this post was submitted on 04 Mar 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:
- 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
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- 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
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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.
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The dog cannot speak. I've seen videos like this and I don't believe them.
He can certainly associate buttons with things that happen, just like other "nonverbal" actions he takes. Or like how he can associate words and commands spoken by people with things.
But he doesn't understand the words in the same way people do. If the buttons didn't make any sounds at all he could develop the same associations.
It may not be "speaking" but it is communicating (relatively) complex concepts.
Dogs with buttons can associate them with people, actions, locations, and emotions, and use those buttons to express those connections, which is by definition communication.
Any dog owner knows they also communicate these things non-verbally by nosing at their leash, pawing at the door, wagging their tail, or dropping a ball in your lap.
What's extra interesting about the dogs with buttons is they will sometimes clearly and communicate emotional ideas without expectation of reward, like
FIDO,HAPPYorMOM,GOODbefore just laying down to mind their own business.Sure, they dont understand the context of the Latin root of the word your saying, and they can't read Shakespeare, but they can still communicate ideas, and respond to your actions, like someone learning Chinese for the first time and only picking up every 12th word and relying on context clues.
Their capacity for vocabulary isn't infinite, but it's clearly there.
By that logic would you say deaf people communicating in sign language are not speaking?
How about Stephen Hawking? You could swap all of the buttons on his computer with Japanese, or a series of beeps and he would eventually figure out how to get the same message across, does that invalidate him using English as his main language of communication?
All those examples of people you gave are still using language. Language can be spoken, written, signed, and more. Maybe my original comment wasn't clear enough when I said "dogs can't speak." Dogs can certainly communicate, as many organisms can, but they can't use language.
Well I don't know if you understand words the way people do either. It's a gray area.
But I've seen it and it sure looks like real speaking to me.
But how about the title question. You got anything to say about that? Riots? Shame-induced mass suicide?