I’m very scared, it feels like the world is about to fall apart. I will also remember a passage that I heard, and which does not seem to be a joke: you will own nothing, and will be happy! And it seems that this is gradually becoming a reality.
What scares you?
You kidding? Is anyone not?
Depends how fucked up you can get.
Doesn’t matter what i do i die. Can’t help it
Yep.
At this point I’m 90% sure that we are in a regression similar to the dark ages after the fall of Rome, or the collapse of the Bronze Age.
During our lifetime quality of life will keep going down, and who knows how low we will fall.
To be honest I don’t even think climate change would have a chance of getting us. I think society will collapse before the average temperature rises one degree. I’m looking forward total dissapear of basic commodities in one or two decades top. For instance, my country has universal healthcare. I think in 10 years it would be completely unusable to the point of being equal to not have universal healthcare at all.
I agree with most things you said except the climate change part. 2024 has already exceeded the 1,5 degree target and it will continue to degrade like the general quality of life.
My area has always been dry and is the most affected by increasing droughts. I can see this on the street, I think last or the year before was the first time the grass didnt turn brown, but actually burned to dust. The current heatwave melted roads and railway tracks, which need replacing and is threatening supply chains. Rivers are running low more and more.
Floods’ victim count will rise each year and eventually ruin us financially, and make people refugees - we will see what its like from the other side.
We have to ration water for gardens now. Never heard this be a common thing in my country.
Prices go up. Two years ago apple juice was very expensive, because of the mild winter, which is just one example.
We have dangerous animals now. Oak processionary moths are conquering the country, render parks almost unusable and make people who live nearby sick.
So it is already getting us. And actual shortages have not even set in.
I visited some permaculture gardens. It made me hopeful and sad at the same time. Hopeful because I saw how easy it actually is to turn a desert into a green oasis with simple manual labour. Sad because it also shows how easy it is to prevent these things, we’re just not doing them. I try to focus on the hopeful side though.
something more local and immediate. notice alot of posts on different forums(like during the beginning of covid to end of lockdowns) how people are “still living at home with parents, and people in the comments thinking these people are losers” alot of them seem to live in HCOL, or MCOL areas making them still at home(if you ignore the ones that refuse to find a job or contribute though and not due to some circumstances). plus alot of job markets are pretty piss poor right now too, in many fields. im actually surprised they still have so many tech employee still employed, 2 of my family members were laid off in the last few years, because they arnt in peddling AI business i assume.
i was looking at one graduate program(not a degree) recently because its also a cheap graduate program for what the salary is in this industry, equivalent to a pharmacist salary but cost 20x less the cost to enter program i mentioned(pharmD program is around 245k-290k cost(if you go into a more expensive school), it gotten so much more comeptitive over the past few years. as people are trying to come to west coast to apply to only 9 schools that offer this program, plus CALI has added some kind of extra requirement to the CLS license. with all the AI resumes and screening by companies, i think we will see more joblessness, and living at home posts.
I assume its because the pandemic, recent layoffs(maybe not in tech)has made people concentrate on college courses and try to apply, while almost every job in bio is very nebelous in its requirements.
It’s been a common sentiment for centuries, and I know this time it seems especially dire, but in the grand scheme of everything it’s all just a blip anyways. Just enjoy whatever you can and make differences where you can is about all you can do. We need to build something worth fixing if we want to do anything
Yes, mass famine caused by the global warming and climate crisis
Climate change and the breakup of the US are my two large-scale fears.
Hell, I’m more worried about the US /not/ breaking up. The whole country just lies down and accepts the decline into authoritarianism.
The whole country just lies down and accepts the decline into authoritarianism.
Objectively untrue and demonstrated in LA, Portland, Minnesota, and Chicago. Even better, it was demonstrated in bipartisan fashion. People who voted red were part of the silent sabotage that took place in Chicago and Minnesota.
And then there’s all the attempts by people to delete Donald too.
The country is doing what it can and also trying not to descend into chaos and survive at the same time.
I fucking hope you’re right.
Well, if watching the various resistance movements do silent sabotage this year wasn’t heartening, the following facts might make you feel better.
Dems are polling 14% over Republicans right now, and if that holds until November, it’s likely that the November elections will be overwhelming and rig-proof. Further, nearly every Donald-backed candidate has lost their election against a Dem in 2025 and 2026, and most of those elections occurred in states and districts Donald won by double digits in 2024. The only good election news Donald has had has occurred in Republican primaries, but that doesn’t matter due to his having a lower approval rating than Jimmy Carter.
The upside is Donald thought he had a mandate to revive Nazi Germany and learned that people literally just wanted illegal immigrants deported and not to see 5th graders chased down and cuffed by masked thugs, and yes, those are two different things. People voted for immigration reform and affordability, and Donald has not only failed on both, he’s failed spectacularly on both issues while getting us into a war no one wanted that has made the cost of living worse.
The downside is we can look at the last 40 years of Democratic politics and conclude that nothing will fundamentally change and, more likely, the majority of Democrats will coopt the power Donald has seized and embrace the new fascism.
It is nice to see that centrists are finally coming around on socialism, though. All it took was them having to live in their cars.
Dems are polling 14% over Republicans right now, and if that holds until November, it’s likely that the November elections will be overwhelming and rig-proof.
Even better, there’s a downside to gerrymandering. It helps you in close elections, but if the election is really against you, you end up losing even more seats than you would have without the gerrymandering. You have to design all your districts assuming a certain vote percentage. So maybe you design it so your side has a bunch of districts that have a reliable 5 point advantage to your side. Well, if your side is running 10 points behind? Now that gerrymander is hurting you.
Equally valid point. Ideally when Bonespurs has his final Big Mac Attack MAGA will more ore less self-destruct as all his wannabees backstab each other while clawing for their little piece of his reeking power vacuum.
The US breaking up would be awesome for the world given its by far the most destructive and immoral empire currently.
“The world” in this case only means rich and powerful men. All the same in the end.
Humans are adaptable. We’re living shit lives now from the perspectives of some past generations. Younger generations will not know any differently. Don’t worry, we’ll be dead or have dementia in no time.
Well, I’m damaged beyond repair already (biologically speaking, not an opinion, I can live okish) so that means whatever is coming in case there’s a run or fight for something: I’ve already lost. Doesn’t feel good.
Because inclusion is mostly handled as luxury and when push comes to shove, we’re out.
And the gist of it is: it can happen to anyone, anytime. Suddenly you’re part of the group that is not very much adaptable.
Sorry about your biological damage. In that case, you’re probably living during a much better time than many generations past. Medical advancements, not having to live off the land and don’t often have to push or shove in a literal sense. Of course quality of life is based on perspective tho.
I work at staying in the moment. The past nor the future exist.
Nothings scares me. There are a lot of things not going well (climate collapse, extinctions, rise of the extreme right, wars), but as long as I can contribute a little money and time to help other people (and organisms), vote, be politically active, as long as I can do that I have a feeling of being in control and that works wonders against fear.
you will own nothing, and will be happy!
Believe it or not. This was written OPTIMISTICALLY in an essay by head of an extremely wealthy PROGRESSIVE organization, the WEF.
Klaus Schwab, I want to say.
All you need to feel optimism is to understand and go in life with the understanding that we are ALL humans, held within systems (often systems of our own creation).
The essay Klaus wrote was about how the international lifestyle of the wealthy, travelling, forming communities, talking, seeking opportunity, a lifestyle that makes HIM as a member of the European gentry very happy, might be extended to other Europeans.
That “and you will be happy” was a genuine attempt at optimism, and being happy making money.
He, being of the class he is, is not necessary conscious of lower class conditions, and was rightfully picked out as being out of touch.
This is what the left has forgotten, to be like Jesus in trying to appeal to everyone. We have to understand systems, systems of thought, of social pressure, of education, intelligence, awareness, apply to everyone. The billionaire and the working class racist alike.
We’re all just humans in systems. That’s the only understanding that’s humanist. So we must be able to appeal to all humanity.
Massacres on innocent children, women, elderly and non-combatants
YES
Climate change, consolidation of power in the hands of fewer and fewer, increasing economic inequality, increased surveillance, AI, enshittification of everything
Yes, the future looks rough.
Sure.
Overrun by enshittification, rent extracting corporations that have decided that this is cheaper and more profitable than R&D into actual new tech, billionaires using the world economy and geopolitical stability as their personal playthings, the rise of aggressively willful ignorance, massive social media disinformation campaigns on the State level, growing nationalism and fascism, and all that under the warming atmosphere that is destroying our food, water supplies, and lives.
And the only thing that could potentially at least hopefully mitigate the life-threatening issues is Fusion Power, but only if it actually works in time to help us discard the majority of fossil fuel use and maybe directly power carbon extraction from the atmosphere. But I doubt we’ll make that goal.
You will own nothing, and you will be happy!
They’re trying their hardest with PCs and gaming consoles. The price of RAM and SSDs will make owning a PC or console out of reach for many, but guess what, you’ll be able to stream your games for a subscription fee.
Microsoft is already working on making Windows a cloud-based subscription service.
I know there are worse things to be worried about, like with housing, energy costs, water and food shortages or costing too much, etc. Just pointing out a related example to that quote.
