this post was submitted on 08 Oct 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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If they could draw or make music, they wouldn't need a robot to do it, and they clearly want to but don't have the skills.

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[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 3 hours ago

even going to these expensive art or music schools, like juilhart, wont guaranteed your a good actor/musician, or artist. point out, like glenn howerton of isaip, hes very rigid in his acting, so hes not good elsewhere outside of his shows.(it explains why the cast so desperate to branch out like a decade ago)

[–] 4grams@awful.systems 22 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (4 children)

My sibling is trying to launch an AI music career and it drives me off a fucking cliff. No shit, one of the songs they made was used at a funeral and I nearly barfed. What’s worse, whenever I try to talk any sort of serious subject, about shit in the world, or what I’m dealing with in my personal life, their advice is to find a creative outlet Iike theirs.

Looking forward to the holidays after that banger they prompted for my birthday!

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 3 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

What the fuck is an "AI music career"? Like, they're writing prompts for AI songs and then hoping people will pay money for this songs?

[–] 4grams@awful.systems 3 points 7 hours ago

Yes. Has quite a playlist on Spotify or something like it.

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 5 points 9 hours ago

I was in on Suno super early. I write my own lyrics and beats and music but couldn't record voice (poor), so I'd put it in there and it's shocking how well it works.

So I figured, let's defraud a bunch of people on Spotify and get money, and then I thought about it and was like, what kind of scumbag would do such a thing, and dropped the idea and stopped using suno.

[–] Grimy@lemmy.world 2 points 10 hours ago

Try getting through to them by generating a song calling them a loser.

[–] architect@thelemmy.club -1 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

Truthfully you sound like you’re trying to bring someone down who is having a good time. I’m a pro artist from before AI and doing even better now that people can being their ideas to me in a way that looks better than scratches on napkin.

AI didn’t make it so you can’t make money off music and writing. That ship sailed long ago. You do that shit for the love of the game. A human doing it makes it worth more now not less.

[–] 4grams@awful.systems 3 points 7 hours ago

You haven’t heard the songs.

I honestly didn’t ever consider that being a pro artist involves bringing other peoples ideas to life. I had some idealistic image of artists bringing their own ideas to life I guess. I guess singer-songwriter is its own genre for a reason

[–] MoogleMaestro@lemmy.zip 16 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

They'd still do this even if they had the opportunity to not do it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again-- the only thing AI is good at is defrauding others. It's literally what it is trained to do.

[–] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 hours ago

I think AI is interesting for studying emergent behavior from highly dynamic systems. I’ve looked — we humans don’t really have a formal scientific study of emergence. The subject is broke up

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[–] iloveyou@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 hours ago

It’s tough to prevent that type of culture when art organizations aren’t even disallowing the use of AI anymore.

[–] glitchdx@lemmy.world 19 points 13 hours ago (4 children)

Has nobody considered the angle that slopping is fun? It doesn't make you an artist, nor an author, nor a musician. But it makes a thing at your direction and you can point at it and say "this vaguely resembles the idea in my brain". For some people, that's enough.

(this has been part 4 on my Nuanced Opinions Regarding AI)

[–] OctopusNemeses@lemmy.world 17 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

That's why the zeitgeist needs more time to settle on the perception of LLMs. It's a cool toy, but people shouldn't be getting it in their head that it gives them a shortcut to becoming a professional.

[–] dream_weasel@sh.itjust.works 5 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (2 children)

You gotta understand what it's good for as a tool and realize it's not going to do your job for you.

The problem is that it's utility is basically inversely correlated with your skill on a given subject because you can't reasonably hope to guide it to what you actually want if you aren't already pretty skilled. Similarly, how much "benefit" or "coolness" it provides you is also inversely correlated with your skill but with like 3x the slope of utility.

If you are needing to navigate a pool of text as an expert in a field, it's obscenely useful and the holes/pitfalls are super evident. The less skilled you are as a user the more magical and beneficial it all looks, which is scary.

[–] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 2 points 7 hours ago

In slightly more than a day, I got a working save editor generated by my local AI, a Qwen-Next model. Given a couple more years of AI development, I will be able to have some really old and obscure games remastered.

[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 4 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

the problem is that it's utility is basically inversely correlated with your skill

I've thought this exact thing too, I'm sure many of us have. AI is really you get what you give, literally. If you're educated, well read, know how to write and interact and think critically and have some technical skill, it can be massively useful.

If you don't you just get mental masturbation.

Edit:

It's like, I hate cars. I want them dead, gone, erased.

And I can acknowledge their utility.

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[–] yermaw@sh.itjust.works 7 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I literally havent considered that. Probs should. It was really fun for me for a short while, but I never wanted to share my creations or pass it off as my own.

"Make a tank out of liqorice allsorts but have Big Bird hanging out the top using a stick of liquorice as a cigar" "hahahahaha thats really funny".

It got boring fast though.

[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 4 points 11 hours ago

That was my perspective as well. Once that immediate novelty wore off I started to look at people still playing with it and wondering what they're seeing that I'm not.

But I guess people like different things. Like I hate reality TV shows, but those are plenty popular.

[–] thedeadwalking4242@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago (3 children)

I HATE LLMs

But it can be fun, a little part of the problem specifically for LLMs they are addicting. Image generation version less so unless it's for porn

But I mean these things are great for shit posts

[–] SavarosaCraft@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago

LLMs are designed to be addictive.
If you set the settings (that should be on by default) it will be more of a tool than something that foeces you to interact with.
Examples:
Don't let them ask questions if they are not needed. You prompt it not the other way around.
Turn off compliments and ask for more negative feedback.
Make sure it doesn't pretend to be human with feelings and actual personality.

I found these pretty useful rules.

[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 7 points 11 hours ago

They're great for shitposts? I thought the point of shitposts was they take no effort. Wouldn't putting an extra service in the loop just complicate it?

[–] glitchdx@lemmy.world 2 points 12 hours ago

I think that the kinds of people who would find the lying machine addictive would probably also find gambling mechanics in video games addictive. Also regular porn can be addictive to some people as well. I'm not disagreeing with you, just pointing out that these specific issues are not unique to generative ai.

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[–] anarchy79@lemmy.world 4 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

I'm a musician, dudes come up to me like listen to this song I made, and it's obviously suno...

I call them out on it and they're like mumble mumble.

[–] freely1333@reddthat.com 1 points 7 hours ago

Is ai the only tool which makes a form of artwork “not count” for you or anything else?

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago

I call them no talent ass clowns.

That's what they are.

[–] Radical_Socialist_t00t@lemmy.ca 2 points 8 hours ago

Oh bitch please.

[–] tmyakal@infosec.pub 84 points 19 hours ago (5 children)

What it's actually highlighted is how overworked and underpaid everyone is now. When a single salary could comfortably support a whole family, people had more time. When only one person needed to leave the house to earn money, the rest of the family had time during the day to help with the domestic work: dishes, laundry, gardening, etc. Then the evenings could be spent indulging hobbies.

Now that we live in a world where you need to have a dual income to barely get by, both partners are working 8-10 hours per day for the paycheck and then coming home to another 2-3 hours of domestic work. It's fucking exhausting and there isn't time to focus on quilting, whittling, playing music, or any of the other fun and creative hobbies that my grandparents got to be into.

So these AIdiot tech bros come along and offer to sell you the feeling of doing those hobbies without having to spend the time or energy to actually do them? It's shitty, but I understand why a lot of people are taking that deal.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 30 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

If you look at the history of work in the US though, there was only a short window of time that you had that extra time. Unless you were wealthy, your kids started to work at a very young age. Have you seen the pics of kids where they look like they could haggle with you and rob you? The teenage years are a relatively new concept.

Also, most of the boomer and older generations:

  • Had no therapy
  • Had no entertainment or education to let them know what's possible. It was by who you had contact with.
  • If you were a POC, your life was most likely hell
  • If you were gay, your life was most likely hell.
  • If you were a woman, you life was most likely hell.

Yes, the goal is for everyone to get back to the lives of upper middle class, white men.

[–] SippyCup@lemmy.world 20 points 17 hours ago

The middle class sprung out of a post war boom and the ruling class snatched that shit right back.

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[–] cRazi_man@europe.pub 12 points 17 hours ago

But wait, there's more:

Houses cost so much that people don't have space to do hobbies they used to. There's no garage or shed to set up as a maker space or studio or to setup drums or a weaving loom or painting canvases.

Intensive parenting is now the norm and the expectation. Kids can't play in front of the house like they used to. They can't go out and knock on friend's doors and go to the playground without a parent from every household going along. The only time children can be left is with a screen, and you're a villain if you do that.

Expectation from romantic partners also comes into the mix. After all the time and energy drain from the things above, there is nothing left in the tank. My wife would then not be a happy camper if I told her I'm going to be in the garage for an hour for my creative hobby.

Some disposable income is also required (variable amount depending on which hobby you take up).

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[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 9 hours ago

Im not very artistic but I like singing in a choir. Im glad I had at least some exposure to music even though I can't read a lick and have a hard time finding pitch from a piano. give me a good section anchor and some solfage and im good.

[–] Bieren@lemmy.today 0 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

People looking for a get rich quick scheme. Can’t afford to live otherwise.

[–] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago

I think this is it. I don't think people are making music for the love of the art and all that. I think they're taking a shortcut to potentially produce some sort of side hustle. It's presumably a "make a song that sounds like a mix between artist X and artist Y," and then a fine tuning via prompts from there. We live in a generation of hustles and influencers, and AI is great for both of those things. Those things are, unfortunately, just terrible for society on the whole.

It's cool though, it'll all come to a head, and we'll see what happens!

[–] Psaldorn@lemmy.world 7 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

It's also time. People want to create but learning practising. Getting through the "I suck" stage is rough.

Been in mine for several decades now.

[–] chaogomu@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I keep wanting to get more into music, but can never find the time/motivation to practice my scales.

I also tend to pick an instrument and abandon it every few years. I have nieces and nephews who occasionally get a second hand instrument.

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[–] BlindPenguin@piefed.social 15 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

I'm not sure if they really want to do art. My impression is, that those guys rather seek fame. And somehow got convinced that art is some kind of elitist thing, that leads to fame.

[–] Pratai@piefed.ca 6 points 17 hours ago

It’s not fame they seek. It’s validation.

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[–] myyass@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago

People don't go to RISD to learn to be an artist, they go for the connections.

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 3 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

lol people down voted you. People be nuts

[–] fireweed@lemmy.world 10 points 14 hours ago

Accidental downvoting (esp on mobile) is pretty easy, plus some users downvote posts that are in competition for visibility with their own posts (loser behavior, but it happens).

4 downvotes on a post with 163 upvotes is basically just noise.

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