this post was submitted on 16 Jan 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. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.
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Let's look at humanity as natures' invention that could protect the Earth against total destruction of life from huge meteorites : in this context, our actual partial destruction of the biosphere (and of 99.99%? of our civilisations) is not so important.
That's an original take. But it feels a bit forced. We're already halfway thru Earth's allotted quota of 9 billion years of habitability. Life has been here most of that time so it seems odd that nature would suddenly think up such an extreme version of life insurance. Not least because humans look likely to do a better destructive job than at least a couple of the previous mass extinctions.
We don't know yet if humanity will succeed. And you are absolutely right : my proposition here is quite forced and incomplete. Yet, if we consider a broader perspective : on many planets, similar to the Earth, there must be somewhere, at some moment, a sentient species succeeding in something like this.