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We live during interesting times. The global political climate is worsening, social media has warped our understanding of empathy and community, and all capital will soon be in the hands of the same five people.
Sounds gloomy, but many people agree. When it comes to the planet, 42% people from 33 countries believe that parts of their countries will become uninhabitable because of extreme weather. In other bad news, almost half of those living in the U.S. and Western Europe fear that a third world war is likely to start in the next five to 10 years.
But there also are some niche things that most us don't know. Threats to certain ecosystems, old infrastructure, and complex processes in our oceans are just some of the things people have shared in an online thread under the question "What is currently on the brink of collapse but no one is talking about it?"
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#1
Critical thinking - humanity is over-reliant on devices and AI to do their thinking for them instead of using tech to enhance their own thinking.
jaylotw:
This is very noticeable in the younger people now. They just can't figure s**t out with their own brains. They just ask their phone, and accept the easiest answer to deal with.
It's pretty easy to see here on Reddit, too, in certain subs, and the questions that younger people ask. The questions are generally stuff that they could just...try for themselves...but it's almost as though they have to ask permission from the internet before possibly making a mistake and having to figure out what went wrong.
JB 5 months ago (edited)
People rely on AI for answers with Google, but it has a failure rate of 40%! If you got on a plane and the pilot said, "hey this plane crashes on four out of every ten flights, here we gooo!" You would understandably freak the f out and demand change!
Beak Hookage 5 months ago
I quit using Google after that AI garbage got added. I will have NOTHING to do with AI, period.
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Geoffrey Scott 5 months ago
And again, despite the occasionally correct accusation of left bias, NPR/PBS are the purest form of info. Yes, they lean left. Knowing that, you at least get both sides and are expected to make your OWN mind up about what you think.
JB 5 months ago
Sigh, the only reason they lean left is because people who value being factually accurate over winning, who value multiple view points and empathy, and who value critical thinking...are leftist. All of those are leftist, progressive, liberal values. Not that conservatives can't have or use these values, just that their core values tend to be different. So you know Chomsky's "the medium is the message?" Here the medium is people who have grown into the profession *because* their values are centre-left, and so the message they transmit comes from that same place.
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Georgia Ireland 5 months ago
When I was a kid, I thought people were dumb because of lack of access to information. Turns out that's not the case!
angelmomoffour62 5 months ago
I think in general us Americans are lazy. Even when it comes to thinking.
RELATED:
#2
The orca pod known as J-pod, that are residents of the Pudget Sound, are starving as the salmon population is collapsing.
arubablueshoes:
J pod is actually doing better than the others. K pod is down to 14 individuals with the most recent member born in 2022 as of the latest census back in April of this year. The whole SRKW pod is basically screwed. It's sad.
matt_minderbinder:
Fisheries here in the great lakes are collapsing too. Invasive species and warning waters from climate change completely change the ecosystem. Food patterns are changing as is habitat. It's a smaller model of what's happening in our oceans and people are treating it all as if any of this is normal.
JB 5 months ago
The more unrestrained industry, the less of everything else. We *could* live here *and* have all the other stuff, but people get greedy.
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Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago (edited)
The horrible truth is that human beings more or less destroyed the ocean ecosystem over a century ago. What we've got now is the last vestiges of sea life grimly clinging on to survival. Read this and weep; https://theconversation.com/we-gathered-centuries-old-written-records-to-show-the-seas-around-wales-once-teemed-with-life-238139 and https://theconversation.com/what-a-19th-century-atlas-teaches-me-about-marine-ecosystems-251184 and https://theconversation.com/oysters-once-crowded-europes-coast-heres-how-we-discovered-these-long-forgotten-reefs-244004
No Man 5 months ago
To be honest, it IS "normal". The earth has gone thru many changes in climate regime (snowball earth anyone?). The difference this time is that the changes are entirely human engineered and happening faster than at almost anytime time in geologic history.
Earonn - 5 months ago
So,it's not "normal" because it never happened that fast.
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Helen Rohrlach 5 months ago
I saw something on tv about an orca pod in Great Britain that is down to 2 individuals, both male.
B 5 months ago
THE ENTIRE HUMAN RACE is on the brink of collapse, but nobody seems to care. Seriously, this is going to begin to affect all of us imminently! What am I talking about? Something nobody else is talking about, because it's easier to ignore it: overpopulation. Deniers deny, but if you honestly care and want facts, look up statistics and actual real life figures. Martin Luthor King stated the terrible impact mass breeding was having on the planet... over fifty years ago! Since then, the human population has DOUBLED. For more facts, presented in an incredibly entertaining way, check out the novel (a thriller, actually) called 10:59 by N. R. Baker. Look at Amazon/Goodreads reviews - this book could actually change the future of our species and allow our grandchildren to live out their complete lifetimes.
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago (edited)
B, lots of people care about the on-going global mass extinction event and the global heating emergency - both of which are caused by us. If you're not in the UK, figure out how to use a proxy server. Either way, have a look at these: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0b8h6kl/life-at-50c-series-1-the-town-that-burnt-down-in-a-day and https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0fpwhhm/earth - the "Earth" series really puts it in perspective. Whatever we do, life on Earth will bounce back and flourish again - it's just that we might be engineering our own extinction right now. 🤷
Load More Replies... #3
Honestly, I'd say the internet. Everything requires an account, everything collects your information, you can't own anything cause you can only get subscriptions to services. There are way too many social media platforms, which are somehow all owned by the same few mega corporations (Meta, Google, Microsoft etc.) AI is slowly taking over everything and spewing out misinformation left and right.
The appealing thing about the internet used to be how "free" it felt, it wasn't governed by corporations or governments, and it truly felt like a place where humans could have their own thing in peace. Now it's treated more like a shopping mall/homeland security checkpoint that also somehow gives you social anxiety and is dangerously addictive because corporations have found the psychological tactics to hook you.
ole-oak:
While the AI makes art and likes it with their own bots, the rest of us can go out to the park and have picnics together :)
Yrral Spavit 5 months ago
There is *nothing* that capitalism can't turn into a steaming pile of s**t
JB 5 months ago
Don't know why people are downvoting this, because it's 100% true. Consider, if you would, a religious example and what happened in Christianity: Jesus dies for our sins and redeems the world - the greatest thing that could possibly happen and what did they do with that? Buy your little Jesus statues and get-out-of-hell-free cards and don't forget that if you buy the Trump Bible it comes with a loaded gun!
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Anonymouse 5 months ago
and there is an APP for that. Go to many retail outlets and you cannot buy without a cell phone to scan their app...
Little Bit 5 months ago
We've allowed ourselves to be shoehorned into a world that can no longer function without the Internet. What used to be awe inspiring technology has become a PITA now it governs virtually every aspect of our lives.
WindySwede 5 months ago
Even iflscience.com how demands registration, otherwise the article is blocked.. 🤌
#4
Surprised I didn't see many posts about insects. We are in a mass extinction event of something like 60% of their population.
EmotionalJellyfish31:
When I mention where have all the bugs gone on the windscreen to people, that’s when they stop and think and realise the same. We have Christmas beetles that used to be everywhere at night at Christmas. I remember playing night tennis with my family and I used to run around saving all the Xmas beetles off the court as a kid and not actually play tennis. Now I have not seen 1 in years. It’s so sad.
#5
Lots of collectively owned private, professional businesses:
Private equity has been relentlessly buying up veterinarian practices, CPA firms, and - I’m sure - all kinds of other businesses so that they can egregiously increase prices, sell everything that isn’t nailed down, cut staff to nothing, then sell the little bit that’s left to some naive future buyer at a hugely inflated cost.
That whole last part isn’t any kind of a secret, either. That’s just how their unconscionable business model operates. Make no mistake though because they’ll get richer, and all the rest of us will pay for it. (Same as it ever was.).
km_amateurphoto:
I work at a Veterinary Hospital and this is 100% happening to us right now. We got bought out about a year and a half ago, our prices have gone up 45%, corporate cut full time hours back to 30-32 hours per week and every shift is a skeleton crew. It really sucks.
#6
Overly complex appliances, cars, TVs, etc.
I want a toaster that toasts bread without Bluetooth. I want an analog k**b on my and a sliding button that lowers the bread carriage and locks into place. I don't need LEDs telling me how toasty my toast will be. The only light the toaster should emit is the soft red-orange glow from the heating elements. That's how I know it works. In fact, I shouldn't be able to know it's actually working for at least 3 seconds after the bread carriage has locked into place while I wait for those wires to begin glowing. I don't need an artificial beep, or ding, or cheesy tune... When my toast is done, I want it to let me know by disengaging the spring loaded bread carriage and sending my toast flying. I want that bread carriage to slam into its original state ready for another set of bread slices so loudly that it wakes my teenage daughters and it pisses them off... "What? Do you not want toast? Thought so.".
bencciarati:
This is the crazy one to me. Nothing is about retaining customers anymore; the entire economy is about cranking your investment up as h**h as you can get it by jamming useless s**t into your products and software.
Every product needs a new innovation, everything needs to be smart, AI-assisted, with a screen, settings, internet capabilities, a personal assistant, and smartphone controlled. My grandmother recently built a new house and purchased a GE oven that won't let you turn it on until you connect it to the internet.
Canva, Google, Amazon: these can't just be useful platforms excelling at one thing, they have to be everything platforms. I don't want to ask Rufus what material this stainless steel pizza cutter is made out of. I don't want Google to tell me that I should eat rocks every day bc it's modeling its data on reddit comments.
I don't need my washer to sing to me or text me when the spin cycle starts. I don't want my television to blast my eyes with unskippable ads for the new season of Yellowstone every time I turn it on. I'd rather my car not have a massive iPad in the middle of the dash that leaves no room for analog buttons, causing me to almost be responsible for a fatal 50 car pileup every time I want to change the temp.
"Late stage capitalism" is an overused phrase but money is smoke and something soon will cause it to disappear. Every dollar needs to be profited on and not doing so is seen simply as a catastrophic failure. Every fan needs an app, everything needs to be smart, and every toaster needs an AI assistant, not because it's useful, but because artificially inflating investment value is the best way for the wealthy to line their already-thick pockets.
Stuart 5 months ago
Ok, BoredPanda...why the bloody füçk are you censoring *high* and *k**b*? FFS!
keyboardtek 5 months ago
Red Dwarf TV series has a hilarious episode with a smart toaster that is basically an idiot.
detective miller's hat 5 months ago
This made me think of this spectacular review of a "smart" toaster: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R27NAS3OLPCJ77?ref=pf_vv_at_pdctrvw_srp
Inigo Montoya 5 months ago
It's getting harder all the time. When I purchased a range recently, the basic features I wanted (convection, stainless finish, etc) meant I had to get a unit with a touch screen and Internet based smart controls. Now it will probably go obsolete in 10 years and be taken over by North Korean hackers.
Load More Replies... #7
Maybe not on the brink but may be approaching - The AMOC, or Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, is a large system of ocean currents that acts like a conveyor belt, circulating warm and cold water throughout the Atlantic Ocean. This circulation plays a crucial role in regulating global and regional climates by distributing heat and influencing weather patterns. Recent research suggests the AMOC may be slowing down, and there's a concern about a potential collapse, which could lead to significant climate shifts.
TeacherRecovering:
When the Canadian ice sheets melt, they will input a huge amount of cold water that will cool northern Europe.
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
It's not the melting of the ice that'll be the problem. It'll be the change in ocean currents. NW Europe is kept wet and warm by the currents we've got now. When (not if) the AMOC stops, that'll change radically.
Helen Rohrlach 5 months ago
A huge influx of cold fresh water from melting icecaps into salty warm(ish) North Atlantic Ocean is definitely having an effect on the currents.
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Crissy Newbury 5 months ago
I’m only on no. 6 and I can’t read anymore of these. Its too upsetting because people know and yet do nothing.
#8
Chinook salmon. Chinook are their main food source because of the fat content, and they're on the brink of collapse. I mean, it's not looking good for all salmon species, but when/if the Chinook go extinct, that's the first big domino to fall in the Salish Sea ecosystem.
Everchangingbeetroot:
The fact that I know this and people have already been typing this terrifies me. I wish news reported more important matters such as this.
HotGarbage (OP):
I hear you. I've been fishing my entire life and used to catch salmon every summer in the PNW and have just watched the runs dwindle down to a trickle. It's super sad. The news doesn't really report on it because the US doesn't really have news anymore, just platforms to spin narratives to make the most money possible. Unfortunately, a story like this wouldn't make enough people angry to get enough clicks, therefor, not making enough money.
Inigo Montoya 5 months ago
People in the Pacific Northwest are at least a little bit familiar with this, since they have watched Copper River King salmon go from being a seasonal delicacy to something only Jeff Bezos can afford. East coast and Midwest mostly doesn't even know the difference between Chinook, Coho, and Sockeye.
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
The problem is that ocean ecosystems have been in catastrophic decline for many lifetimes. What most of us personally saw when young was an ocean ecosystem that had already been ruined. It was a catastrophe long before anyone now living was born. https://theconversation.com/we-gathered-centuries-old-written-records-to-show-the-seas-around-wales-once-teemed-with-life-238139 and https://theconversation.com/what-a-19th-century-atlas-teaches-me-about-marine-ecosystems-251184
#9
Bridges, railroad lines, power grids, water pipes - some of them decades old and unstable. (Germany).
JediOrDie:
America is waaaay worse. Somethings you listed are from the 1800’s held together with duct tape.
JustTheBeerLight:
The US has this unique problem that everything was built during the New Deal (30s-40s), so the expiration dates on bridges, dams, roads all run out at the same time.
Geoffrey Scott 5 months ago
Imagine, if you will, if the Eisenhower interstate system was proposed today(yes, I know he was impressed by one of the few things Hitler did that was acceptable, namely the Autobahn). Do you honestly think it would get done in THIS environment?
keyboardtek 5 months ago
Only if an oligarch could get rich off the project.
Load More Replies... Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
One big problem with a lot of US bridges is that they were designed before planners really understood the benefits of engineering redundancy into the structures - so a small number of problems in a structure can bring it down. Another big problem is that publicly funded US infrastructure has been underfunded for all my life - the bridges simply haven't been properly maintained. If they had, there would be no problem. Nothing's totally straightforward, of course. Here in the UK, the Forth Bridge (railway) is absolutely fine at 135 years old, while the 61 year old Forth Road Bridge has deteriorated so much it's closed to all traffic bar public transport, pedestrians, and cyclists. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_Road_Bridge
Kabuki Kitsune 5 months ago
For those curious, the issue is volume and distance. Taking Germany for an example, if you compare that to the US, you'll find that there are quite a few states that are close to the same size, and several that are bigger than an entire country. So you have quite a bit more infrastructure that needs repairing. Even if the nation started replacing every single bridge that needed replacing, starting on the east coast and working toward the west... it'd take close to 50 years to replace everything.
Moana Manana 5 months ago
In my country the water pipes are so damaged that 74% are wasted in the ground. That's horrific....
Inigo Montoya 5 months ago
It wasn't long ago that Seattle (USA) finally replaced the last remaining wooden water mains in the city. Infrastructure is expensive to maintain.
Load More Replies... #10
I think our civilization’s ability to write without Generative AI. I believe writing is thinking, and it provides clarity to our thoughts. A vast majority of university students are now relying on services like chat gpt which I believe will eventually affect us in a long run. I don’t have research backing up my claim, and I hope I’m wrong. Regardless, I’m worried.
Beak Hookage 5 months ago
I've been writing since I was a teenager and telling stories since before I could read. It's the most important thing I have in my life. At my lowest, it's one of the only things that keeps me going. The idea of handing that over to a brainless algorithm like the creative process is nothing but meaningless busywork actively disgusts me. I don't even believe in god but I still think of it as blasphemy.
Luke Branwen 5 months ago
ABSOLUTELY. Those "AI-generated books" are an insult to the very thing I've devoted my life to. It's against human nature and human creativity. I've never believed in those doomer "collapse of civilization" scenarios until computers started writing books and creating art so people have more time for work - instead of the other way around. It's wicked. It's perverse.
Load More Replies... Verena 5 months ago
I run a Facebook group for tourists. Every time I pist something, a button appears "help me writing", since a couple of days. On Facebook! Then I got two messages on LinkedIn, offering a job. Very neatly written, I thought. Then I realised they were almost identical, because written by AI. People will forget tl live and built solid experience. Failure and imperfection is an essential part of intelligent life.
#11
Here in the UK - the water table. Already seen massive drought in the north with unprecedented lack of rainfall this year. Reservoirs and rivers lower than they've been in decades. On top of leaking pipes that date back to WW2, and we could honestly be talking about real drinking water shortages in 5-10 years.
TDA_Liamo:
But then we get very wet years like last year. The UK isn't going to become a desert, but we will see swings from drought to floods, with possible water shortages if a drought goes on for a long time.
AttemptingToBeGood:
The droughty conditions wouldn't necessarily be a problem usually. The bigger issue is probably the fact our population has grown by 20% officially (the real number is likely higher) since we built our last reservoir, which was in 1992. We have one desalination plant but that has been shuttered for years.
If we have water shortage issues, it will primarily be on the state, not the climate.
Nota Robot 5 months ago
They have been warning about drinking water shortages in the Netherlands as well. I have no quick answer for existing houses. Yet we keep building new houses or entire neighbourhoods which use drinking water to flush the toilet, rather than using a (centralised) collection system for water from the sink, shower and laundry. Rain water collection is rudimentary at best. People can install a rain barrel, that's about it. Now I'm not saying all that will solve the problem completely, but it will alleviate some of it while working on a long-term solution. But that would require long-term thinking and planning.
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
We don't have a water shortage in the UK. What we've got is a privatised water system which works to maximise shareholder profit at the expense of water users. Bring it back into public ownership (costing almost nothing while dumping the debt) and our water bills will pay to fix it.. Don't take my word for it: https://theconversation.com/three-types-of-drought-and-why-theres-no-such-thing-as-a-global-water-crisis-260723. By the way, plenty of our water infrastructure is Victorian. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/09/water-companies-public-ownership-could-cost-close-to-zero-says-common-wealth-thinktank
detective miller's hat 5 months ago
You can see this where I live in New York state. I feel like for the last 3ish years we either have a drought, or torrential rain and flash floods, and nothing in between.
Inigo Montoya 5 months ago
The American southwest is ground zero for this issue. Phoenix, Las Vegas, Los Angeles are all in for major problems in the decades to come. Wells are already running dry,.and the Colorado River no longer reaches the ocean.
#12
A bunch of small ecosystems around the world
We’ve already seen reef habitats collapse. A lot of people don’t seem to understand that the coral isn’t the only thing affected; all of the fish, invertebrates, and reptiles that may live in that area will abandon it when it dies.
Peat swamps are being overharvested and destroyed by the peat moss business. Kelp forests are being destroyed by invasive urchins, certain waterways are being drained for irrigation/commercial use (like the Aral inland sea), wetlands are suffering due to pollution and deforestation is driving out keystone species that are necessary for life in those areas.
And almost all of it is being either directly or indirectly caused by us.
Thinks_22_Much:
Coral reefs also protect huge swaths of the American coastline from storm surge flooding during hurricanes. The collapse of this coral is part of what has contributed to the record flood damage we've seen from these storms in recent decades.
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
Most people have no idea how bad things are in the sea. https://theconversation.com/we-gathered-centuries-old-written-records-to-show-the-seas-around-wales-once-teemed-with-life-238139 and https://theconversation.com/what-a-19th-century-atlas-teaches-me-about-marine-ecosystems-251184
Load More Replies... Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
Peat wetlands are being restored in the UK and Ireland. We've pretty much stopped industrial exploitation of peat.
Anonymouse 5 months ago
meanwhile something like 80% of plastic waste is from only a few countries, but let's create a focus on consumer plastics and ignore the root cause... https://ourworldindata.org/ocean-plastics#:~:text=To%20tackle%20plastic%20pollution
#13
The working class. Hopefully the collapse will wake some folks up but I don't have a lot of hope when they seem perfectly happy in their caves staring at the shadows.
splendiferousgg:
I truly believe we're already in indentured servitude leading to full-on labor sl*very for all but the 1%
panaceaXgrace:
That doesn't seem unrealistic at all. After all they do this already in many countries and I know they are saying us Poors are getting too used to our 'freebies" like health care and affordable housing.
Timothy Patel 5 months ago
Someone aptly pointed out that we taxpayers are subsiding corporations who are refusing to pay a living wage or even profit share with their employees so we pay for the healthcare and affordable housing so corporations can make even more money. American corporations make a lot more money than Europeans one do. So messed up. Now the judicial system is up for sale as well, if you don't think that will make more people vigilantes...
Geoffrey Scott 5 months ago
Sorry, not 'freebies'. There are FAR more people working <40 hrs/week and not eligible or cannot afford health benefits that rely on Medicaid and SNAP than most realize. Their and our tax dollars support it. I'm ok with that as they are paying into the same system they draw from. The working poor/low income have always balanced our society on their backs, all for the promise of 'climbing the ladder' and the promise of a better life.
#14
Teachers, not teaching itself, but the whole system around it. So many teachers are underpaid, overworked, and just done. A lot are quitting quietly, or switching careers, and schools are struggling to replace them. It’s kind of scary how fast it's unraveling but no one's really screaming about it yet.
brapo68:
As a teacher ill say this. If you ever considered becoming a teacher, now is a great time. Due to the shortage we have all kinds of alt programs to license.
I love my job but I do understand why others dont. School administration, and school culture make the job.
I appreciate someone noticing us by the way.
Michael Largey 5 months ago
Red state legislatures strip teachers of every professional right they can and then wonder why there is a shortage.
Lady Eowyn 5 months ago
If brapo68 is a teacher, we're in trouble. "I'll" "Don't" Basic punctuation!
#15
Civilisations decline/collapse over generations - I'd suggest that there is a strong possibility that "the free liberal west" is in the early stages of a multi-generational decline, not unlike that of the Roman empire. Facebook and Netflix are our bread and circuses while around us cultures that are not compatible with our (democratic, egalitarian, progressive, liberal) values are rising to challenge and eventually displace us (think BRICS + ME). It won't happen in my lifetime, but it is happening.
crazyclue:
Along those lines, I think the democratic political system has gotten so gridlocked, corporatized, social media-centric, bot driven, echo chambered, and machined that it is starting a multigenerational decline itself. The next great civilization will probably come out of some new system, whatever it is, that either totally rejects or uber perfects the current trends in a novel way.
This sort of coincides with the concepts in the book Bowling Alone (at least in my mind), but I don’t think it’s entirely predictive or correct on where the future lies. We haven’t seen big enough quakes in the bedrock yet.
Inigo Montoya 5 months ago
China is likely to emerge as the new dominant global power , after the decline of the US and Europe. They are more nimble and are making better long term strategic decisions.
The Darkest Timeline 5 months ago
China also doesn’t have to worry about democratic processes gumming up the works. They just do what they want, human costs be damned. Which is exactly what the right in the US and Europe want; to be unconstrained.
Load More Replies... #16
The internet. It’s getting slower, more ads, more paywalls… And somehow we’re okay with it.
Scorpiodancer123:
It's also just more sh*t. I click on a story, it's written by AI, shoddy spelling, grammar and sentence construction, such that some "articles" barely make sense. Assuming I can even read them amongst the adverts and still assuming the entire article isn't just an advert in itself.
And then I get to have a dozen other articles about the same content, "written" in almost the same words by another organisation.
Even reputable agencies are getting worse. Never thought I'd turn off "BBC Breaking News" - once a national tragedy or global crisis of major importance now any old bit of news they haven't reported yet or some "celebrity" bollocks.
Google has gone beyond s**t for finding information and searching f*****g Gmail for an email is an absolute sh*t show.
Needing an account or even an app for absolutely f*****g everything while we hand over our information to companies "who value our privacy and promise to look after our data" who then get a "data breach" which is basically code for "sold off".
#17
Food prices are about to skyrocket in the US. Due to certain outside factors, farms are reporting 80% of their workers arent showing up. They don't have the manpower to harvest the crops, some of which need to be harvested wiithin a one day window. Farmers fear they may spoil on the plant. There is the possibility of food shortages, and may have a major ripple effect throughout the world due to the US role as a major food exporter.
JB 5 months ago (edited)
And what "outside factors" would those be, again? Pretty sure it's one particular internal factor and its circle of f*****t cronies.
Owen 5 months ago (edited)
I have said it before and I'll say it again. Tr*mp was helped into power to destabilize the West. It's happened. But the results of a government will not truly show for a couple of years. Maybe less considering what has happened. EDIT I don't think Tr*mp is aware he is being manipulated. He's not smart enough.
Load More Replies... Beak Hookage 5 months ago
Well gosh, all that farm work them immigants were stealing from honest Americans... aren't being reclaimed by the people who supposedly had them stolen off them. Fancy that.
Multa Nocte 5 months ago
"Due to certain outside factors, farms are reporting 80% of their workers arent showing up." You mean ICE?
Geoffrey Scott 5 months ago
Would be a hoot if ICE showed up at Mar-A-Lago and every other property the "Orange God" owns just to see if he would be as ravaged as our farmers, meatpackers/slaughterhouses, housekeeping, construction would be.
Load More Replies... Lady Eowyn 5 months ago
Immigrants aren't stealing jobs from Americans. They are doing the jobs Americans don't want to do.
detective miller's hat 5 months ago
I live in a very rural area with a lot of huge farms. It's eerie driving past them every day on my commute and seeing how many of the fields were just never planted this year because a ton of the migrant farmers never came back in spring.
Forrest Hobbs 5 months ago
"Outside factors" like, erm, the US government getting rid of the farm workers *and* imposing import duty on, ooh, the entire rest of the world so 1) the US will have to import more food due to lost domestic production and 2) that imported food will cost more because the importers will have to pay federal tax on it.
#18
The movie industry feels that way in Hollywood right now.
theducks:
Agreed. I used to see several movies per year.. literally the only thing I’ve been slightly interested in seeing was Nicolas Cage’s The Surfer, which sickens me to be honest.
Beak Hookage 5 months ago
I used to go to the movies all the time. It's one of my favourite things to do. But now? It's just FAR too expensive.
person (i think) 5 months ago
Yeah, I got out of the habit when I moved to nyc and movies cost $20, instead of the like $8 I paid before. Even after moving away, I never got back into the habit.
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Huddo's sister 5 months ago
My favourite movie theatre used to do double features, with a range of new release and retro ones. Now they mainly use it for private functions, with just the occasional new release movies.
ADJ 5 months ago
Some 25 years ago I could not afford to go to cinema often. I did not earn very much, and with one kid and second on the way there were always more important things to buy. On rare occasion when I was able to go to cinema, there were at least 3 (usualy more) good movies to choose from on any given day, but I could only afford one. Now, I could go to cinema as often as I wish since money is no longer a problem, thing is, there are no good movies to choose from. I prefer to sit with my wife in front of TV in the evening and watch some movie from 1980s or 1990s.
Little Bit 5 months ago
Most Hollywood moves are remakes, prequels or sequels. Hardly anything original is produced these days. I generally find that if there's a lot of hype about a movie it's going to be c**p.
Nathan Lewis 5 months ago (edited)
horror is really the only genre that is seeing a boom and increase in quality currently. Everything else is just CGI disney slop.
Michael Largey 5 months ago
I stopped going because of the behavior of the audiences. They think they're home sitting on the couch, chattering away as they watch Netflix.
Trisec Tebeakesse 5 months ago
When we get the live-action remake of a digital remake of a hand-drawn animated movie, Hollywood is clearly out of ideas.
#20
*gestures around in general.*
ShoddyInitiative2637:
Everyone wants a better world, except for the few as*holes at the top who are in charge and are hellbent on making sure that we don't get what we want so they can keep their profits.
They learned long ago that if they can manage to keep people distracted fighting with each other, they can do whatever they want.
This is why the news is a 24/7 broadcast of the most sensational but irrelevant bullsh*t, and politics is a two party mud throwing contest . They'll never tell you or let you vote on the truly important things.
The US political system is completely rigged to keep it that way. Congress repealed the secret ballot in 1970, and fed you some bullshit about needing to know how your congressmen vote. The problem with that is, that without the secret ballot, you completely enable the rich to buy, intimidate or coerce every single important vote. They've have 55 years now to rig politics in their favor, and they have done so with unfathomable success.
I'd even go so far as to say that there is no chance anymore of a fair election or good politician ever being able to completely fix things. It's so utterly broken that the only way to ever fix the US political system, and the same goes for many other countries, is a violent uprising where the entire thing is scrapped in one go and we start over.
Ohm Bun 5 months ago
I don't think everybody wants a better world. I mean, of course everybody says they want a better world, but when it comes to actually doing something about that, it turns out they're not really keen on making the effort. Like, maybe buy less stuff, maybe you don't need to have the newest iphone, maybe you don't need to drink that starbucks c**p that comes in a plastic cup, maybe dont buy stuff wrapped in plastic, maybe buy less clothes, maybe less Temu, less driving and more using the public transport. So, if you put these questions to people, I think you will come to a different opinion
nicholas nolan 5 months ago
lol, you explain to me where I can buy anything but fresh vegetables not wrapped in plastic and we'll have something. Everting comes in plastic wrap and that's not a change I can affect.
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DeeDee M 5 months ago
Except for the fact that if things are to the point where we have a violent uprising and "the entire thing is scrapped in one go" that means thousands will die. Mass death and chaos is never the answer. The people in charge of said uprising would be lawless, power hungry psychos, worse than what we have, who are totally OK wth mass murder to achieve their ends. Handmaids Tale anyone?? No thank you.
#21
Pretty much the entire US. But if you want to cite one specific thing, the civil infrastructure: roads, dams, bridges, sewers, etc. It's all little more than painted-over rust. We are headed for some major disasters in the country, and it won't be because illegal aliens are picking lettuce or because the library has a gay book in it.
Picture this: it's 2029, and The Big Quake finally hits LA. Now mainly due to the state's super-strict earthquake building codes (or as Republicans call them, "job-k*****g regulations"), the surface damage and deaths are relatively light. But underground, it's a different story. Hundreds of miles of aging sewer lines collapse into rubble, and for months--maybe years--nobody in downtown LA can flush a toilet. Think people might get interested in the topic THEN?
Luke Branwen 5 months ago
And once it happens, the RepubliKKKans will once again do some mental gymnastics to make it somehow the fault of Democrats, liberals, immigrants, LGBT agenda and the (((deep state))).
Philly Bob 5 months ago
It's a blue, left liberal state so they'll get no help because they weren't loyal and paid no fealty to the orange jeebus.
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#22
Everything.
Bottom half of the entire u.s. population only own 2.5% of wealth. Wages have stagnated for decades, costs have soared.
Guess what? Consumer spending is finally so low that Mcdonalds is begging people to come back. Small businesses are dropping like flies.
Theres about to be a whole lot of people homeless in a decade.
The people living paycheck to paycheck a few years ago are now homeless. Cycle repeats.
Then you have rampant corruption, all the U.S. media is owned by 6 companies.
Few countries are much better in terms of income/spending.
wowbagger 5 months ago
I think there are a lot more people who are homeless than statistics show. Once you start noticing people living in their cars, you see them everywhere. They keep a low profile so they don't get hassled by the cops. And then there are lots of people "couch-surfing" until their friends' patience runs out.
#23
Produce. Immigrant farm workers are either in ICE detention and being processed for deportation, or they're justifiably too scared to be available. Nobody else has the intestinal fortitude to do the work. Fruit and veg aren't showing up on store shelves -- they're all out rotting in fields and orchards.
Horosho Bodka 5 months ago
because they want the disabled and kids to do it. for very little.
Load More Replies... #24
Bees. They are basically gone. I seen two this summer so far and I have extensive gardens planted with native species.
WindySwede 5 months ago
Mostly Solitary Bees? Honeybees are thriving as far as I know. Help solitary ones, bumble bees, and etc. Plant local species for both pollen and nectar!
Historyherstory (old guy) 5 months ago
Hive collapse is well documented. Pollinators are crucial.
Šimon Špaček 5 months ago
We have way less honeybees in our garden this year, but we have seen few other species of bees and bumblebees instead. And two species of dragonflies, which helps a bit with mosquitoes. Also we have way less wasps and hornets this year and also butterflies changed on our garden a lot. I think that there are two main reasons for those changes, one is having much more flowers there and the other one is feeding birds in winter, they love to eat caterpillars so maybe this year we will have our own cabbage for the first time!
TheRightToArmBears (riff/tone) 5 months ago
Around my parts, I am seeing a lot more bees the last few summers. Really hopeit continues
Allen Packard 5 months ago
I'm not sure where you're at, here in Michigan (US) they are thriving. I have sunflowers blooming right now and they are full of bees. I see them everywhere.
nicholas nolan 5 months ago
I have nine species of bees that frequent my tiny yard. This person should stop raking leaves in the autumn. That's what I did. And we also have summer nights that look like 1987, with all the fireflies.
#25
The Cascadia Subduction Zone.
Altril2010:
There was a really interesting article published a month or so ago about the subduction zone. It turns out that not all the faults are connected. So even when the “big one” hits the way the plates react is going to be slightly different than originally projected. Some areas will be much worse off and a few others may not see as much as an impact. It also means that if one area of the fault slips it doesn’t necessarily mean that the whole zone will.
No evidence for an active margin-spanning megasplay fault at the Cascadia Subduction Zone
Margaret Wartime 5 months ago
Wow I love very close to the line. We actually had a tsunami warning like 2-3 days ago from an earthquake.
#26
Democracy.
The Darkest Timeline 5 months ago
The right would say they’re finally getting democracy; they’ve gotten what they’ve wanted for decades. But, in the fashion of conservatives everywhere, the goal is to pull the ladder up after they get theirs.
Load More Replies... #27
The US.
Blenderhead36:
The imminent collapse of the US is possibly the most-talked-about thing in the world. I've had to stop listening to multiple podcasts that are not about current events because of how much time they were devoting to the imminent collapse of the US.
Geoffrey Scott 5 months ago
I am optimistic we will not collapse. Oh, it will be ugly and brutal to sort out, but I am still optimistic. No one seems to realize we are all having the same angst and once we tune in and figure out WHY(playing us against each other) it will NOT go well for those 'in charge', right OR left. IMO, external forces who would see us collapse fail to recognize/remember when you wake the beast, it will not go well for you.
keyboardtek 5 months ago
The external forces like Russian bot interference in US politics is also not helped by then having Russia's preferred candidate become president.
Load More Replies... #29
The Anthropocene.
Anthropocene is a term that has been used to refer to the period of time during which humanity has become a planetary force of change. It appears in scientific and social discourse, especially with respect to accelerating geophysical and biochemical changes that characterize the 20th and 21st centuries on Earth.
Bob Brooce 5 months ago
The total collapse of the Anthropocene will be the best thing to happen to the Earth in roughly 4.5 billion years. I almost wish I could be there to see it play out.
Day Andie 5 months ago
Too many people doing too much s**t. The world turns into a toilet. Mother Nature flushes.
Load More Replies... #30
Restaurant industry. What use to be a once a week treat or every payday is now every few months. Night out now cost a week’s worth of groceries.
Margaret Wartime 5 months ago
And groceries are ridiculous too. I feel like I go in for 3-4 items and it somehow always costs $100 lmao
keyboardtek 5 months ago
A wonderful new restaurant opened near us and only lasted eight months because the prices were so high.
#31
Us constitution.
Michael Largey 5 months ago
No, just by their rulers and their blind/cowardly followers.
Load More Replies... #32
The 'enrollment cliff' is starting. This year, the lack of kids born during and after the 2008 recession are starting to graduate h**h school. In this population pyramid, you can see that starting at the 15-19 age group, birth rates went down and kept going down. Now, it was already going down on average, but right before the recession there was a small uptick that could have been a turnaround.
Any institution that works with h**h school grads have been panicking for the last few years knowing that this demographic shift is going to happen. Smaller universities have already been closing or merging into the state system. The US military has already been having issues with recruitment (for multiple reasons, not just population). There literally are less kids available to recruit (university, military, trade school, internships, entry level jobs that don't require college) than the year before. Then, starting in ~4 years, there is going to be difficulty recruiting college grads, for the same reason. Kids and adults going to the trades just compounds this issue.
CynthiaChames:
I also think a large part of it is Gen Z apathy. I'm sure they see their millennial siblings struggling to find secure work with their expensive degrees and wonder why they should invest in college too.
Moana Manana 5 months ago
Here as well. I read that for the this academic year we won't have any biology students. Not one! Very few physics and chemistry... I wonder who will teach our kids in the years to come
Philly Bob 5 months ago
Well, since they are dissolving the department of education and colleges are now bowing down to the orange jeebus, we won't need educatiing. They'll be programming and indoctrinating them.
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zovjraar me 5 months ago
i read just this week that unemployment for college graduates now matches unemployment for high school graduates. meaning, you have as much a chance finding a job without a college degree as you do with one.
keyboardtek 5 months ago
Now that you mention it, I see maybe three kids ever outside playing in our neighborhood. Mostly see retired folk in the stores.
#33
Colleges.
CynthiaChames:
My dad works at an admission office for a community college and they're having a hard time filling classes. I also worked at a h**h school-to-college transition program and we had to pivot our curriculum because an increasing number students were more interested in trades. We all got laid off because, amongst other things, we couldn't fill our quota for college acceptances. There was just so little interest.
keyboardtek 5 months ago
I had one conservative person tell me the cause of the high college tuition fees was the government making low interest college loans available. Blame the government? But do not blame the greedy colleges?
Load More Replies... #34
Society. We are living through unprecedented technological and econonomical upheaval and I think almost everyone can feel it. The fabric that holds our communities and societies together is slowly unraveling.
Šimon Špaček 5 months ago
We live in unprecedented times. 500 years ago when you had kids, you told them what they should be. Often they continued in the same business as you, not always, but in most cases they did. 100 years ago you could tell them "hey, this looks like a good industry with potential, go for it". 20 years ago it was still basically the same thing, "hey, you should study XYZ, you will be good". Today? I have no idea what the good field in 15 years will be.
#37
Fireflies.
Anonymouse 5 months ago
we had a bright light in our back yard, and my wife read about this and suggested we turn it off, since it impacts firefly mating. Turned it off - not one firefly blinking. A few days later there were half a dozen blinking. SO, the light pollution seems to definitely be a factor. Turn off some lights!
nicholas nolan 5 months ago
And stop raking leaves! Seriously! Looks liek the 80s in my yard since I quit doing that!
Load More Replies... Šimon Špaček 5 months ago
I can happily report that we have a small population of them in our garden. 8 years ago there were none, but now you can see a green light from time to time. It is getting better.
#38
Between climate change (frequency & severity of storms) and inflation/tariffs (cost to repair), the insurance industry is taking a huge hit.
Premiums are on the rise to try to offset it, which as a consumer I’m not happy about either, but a few more major catastrophes and even the largest, most stable carriers could belly up.
#39
I mean, human civilization truthfully but people are talking about it. Especially the United States. It's being discussed but people are convinced something like that can't happen. Ya know because powerful countries and civilizations have NEVER collapsed before.
#40
Western civilization. Crumbling infrastructure, regulatory capture, increasingly authoritarian governments with autocratic aspirations, idiocracy of the masses. It's all lining up.
keyboardtek 5 months ago
I had to look up regulatory capture. Even after reading the Wikipedia explanation I cannot tell if it means government regulation is good or bad. People forget the reason government regulations came into existence is because the private sector refuses to self police itself. Corporations have no morals and have to be forced to do the safe thing.
The Darkest Timeline 5 months ago
Some regulation is necessary but the problem is that regulatory capture is allowed. It’s basically that the industry has a large hand in writing regulations in a way that is advantageous to them rather than keeping them honest.
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#42
Private Equity is full on bubble. They are buying into every market and leveraging it to the hilt. I'm talking debt priced at SOFR plus 6. If this economy takes a turn, this s**t will burst and take down plenty of businesses/employees.
Count2Zer:
I work for a PE-owned company.
This is happening. They sold the real estate - the company campus and buildings - to another company in their portfolio. So, the company now has to pay rent for buildings that it used to own. It's all about "increasing the multiplier" and "maximizing EBITDA" ... and everything is based on short-term (quarterly) reporting.
Our ERP system is going end-of-life in about 6 years. We KNOW that we have to start a project to select, design, build, and migrate all processes and data into a new ERP system. But, this is an 8-digit project (I'd estimate about 25 to 30 million Euros) with no ROI. It's all about risk reduction, not profit generation.
The shareholders and board of directors have made it clear that the project will not be approved - it's clearly seen as "2030? We'll be long gone by then, so it's not our problem!"
At this point, it's becoming my attitude as well. I'll be retiring in 2031 latest. It won't be my problem to solve, but I do feel sorry for my younger colleagues...
Šimon Špaček 5 months ago
I see that everywhere. No long-term investments, only quick returns. It hit me hardest when I want to chateau Ratměřice. There are two sequoia trees in the garden. And Otto Chotek didn't bring it to see it, he brought them because he saw them in America and wanted them for his great-great-great-...-grandchildren. And you can see it in a lot of old noble families, not thinking about them or their children, but thinking about next ten generations. We lack that completely now. If you are a CEO, will you pass the company to your kids? Usually not, there will be some guy taking over. You don't care about that guy. If you are a politician, you will not run a project that will bring in a huge benefit in 5 years, because by then somebody else may be in your chair and this opposition guy will get all the credit. So everyone with power aims at quick recoveries, not long-term investments.
The Darkest Timeline 5 months ago
Exactly; speculation is causing massive bubbles. The next one to pop is AI.
Load More Replies... #43
Firehouse Subs, the other day they sent a 50% off your order by ordering online, within 20 minutes of ordering the 50% off order they sent a free sub with any purchase coupon in an email. I walked out of that place with an additional sub for the price of a cookie. They got to be going belly up, with all the coupons they send out.
keyboardtek 5 months ago
That is a matter of personal preference. The one near me has the best subs I have ever eaten.
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#46
NASA.
Philly Bob 5 months ago
To be replaced by SpaceX... why do you think Elon wants to k**l it off?
What do you think ?
Yrral Spavit 5 months ago
We are headed to a climate that the planet has seen before but not our species. I would not be surprised to find that the last generation has already been born. Hope the raccoons or octopi fare better than we did when they take over.
WindySwede 5 months ago
I thought it was the time frame it is happening during? Previously the species had time to adapt slowly over millenia. Now just a few years?
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MsAnnThrope 5 months ago
I want the UK Labour government to collapse. It can't happen soon enough.
Yrral Spavit 5 months ago
We are headed to a climate that the planet has seen before but not our species. I would not be surprised to find that the last generation has already been born. Hope the raccoons or octopi fare better than we did when they take over.
WindySwede 5 months ago
I thought it was the time frame it is happening during? Previously the species had time to adapt slowly over millenia. Now just a few years?
Load More Replies... MsAnnThrope 5 months ago
I want the UK Labour government to collapse. It can't happen soon enough.
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