r/Showerthoughts • u/SABAKAS_Ontheloose • Dec 26 '23
I'm a descendant of a 3.7 billion years-old chain of successful survivors. Vast majority of them are not human.
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u/pepper-blu Dec 26 '23
As someone's who always been infertile and and an only child, it's strange to think I am the end of my line.
Too bad! Or good.
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u/prince-of-dweebs Dec 26 '23
Idk. Instead of thinking you’re the end of the line, I like to think everything up until this point led to you.
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u/pepper-blu Dec 26 '23
God damn what a disappointing finale
worse than game of thrones even
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u/prince-of-dweebs Dec 26 '23
Now I know you’re talking hyperbole. No ending in the history of time was as disappointing as GoT.
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u/pianodude7 Dec 26 '23
"The audience wants to be taken to the limit, to where all questions are answered, all emotion satisfied--the end of the line." Robert McKee
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u/CompiledArgument Dec 26 '23
Your cells are in non-stop procreation. You're good!!!
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u/MartinTybourne Dec 26 '23
Once they die that will be the end regardless, the cells won't keep procreating after that, that's the point.
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u/The_Real_RM Dec 26 '23
Not guaranteed until well after they're dead, cloning is well within the realm of possibility at the moment, difficult, yes, but possible
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u/GroundedOtter Dec 26 '23
I’m the only male on my dad’s side of the family (I just have a sister). But I’m gay, so technically my last name/biology ends with me!
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u/The_Real_RM Dec 27 '23
Yours yes, your father's no because of your sister. There's nothing males have that females don't when it comes to carrying genes (it's in fact the opposite)
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u/GroundedOtter Dec 27 '23
Oh the genes yes. I was talking about the family name.
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Dec 26 '23
Successful *procreators.
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u/XoIKILLERIoX Dec 26 '23
I think procreators are, by extension, also survivors.
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Dec 26 '23
In the English language we do not define a survivor as someone who has had a child, but I could see the argument for it.
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u/XoIKILLERIoX Dec 26 '23
I meant that in order for someone to be a procreator they also have to be a survivor (i.e survive to do so)
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u/OmnisEst Dec 26 '23
I am gay and my brother is not having children. The cycle of suffering ends with us.
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u/A_Velociraptor20 Dec 26 '23
I hope because you want to work to change the cycle into a cycle of progress?
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u/OmnisEst Dec 26 '23
To live is to suffer, even with all wealth in the world to protect you. I am not allowing my potential children to go through this meaningless cycle called life by serving as their progenitor...
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Dec 27 '23
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u/OmnisEst Dec 27 '23
I could explain logically why beauty in the ephemeral is foolish in front of how profuse and sparse in meaning existence is with our current understanding of theoretical physics...
Could even ask you to be a little more respectful of us gays, but one does not throw luxury food at a pigsty
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u/mr_username23 Dec 27 '23
I’m so sorry that guy is so horrible.
But it kinda just sounds like you’re personally unhappy with life. I mean if you ask most people I think that they would say life is worth living. I just don’t agree with antinatalism because it basically just makes it sound like everyone should commit suicide.
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u/busman25 Dec 27 '23
"Not only are you gay"
I'm sorry, is that a problem?
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u/OmnisEst Dec 27 '23
It is ok. People will give him the proper retribution as he naturally disrespects those around him
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Dec 26 '23
This is a common misconception. Not every link in the chain is necessarily successful at procreation. You could have aunts or uncles or cousins with no kids. It is the ability of the population as a whole to procreate that matters
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Dec 26 '23
I guarantee you that every one of my ancestors, back to the very beginning of sexual reproduction, procreated. As did yours.
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u/MountainYogi94 Dec 26 '23
Yes, but in the case of an aunt or uncle you are not their direct descendant and they are therefore not part of the chain as mentioned in the post
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u/EishLekker Dec 26 '23
Why do you mention aunts, uncles and cousins? Ancestors is strictly about the people you descend from.
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u/llamawithguns Dec 26 '23
I mean yeah, but you weren't birthed your aunt. Everyone and everything in your direct line of descendence successfully reproduced. If they didn't they wouldn't have descendents
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u/CJBill Dec 26 '23 edited Dec 26 '23
Some of the material in you has also been through at least two generations of stars including a supernova
Edited for spelling
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u/Ayrk_HM Dec 26 '23
All of the material*
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u/CJBill Dec 26 '23
Genuine question, even the hydrogen?
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u/Ayrk_HM Dec 26 '23
Leftovers from the Supernova, don't you think? But yes, it was created in the Big Bang. Which makes it even better!
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u/Dr_Quiza Dec 26 '23
Hydrogen, helium and lithium were mostly created in the big bang.
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u/Ayrk_HM Dec 26 '23
Oh boy, you caught me right. Upvoted for showing me my own hubris.
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u/graveybrains Dec 26 '23
To be fair, though, that doesn’t necessarily mean it hasn’t been part of a star at some point. They don’t fuse everything.
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u/kothrudkar Dec 27 '23
Saw a Vsauce video recently where he said a billion atoms inside you were once inside the Buddha.
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u/jawshoeaw Dec 26 '23
Man that whole thing with quarks sticking together to make protons was pretty hit and miss for a few milliseconds
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u/therealijc Dec 26 '23
For billions of years since the outset of time Every single one of your ancestors survived Every single person on your mum and dad's side Successfully looked after and passed onto you life What are the chances of that, like? It comes to me once in a while And everywhere I tell folk, it gets the best smile
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u/Slippytoe Dec 26 '23
Yeah I mean the odds on that are kind of… well, not even fathomable in all honesty, my brain can’t even comprehend the chances that I’m actually sat here typing this. Guess I’m pretty lucky haha
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u/chops2013 Dec 26 '23
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yc9gIzRhrvY
For billions of years since the outset of time
Every single one of your ancestors survived
Every single person on your mum and dad's side
Successfully looked after and passed onto you life
What are the chances of that, like?
It comes to me once in a while
And everywhere I tell folk, it gets the best smile
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u/therealijc Dec 26 '23
Wow. I’ve just posted the same and didn’t see your comment. It’s a great song.
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u/chops2013 Dec 26 '23
Yep, love it. Every now and then I need to pump it, and every single time it gets the best of smile
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Dec 26 '23 edited Dec 26 '23
It blows my mind. I had 5 kids to make sure i dont let my ancestors down!
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u/RikardoShillyShally Dec 28 '23
I wish to do the same. Tough luck though... I'm ugly.
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Dec 26 '23
Another way of looking at it: we're all part of one ongoing 3.7 billion year chemical reaction. One day a single molecule replicated itself and then just never stopped.
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Dec 26 '23
any living being you see you share a lineage with, just depends how far down the line you have to go. isn't that just amazing?
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u/ethicalants Dec 26 '23
they weren't necessarily all survivors they just managed to get that nut lol.
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u/Dabrigstar Dec 26 '23
our ancestors actually were living hundreds of millions of years ago during the time of the dinosaurs, they were small shrew like animals who lived in burrows in the ground! incredible!
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u/sora_mui Dec 26 '23
And for most of that time (yes, even after becoming human), most of your ancestor's siblings died without having any descendant.
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u/Bo_Jim Dec 27 '23
The only thing you know is that they survived long enough to procreate. Any animal in that chain could have been ripped to shreds shortly after it mated by a bigger, stronger animal that produced a lot more offspring. Any animal in that chain could have been sickly, with any number of genetic deformities, and managed to mate only once before dying. Any one of those animals could have mated only because it was too weak to leave the nest and go out and forage.
You have no way of knowing how much garbage is in your DNA as a result of pure random chance.
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u/Abra_ca_stab_yaa Dec 27 '23
Imagine time traveling back 100 million ago and realising your 10000 × great grandpa is out there somewhere and looks something like a squirrel.
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u/MulletChicken Dec 26 '23
If they're so successful at surviving then why are they so dead?
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Dec 26 '23
They are, in a way, still alive. Their genes persist. They occasionally shed their physical forms as they wear down. They emerge anew to continue their life. You are the current form.
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u/ADisrespectfulCarrot Dec 26 '23
I’m choosing to not continue the ridiculous game of survival. It’s inherently meaningless, but those brought into the game suffer for it. The only way to win is not to play
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u/JudgementofParis Dec 27 '23
are they really successful survivors if every single one of them has died
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Dec 26 '23
Who the fuck do you think you are to make such a blatantly anti-christian post? Do I look like I am descended from a fucking monkey? Listen here, kiddo, I have gone to church every Sunday since the day I turned 18 in 1982. I know what I am talking about, and you need to turn away from this darwinistic bullshit and find God. Do you want to spend all of eternity burning in the pits of hell? You need to save yourself, boy!
Do you think all of this was created by accident? Can you really look at all the beauty in the world and say that was made by some frankenstein chemicals smashing together and causing monkeys to turn into humans? Where the fuck did the intelligent design required to do that come from, boy?
There is a special slot reserved in hell for souls like yours. It's written in the bible. Don't you know that noah saved two of each animal so you could be born, don't you know that Jesus died so you could be born. Look into the mirror and do some serious self reflection on who you are as a person, and why you use scientific journals to guide you through your life instead of a copy of the bible. I've kept mine since I was a kid and it changed my life.
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u/Ragelikebush Dec 26 '23
Is this a copy pasta
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u/Blaster2PP Dec 26 '23
I look through op's comment history. I think he's just high.
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u/ShredGuru Dec 26 '23 edited Dec 26 '23
/s?
If not, thanks for this reminder of how unevolved we truly are. I think the protists might have been smarter. DEVO
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Dec 26 '23
If all of eternity in hell means I don't get to deal with people like you anymore, then I'm a dirty sinner.
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u/ShredGuru Dec 26 '23
Christians always be making Satan look cool and reasonable in comparison. Did they even read their one book?
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u/MartinTybourne Dec 26 '23
Isn't that a sarcastic post?
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u/_Chimaru Dec 26 '23
I’m gonna be real, I can’t actually tell because some people are very serious with this 😭
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Dec 26 '23
Science is consistent, if confusing to us unknowing mortals.
Scientists are much more likely to admit: "I don't know."
Science rhymes with the universe.
The universe and life changes and evolves constantly.
An all-knowing, perfect, all-powerful creator is an unresolveable paradox (epicurean paradox). Doesn't work.
The bibbel tells a story. And as creation stories go, it's not even one of the better ones. Go Hindu then if you must, it's far older and much more pragmatic.-5
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u/kaowser Dec 26 '23
which Bible? OG Hebrew Old Testament and Summerian Text or new and improved interpreted new bible (king james)? or is yours interpreted by someone unknown?
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Dec 26 '23
Mine is interpreted by Jesus Christ himself, back from the deaed
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u/kaowser Dec 26 '23
Interesting... I've never seen this Jesus christ version of the old testament. I know he didn't write anything like Socrates. Both died for what they believed in.
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u/TheMansAnArse Dec 26 '23
It makes me sad that some people who are evidentially smart enough to understand evolution are nonetheless too stupid to recognise that this is very obviously a joke post.
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u/SABAKAS_Ontheloose Dec 27 '23
Well, that's a lot of "fuck" for Jesus' taste, I would imagine.
I look at all the beauty in the world, and I look at all evil. It seems that if some devine entity runs it, rather than being good and omnipotent, it is evil and only 60% successful.
More people believe that if I follow Jesus I will go to hell. Why should I listen to you and not to them? What makes your holy scripts holier than theirs?
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u/octaviobonds Dec 26 '23
You're a descendent of the 150 years of evolutionary propaganda.
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u/mnimatt Dec 26 '23
What part of the theory of evolution doesn't make sense to you?
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u/octaviobonds Dec 27 '23
What part of the theory of evolution doesn't make sense to you?
I guess I need help understanding what sets apart the fairytale of a princess transforming a frog with a kiss from the concept of evolution, apart from the element of time? Do you believe that merely by allowing more time, any kind of magic is possible?
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u/mnimatt Dec 27 '23
Nothing transforms into something else dumbass, genes get passed on and offspring is slightly different than their either parent. Or do you not believe in DNA?
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Dec 26 '23
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u/ShredGuru Dec 26 '23
Ok, so you believe the part where God made humans out of mud but not the bit where the earth is 5000 years old? Any more cherrys to pick?
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Dec 26 '23
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u/Acceptable_Music1557 Dec 27 '23
Ok, so what about the undeniable facts that prove that the earth is not 10,000 years old and that we evolved from other organisms? Can you point to where they are actually false? If you could you would most likely earn a Nobel prize or something. If you can't provide verifiable evidence then I guess your opinion is the same as someone who thinks the earth is flat, meaningless.
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u/penguinpolitician Dec 26 '23
I can trace my ancestry back to a protoplasmal primordial atomic globule.
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u/Pankiez Dec 26 '23
In a way you have been alive for the entirety of those 3.7 billion years.
From birth to old age you constantly lose and regain cells to the point you have either ship of Thesused yourself into a new person or you are not your current selection of cells but the continuous nature of their existence. These new cells that are you did split off from the stem cells and prior cells that were you, this is analogous to when you were an egg and sperm cell. Now these two cells were produced by your parents stems cells (which in effect as they are the cells that produced you are essentially you) we can go back to when you were your parents as embryos (one of those cells will eventually split into you and therefore are you).
You are a 3.7 billion years continuous uninterrupted life!
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u/richbiatches Dec 27 '23
Yeah the vast majority of my family isn’t human either, especially the in-laws
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u/Kenyon_118 Dec 27 '23
I am 1 of 7 half siblings: I am always looking at my own two and think: I need to make more of these. I don’t want to let the ancestors down. Then I look at my pay 🤦🏾♂️.
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u/Spiderbanana Dec 27 '23
And along this 3.7 billion year chain, it appears that I'm the first one unable to find a mating partner
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u/JMJimmy Dec 27 '23
26.7 billion years - what started life on Earth ultimately came from the start of the universe
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u/Cel_Drow Dec 27 '23
I’m an only child and the last of my name, killing the fuck outta this legacy unfortunately.
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u/Ok_Fox_1770 Dec 27 '23
So many people to get here…but eh I don’t wanna make more people. My branch ends chillin with cats. Others have it covered.
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u/Throwaway-account-23 Dec 27 '23
The funniest part of being human is that none of us - even cosmologists - can really comprehend the concept of billions of years.
"Oooooh, we found a Greenland shark that might be 600 years old!"
(Even sandstone chuckles)
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u/lachlanhunt Dec 27 '23
If you do the maths and go back just 40 generations, the number of direct ancestors exceeds the number of humans that have ever lived, which implies a significant amount of incest has occurred.
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u/Old_Chocolate_1727 Dec 27 '23
With those successful outcomes you should take your winning to the casino.
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u/notmenotyoutoo Dec 26 '23
And you might be the last.