That assumes that people reincarnate as non humans and that they reincarnate into the same world.
this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2025
150 points (92.6% liked)
Showerthoughts
37942 readers
438 users here now
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
Rules
- 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
- Adhere to Lemmy's Code of Conduct and the TOS
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.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
What if it includes the entire universe and the chances of being a human, on Earth, are just super incredibly slim?
All these memes about wanting to die: You could have been a chunk of ice orbiting Saturn, but you lucked into the single greatest thing the universe has to offer, sentient life.
How do we know sentience is the greatest? It could be peaceful just orbiting.
load more comments
(4 replies)
Well these days, I’d rather be ice around Saturn. The view must be amazing
Even if it's just Earth, if we assume there is a degree of randomness in species assignment then you've got decent odds of reincarnating as an ant:
We conservatively estimate total abundance of ground-dwelling ants at over 3 × 10^15^ and estimate the number of all ants on Earth to be almost 20 × 10^15^ individuals. 1
And of course, massively high odds of being a bacteria. There are probably ~40 trillion bacteria living just in your body right now:
They estimate that the range of bacterial cells goes from about 30 to 50 trillion in each individual. 2
Now add the ocean. Yeah, we all spend billions of years coming back as bacteria
I mean that can explain a lot. I've always been a creature of great inertia, more like a tectonic plate than a human being
I always admire your name
And the same to you, good sir!
No, this is Patrick.
You could take refuge in the fact that you must have been a very good plankton to make it all the way to human in a single cycle.
But human existence is suffering. Buddhism teaches that if you do incredibly well, you'll be reborn as a being with a worry-free life. Being a plankton sounds exactly like that.
IMO human existence, with all its benefits, is waaaaay below plankton.
Interesting thought, but I'll take thought over what's basically water-grass.
I've tried thought. I'd like to go with plankton for a while now, thanks.
load more comments
(1 replies)
Homie led the plankton revolt of 1831479QT, and ushered in a golden age of cooperation and peace between the sea Lords and planktonions, so that only the old, sick, and recently deceased plankton would fuel the hunger of the overlords, and doesn't even remember
Damn, I didn’t realize plankton had it so hard. Makes sense that it would be krill or be krilled.
I wanna be a lobster
The way they die in old age does not appeal to me.
Growing forever, but eventually when they get too large, their shell becomes so difficult to molt that they die of exhaustion before they can complete their molt.
load more comments
(2 replies)
I remember though. A big whale ate me.
Speedrunning death again? So, how was it? Did you get to top 500?
If you’re a really well-behaved plankton you could have become the bodhisatva. But you were very poorly behaved, and became Human.
Even if you were a human your memories would still be in your previous brain. I see no reason to assume you'd remember anything from your previous life unless you believe there's a "soul" that carries your memories rather than your brain.
I assume that belief in reincarnation requires belief in something like a soul to be reincarnated
In the traditional sense yeah but it could also be linked to the idea of the multiverse or quantum immortality. Or maybe our physical brain only acts as some kind of a receiver that tunes onto some greater consciousness.
I would call all of those "something like a soul"; an embodiment of your essence external to your physical body.
If it's not an embodiment of your essence external to your physical body, then it's difficult to really call it reincarnation, since it's not you
I see it simply as a continuation of experience after this current biological vehicle dies. I think that the idea of a “soul” - in the sense of there being a center to consciousness where “you” are located - is an illusion anyway, so the notion of that moving into another body isn’t something I’m concerned about.
Of course, it’s an abstract term, and people use it to mean different things, so in that sense, I suppose the transfer of your “soul” is necessary too. I just don’t agree with what most people mean by that term. Even now, the people who do believe in reincarnation assume they’ve already had past lives they can’t remember. So if “you” aren’t your physical body or your memories, then what actually remains? I’d say it’s the bare fact of experience - consciousness itself. The feeling of being.
That's the whole point of this post.
What if you do retain your memories, but your past lives were creatures that didn't have the ability to form memories?
Yes, but the point of my response is that I disagree with the premise. It's a serious answer to unserious question. I’m willing to entertain the idea of something like reincarnation, but I’m not making the same assumptions about what that would actually mean.
Without a soul, the concept of reincarnation doesn't exist. Else we are just talking about energy transfer, which absolutely happens after cellular death. Your physical matter is absorbed and becomes part of other organisms.
I guess it would explain why everyone can fucking eat me.
Pretty sure that's because humans are simply at the top of the food chain and can eat pretty much any other animal, including other humans.
In unrelated news: Would you like to come to my ~~Donner~~ dinner party?
load more comments
(1 replies)
The ghost of Jeffery Dahmer has entered the chat.
Let's assume that reincarnation is real for all living things, and that you get reincarnated the moment you die. And you get to do it a lot.
Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Ant. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Mosquito. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Ant. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Amoeba. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Mouse. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. HUMAN!!! Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Ant. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Virus. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Mosquito. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria. Bacteria.
Wait a minute, I fucked up, viruses aren't technically alive. Too bad, your soul is in it until it gets destroyed cause I'm not changing my original comment. You'll just have to wait it out, then you can go back to being probably-but-not-always bacteria.
load more comments
(1 replies)
All life is born of Gaia and each life has a spirit... When the physical body dies, the mature spirit, enriched by its life on Earth, returns to Gaia, bringing with it the experiences, enabling Gaia to live and grow
I lean in favor of open individualism these days, so yes, I was, am, and will continue to be plankton for as long as plankton continues to exist. And to be extra cliche, I am also you, and you, and you, and you, and I am he, as you are he, as you are me, and we are all together.
Sounds like thr Advaita Vedanta concept of Brahman which is described in Dharmic religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.
Always fascinating to see Eastern spirituality's influence on philosophy.
Technically it's true. There's a high chance bits and pieces of you have been used in other life several times, though you were more likely parts of plants than other creatures.
And when you die, you'll be reused again. Nature has always been like that.
load more comments
(2 replies)
That's part of the whole mythology
You have no idea about your previous incarnation, it's a way to try to manipulate people into being good which (as with all religions) relies on choosing stupid leaps of faith
load more comments
(13 replies)
view more: next ›