this post was submitted on 20 Feb 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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Any European country with ranked choice voting is safe from the 2 system exploit that has allowed people like Trump and Orban to take office.
I've already agreed that any system we design will collapse including capitalism. Regulations are what's needed to maintain any system from collapse. This includes Anarchism.
Without rules, what's to stop sociopaths taking what they want? The issue isn't what system is best, it's what can be done to prevent any system from collapsing.
The answer is regulations. Not the complete absense of them. We have an incredible amount of data and studies that consistently show how anarchistic societies based on self motivation are immediately exploited by strong men sociopaths.
The same with capitalism. The enemies of both are the same, but at least with capitalism there is a mechanism through which to maintain regulations. Self-governing communities always self corrupt, as evidenced by the US's now entire corrupt system that was previously self-governing. It just took centuries to corrupt because of strict regulations. But in those centuries people had livelihoods.
Anarchism provides no mechanism by which this can be protected for so long by design. It's a system that allows for maximum exploitation by those who want to exploit it. That is the double edge of not having bigger heirarchal structures - there's no reason not to take through strength if you have it. No punishment for breaking rules as there are no general rules that society can reliably enforce.
Historically, Anarchistic societies bend the knee to the first warlord that wants to conquer them, and then only after generations of suffering feel that maybe there should be rules and a hierarchy of law to prevent such exploitation.
I'm very familiar with what Anarchism is. And you're just focusing on the rose colored parts of it the same as you think I'm doing for Capitalism.
No system works. Period. But rules do. And unfortunately a system is needed for those rules. We just haven't found the right one yet that can last for more than a couple hundred years.