" I ’m going to be sci - fi futuristically optimistic and say , ' hold off until symptom are unavoidably bad to be diagnosed ' with any variety of disorder or illness . "
We’re living in turbulent times, and it’s difficult to determine what the future holds. A recession seems to be on its way, but beyond the economic damage that’s been done, we’re beginning to face a reckoning with the world around us.
The environment, homelessness, healthcare, equal rights, and a boatload of issues thatshouldn’tbe controversial are, in fact, controversial.
But how will these issues be perceived by future generations? A recent post in ther/AskRedditsub posedthis very questionto users. “What is something humans accept as normal today that people 500 years from now will find absolutely horrifying?” the user asked.
The results were undoubtedly dystopian. From healthcare to homelessness and pollution and waste, here are some of the most terrifying responses that emphasize the dire issues we’re facing.
Note : some responses have been edited and condensed for clearness .
1.“That we woulddump trash into our oceans. We find it disgusting that people, before the black plague, dumped trash in the streets.”
2.“Dying from preventable diseases.”
– u / Banshee_123
3.“Breathing dirty air.”
4.“Single-use plastics.”
5.“Sacrificing your life for an employer.”
– u / MyBlueMeadow
6.“That we let finances get in the way of life-saving care.”
– atomic number 92 / No - Group-4504
7.“Modern mass animal agriculture is a horrific moral atrocity that future generations will judge us harshly for. Even if we could snap our fingers and get rid of all the worst parts of mass animal agriculture, if you’re being honest, you just gotta admit it’s basically impossible to construct an ethical defense of eating meat.”
8.“Racism and sexism, I hope. I think it’d be cool if we all got along and looked towards the future.”
– u / Chocolate_lovergurl
9.“Capitalism. This should kinda be an obvious one. But it is already on its way out, and people now cannot comprehend living any other way. In the future, people will be looking back going, ‘Man, those capitalists were a weird bunch.'”
10.“Homelessness. The dumbest problem we’ve created for ourselves. Millions of people are living in misery because we all literally choose to spend more money to keep them homeless than to simply provide a decent, safe place to live for everyone. So fucking stupid.”
11.“Family vlogging channels exploiting their children and their privacy for attention and money.”
– u / mothmanuwu
12.“Hopefully, people will find anti-LGBTQ+ bias absolutely horrifying 500 years from now.”
13.“Our denial of how muchmental healthimpacts everything; how we put a job that emotionally abuses us before getting mental help. Then wonder why the suicide rate is soaring, and crime and addiction are so high.”
14.“Until recently in human history, fabric was expensive, and having a garment made for you was an investment. Speaking from a perspective 200+ years ago, the cost of fabric was way more than the cost of labor to have it made for you. Instead of being tossed out after being out of style, garments would have gone through alterations to keep them in fashion or make repairs. When the garment was too worn, it would have been made into rags or taken to the paper manufacturers for the fibers to be made into paper.”
15.“Eating things that knowingly cause diarrhea/GI issues because they taste good and we have readily available medication.”
16.“I think 500 years from now, society will view modern medical practices like chemotherapy in the same way as we view outdated practices such as bloodletting today.”
– u / spla_ar42
17.“That we give government grants from tax dollars to private companies that spend it more on political lobbying for deregulation than actual research and development of cures and treatments, and putting most of that research into lifelong maintenance of superficial but common ailments rather than curing or improving quality of life for debilitating or fatal diseases because they’re rare or novel.”
18.“Leaking attack plans on an unsecured communication app called Signal,as well as to a member of the press, and not calling it a security breach by those in charge.”
19.“Sh*tting on a toilet. Your digested food came out of your body, sitting on a big porcelain barrel?? Every house had one?? And that stuff would run into the ocean?? Are you kidding???”
20.“Working 40 hours or more per week. I think we will go to 32 hours a week. Many people already do it, and I will do that too within the next couple of years.”
– u / MoffieHanson
21.“I’m going to be sci-fi futuristically optimistic and say, ‘Waiting until symptoms are unavoidably bad to be diagnosed’ with any sort of disorder or illness.”
