this post was submitted on 18 Apr 2025
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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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  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
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    • 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
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[–] Mr_Fish@lemmy.world 22 points 3 weeks ago

Probably "with great power comes no accountability, and therefore great responsibility". It's the lack of accountability that means responsibility is needed.

[–] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 10 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I always thought the bigger miss of the common phrase is this: If "With great power comes great responsibility" then the converse must also be true "With NO POWER comes NO responsibility". The level of responsibility must scale in direct proportion to the amount of power you have. If your boss is blaming you for something you have little to no control over, then it isn't your responsibility, and you deserve no blame.

Your manager saying "You need to find someone to cover your shift" would then be bullshit. Unless you have the power to hire additional staff, allow for allowed time off for regular life events, or increase the pay of staff to make others more readily want to take the shift, I don't see enough power for it to be your responsibility.

[–] kambusha@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Depends. Correlation vs causation.

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

I'm not seeing a correlation only argument here. Where would there be correlation without causation with what I've posted?

[–] kambusha@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I understood it as power causes responsibility, and therefore, no power means no responsibility. If they're just correlated, then there's no way of knowing if no power is also correlated with no responsibility.

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

I understood it as power causes responsibility, and therefore, no power means no responsibility.

I agree with this.

If they’re just correlated, then there’s no way of knowing if no power is also correlated with no responsibility.

If you're using that line of thought, then I'll also agree with you that there would be strong correlation with "no power equals no responsibility", but I'm not sure how that fact is helpful or moves us forward in a line of thinking. When someone cites the argument of "correlation vs causation" usually means "we can't tell if its actually causation. Its possible its just correlation". Yet here we agree it is unambiguously causation. Your first sentence in this post encapsulate this perfectly.

"I understood it as power causes responsibility". cause = causation

This is why I was confused with your citation of the "correlation vs causation" argument.

[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

The original;

And a lean, silent figure slowly fades in the gathering darkness, aware at last that in this world, with great power there must also come -- great responsibility!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/With_great_power_comes_great_responsibility

In retrospect, it was a mistake to shorten it.,

[–] Zahille7@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago

I mean as I read that, it immediately made me think of the scene in the first Spider-Man when he goes after the guy who killed Uncle Ben and accidentally kills him.

[–] MuskyMelon@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Welcome to the ARCI matrix.

Accountability > Responsibility > Consulted > Informed

[–] kirkoman@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago

Apropos since this has always been my mental image of RACI modeling:

[–] brown_guy@lemm.ee 3 points 2 weeks ago

That's actually a nice quote