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“What Is Acceptable Today That You Think Won’t Be Acceptable 100 Years From Now?”: 35 Predictions Shared By Our Community
“Every man is the creature of the age in which he lives; very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time,” wrote Voltaire.
Many institutions, attitudes, actions, etc. that people of previous generations found perfectly acceptable are frowned on today. Racism, child labor, blood sports - all of these are generally unacceptable today. So I asked the Bored Panda community to share their thoughts on what they think will be impermissible 100 years in the future. Here are all the answers!
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Climate change denial
Certain cultures being allowed to do bad things because it’s part of their tradition
"Just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it's not incredibly stupid." -despair.com
Religious exemption of medical care for minors.
Plastic packaging.
Celebrities being paid so much more than teachers and caregivers
Hopefully, sexual harassment and victim blaming
And stop excusing 'historic sex crimes' with - it was a different time. No it wasn't wrong was wrong. Just because there was a lack of prosecution years ago, that didn't make it OK. Prosecution is still far from good enough, and 20 years from now todays offenders might get tried and they will all cry and say 'but every one was doing it'
'9-to-5' jobs in offices. Maybe not 'unacceptable' per se, but I expect future generations to focus more on each person's individual productive hours and remote work (even more than now).
Absolutely. This whole nine to five is a joke. Do your best work when you're at your best.
Pay differences based on gender, trans/homophobia
Schools punishing kids for getting beat up and trying to fight back.
Or just generally schools using punishment for emotional issues at all. Consequences have their place but rewarding positive behaviour works a lot better. We don't teach our kids to negotiate properly either from an authority/ education perspective so the can also ask questions and understand why we are asking for specific behaviour to change, so they can't then do their own thinking and problem solving as well as self risk management (I work with young people in the criminal justice system and the stories I could tell you.. 🙃
I really hope it doesn't take anywhere close to 100 years! Wasting precious Helium on stupid inflatable single-use balloons or to make your voice higher. We have a limited supply on Earth that is rapidly running out and once it's gone, it's gone. The only other source is literally the Sun and it's not like we can mine that! And when it goes you can kiss goodbye to MRI machines (which use liquid Helium to work) and our ability to look inside your bodies and diagnose medical problems and save lives without requiring dangerous, time-consuming and often life-limiting or life-threatening invasive exploratory surgeries.
Mass treating mentally ill patients (especially schizophrenia) with dumbing-down medication so they just suffer in silence and not bother "other people" with the "noisy symptoms". I'm a medical student and all antipsychotics have their place and indeed are lifesavers but in my opinion, they are over-used and not ideal for long-term therapy. They do not solve the root of the problem, they just make it temporarily more manageable -which is great but we should not leave behind the end goal. TL;DR: subduing problematic mentally ill patients with medication for decades instead of searching for / researching other options.
I'm a licensed counselor with 25 years of experience, and this is inaccurate. Nobody wants to quiet them or dumb them down,they want them to be as healthy and productive as they can be in life,and that means taking away or muting the voices that tell them to hurt themselves or how awful they are. Would you prefer people suffer from their disorder?
Medicine not tailored to the person's DNA. Medicine, food, housing, education being a luxury item.
Unhoused individuals. People will be treated with dignity, housed, rehabilitated if it occurred is needed, taught skills, etc.
Their are perfectly fine small housing developments in Seattle I thought they were finally taking care of the HUGE homeless population. Guess what, they were for sale
Buildings and public places being inaccessible for disabled people.
Absolutely! There is literally NO excuse for not making buildings and places accessible
I very much hope the Prosperity Gospel will be frowned upon in future generations.
The treatment of my neurodivergent learners and students will evolve. In 100 years, forcing neurodiverse children to suffer, struggle, and undergo forced change will be over. We will focus on creating a more equitable school system that asks neurotypical people to support all students, as they are.
Yes please, I hope everyone can find the same care and learning environment as my brother .
"Cancelling" people and ruining their careers based on a rumour or allegation. There's nothing wrong with exposing sexists, rapists, abusers and all that lot, but at least put in some effort to fact-check the allegations and rumours before lynching the "offenders". People put in years of hard work to build a career and it just takes one attention-deficient psychopath to ruin all of their work. Also: ignoring victim statements because of the social position and wealth of the accused person.
Actually it might become wrong to expose the latter because it comes before a fair trial. Law is law and just because one person does a heinous act against humanity and caught red-handed, the law cannot just be exempted for one person and not another. There's already problems with people wrongly accused for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or mistaken identity or just situations taken out of context. I feel it's going to be unacceptable to stick a camera in a man's face accusing him of preying on children at a park when he's just with his son because some vigilante is itching to catch a predator.
Tolerance of attention-seeking deliberate stupidity (ie. flat-Earthers, anti-vaxxers, etc.) is likely to go down. Real, verifiable and researched information is widely available on these subjects and will only become easier still to access as time goes by. Such mindsets will be seen as intentionally being difficult as the ability to say that you've never had access to said information becomes more and more impossible to claim.
Idk I mean I sure hope this becomes unacceptable someday but I feel like there will always be someone who has "opinions" like this ya know?
Stupidity is eternal, but the means of manifestation has changed over the years. Many of the shows of deliberate stupidity from centuries past are no longer tolerated (such as the "hysteria" movement), but during their time were held by many an idiot and exploitative monster as a golden standard of thinking.
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Sorry, but this is nonsense. Stupidity has always been part of the human race and isn't likely to leave it anytime soon. Pointing out that we have access to more information now is ignoring that we also have access to misinformation now. While some stupid things from the past have disappeared is ignoring how many new ones popped up. I mean seriously just look at everything we had in the past year with Covid, anti-maskers, anti-vaxers, 5G conspirators and what not.
Maybe i am older than OP but i grew up in a time where flatearthers and antivaxxs were not a thing.
That's because A we had a good wide education, and B we saw friends and relatives die from diseases which are now avoidable by vaccine
Load More Replies... Stupid has always been with us and always will. However back in the 80's and 90's I can't recall EVER seeing anyone on television or in the press arguing about how they believe the Earth is flat (for example). The only thing that's changed is the advent of the internet which has allowed any dingbat with any bonkers belief to gain a platform and connect with other cross eyed lunatics who agree with them. I don't see the internet going anywhere anytime soon so unfortunately I think we're stuck with them.
The information is already available - it just has to compete with the loud mouthed BS spouting idiots, whose output has the same "fair chance" of being represented.
Tolerance of snide people who think that anyone who disagrees with them should not be tolerated.
Sadly no. We all know the comics from a century ago about the very same issues that we have now. From governments spending more on the military than on care for the sick, needy and poor to people acting stupid during a pandemic and everything in between. What we learn from history is that it keeps repeating itself but in a worse way than we could imagine.
YES. I'm not someone who panics but the other day someone posted this video of about 5k people gathering for this event of Christian extremists called the 7 Mountain Dominionists who took vows to use force against anyone they deem an enemy of their religious viewpoint. They literally read out a list of people and it was anyone in the lgbt community, feminists, liberals of just about any kind, any program like schools which don't teach Christianity, any publications talking about lgbt or women's issues, and anyone who they feel are enemies to their goals. Just listening to 5k people making vows I got a chill down my spine. I know we all talk about how it's becoming the Handmaid's tale but...this was truly a little scary. I shouldn't have to fear that I'm going to be killed by some guy with a gun because I don't believe in the same religion. I will never understand religious arguments to this violent point. It's insanity and should be called so.
Stupid people breed more frequently and nurture the stupidity in the next generation. Hard to break the mold.
Why would that go down in 100yrs when there's easier access to genuine information now than there ever has been, and yet people's belief in crazy conspiracies, flat earth, faked moon landings, anti vax, etc are increasing.
The first thing humanity does when they colonize Mars is starting a Flat Earth society just out of spite.
So we become intolerant of new/ differing ideas? Ignaz Semmelweiss promoted the stupid idea of doctors washing hands between patients. Society was not tolerant of that. He was an outcast. Who is going to decide what is "stupid"? Intolerance is a dangerous path
Just like my buddy Ron White says "You can't fix stupid!" You're always going to have a group of people who go against the facts or system because they don't accept data, science, evidence, etc. You can only lead the horse to water, you can't make it drink. 🤷😜
So people will not be allowed to question our government on the stupid things they try to force on people?
Doubtful. They have been around for thousands of years. Literally. Knowledge doesn't fix this.
Idk, either. I feel like that, with all the growing 'tolerance' in my country, and the way people seem to be so terrified of offending anyone (plus all the people who scream "freedom of speech!!" and all that), this may only get worse... :-(
Do you stop to ask a person why they are against vaccination? My younger brother had a nearly fatal reaction to the 'of so essential' childhood 'triple antigen' vaccine. He was born normal and healthy. Afterwards, he nearly completely dehydrated within 24hrs, lifesaving efforts left him a vegetable. After much physio therapy, he is now autistic, mentally r******d, non-verbal, epileptic, has a raft of allergies, ocd, and lacks fine motor control... all as a result of the acquired body and brain injury. And yes, I do take the tried and tested vaccinations, myself. I'm just very particular about what I allow in my body.
The information is out there now, these people choose not to believe it. These people also, unfortunately, breed and stupid begats stupid
I'm not so sure we will be rid of them. People relish their own stupidity. Back in the days of the Spanish Flu there were those who breached lockdown and anti-maskers. This despite all the medical evidence of the day being publicised in newspapers and flyers. Now with even more access and a hundred years of experience the public are still as bad. I sincerely hope I'm wrong and the people of the future are smarter..
You are stupidly optimistic. Real, verifiable and researched information has been available and in many cases provided to a wide swath of humanity for the last 100 years or so yet here we are today. What magic bullet do you think is going to come down the barrel that will change humanity for the better? The problem is that "everything old is new again". This means that the frame of reference becomes lost. This loss of frame of reference generally starts being felt strongest at the third generation past the point of reference. Humanity, by and large, is taught roughly 4,000 years of history yet we continually repeat the mistakes of the past because "it'll be different this time".
I can't see the tolerance level dropping any time soon. There have been anti-vaccine conspirators since vaccines were first developed. And there have been flat-earthers at least since it was discovered the earth was a sphere.
That's not what freedom of speech is. It's not freedom from consequences. Idiotic.
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Yes, it is. But I can't imagine why you wouldn't.
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Absence of universal healthcare and discrimination of people based on nationality, ethnicity, skin color, social status, etc.
I feel it's getting worse but might level out in 100 years. There may be another major pandemic. Universal healthcare has become threatened in some nations.
Hopefully, homophobia and transphobia won't be socially acceptable. I know so many individuals who have to hide who they are because their parents won't accept them, and could risk being disowned.
How people twist religion and take it a step too far. I hope that ends
Food wastage
How in the hell is this not up voted for? There is NOTHING wrong with freeganism. Okay not for he faint of heart but the sheer waste of food from high profile restaurants? There are more than enough persons who could easily be fed.
Personal freedom, free air and water (I'm a pessimist)
Free water is definitely on the list. Most natural resources are teetering on the brink, and I think water will be the first big divider. I am glad I am old and won't have to be here for the cataclysm. The planet can't go on as it is, and the change will probably only come with violence, and may well be too late even then. I still hold hope that we'll wake up, but then we get the donald trumps of the world...
The Republican and Democrat parties.
HOPEFULLY:
Racism, sexism, sexual assault, abusive relationships and HAVING TO PAY FOR MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS!!!
So... what, you want companies to just give you menstrual products for free? You know if they do that they'll go out of business, or just stop making menstrual products altogether. Then what will you do?
The glass ceiling. It is still around, although not nearly as obviously as it once was. When I was growing up, women were housewives and mothers. If they HAD to work, they could be teachers, nurses, secretaries, or any of the other 'women's work'. Now, women can choose any career, but in too many institutions, the good ol' boy network is as strong as ever, and actively screening out women and others. There are too many law firms, financial institutions and other corporate structures where promotions are based, not on ability, but on being 'one of the boys'.
My grandfather didn’t let me open a jar for him because I was “threatening his masculinity.”
Controversial one but: The death penalty
Of course these are based in the U.S. because it's where I am. But some are universal
People going hungry,when just down the corner is plenty..
Native American People on reservations or anywhere else they don't want to be.
Education being priced so far out of the range of anyone, that is a basic need to a majority.
The fact that if your grandma's grandpa was very very poor, and then so on, until the most recent generation, one is doomed to have to fight harder, and longer, for everything you get. Rich or even middle class privilege isn't even realized by those who have it, but the lack of it is glaring to those who don't.
Animals being allowed to breed into feral colonies, and go without homes.
Nursing homes that are paid by the state being so substandard.
Female centric birth control
Plastic overused until it comes out everywhere
Oil rigs, and transport ships
Police brutality
And this I hope is no longer tolerated
Hate.
Anything that a private company can do, the government can, and will, do worse, and at greater cost.
Media companies asking people to make content for free.
Eating meat from dead animals. I bet on artificially grown meal-like substance.
Note: this post originally had 68 images. It’s been shortened to the top 34 images based on user votes.
This article is not accurate at all. It should be "What do you hope won't be acceptable 100 years from now"
I was thinking that. We have no idea what they'll think or do. And history says that a lot of what we currently believe ferverently, they will find either hilarious or horrifying.
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I have an ongoing dream that the leaders will say, "We're going to war" and the military will collectively reply, "No." And completely refuse. Don't have any hope that it will happen, just wish it would.
Abusing animals and the planet. Hopefully 100 years from now both will have the same rights as human beings.
I hope so too! When I See deer I yell "Trust nothing on two legs!!! Good luck!!" Run bambi run!!!!
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Hooters and strip clubs. Hopefully lust would be less socially acceptable, or at least when wouldn't be shamed for it. Either way.
Breast and butt implants. Hopefully 100 years from now women will be smarter than that.
Cruises. They are just garbage dumpsters in our precious oceans.
Treating cancer patients with chemotherapy and radiation. Future generations will think we were absolutely insane for doing that.
Reminds me of the hospital sequence in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home"
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In the US, employees not being guaranteed paid vacations, sick days, and parental leave.
I think with the way the world is going right now. Anything and everything will be acceptable. It's already happening now we make excuses and justifications for almost everything nowadays. Even if it's wrong people are just constantly making an excuse and justifying stuff that we know deep down is not okay. So I think in the future there won't be anything that's not deemed acceptable somehow. Humanity is already proving what I'm saying. Kind of like a free for all, screw you you can't tell me what to do future. Granted some people will know where to draw the line. But from what I've seen 1st hand, anything goes and there's not much anyone can do about it if we are not all on the same page. The amount of people I've seen justify things that are absolutely horrible is to damn high. It's only getting worse from what I see, very misguided and if you speak up about it all. People will get upset and say chill, it's not that serious, or it's a joke, or any other excuse to get away with whatever it is going on. Kind of sad when you think about it.
Well ... this is the optimistic part. The pessimist in me says, the minority with bad intentions and/or greed trumping ethical consideration of the results of their doing will get it their ways, as long as the truly caring minority remains a minority. I don't wanna sound like I'm perfect or so ... I'm not. But, it takes effort and belief of a majority, endurance and commitment and tolerance against the frustrating experience that it often not even not pays off, but leaves no other impact than you paying more (be it in time, be it in money, be it in social outcastery) and nobody caring.
Unfortunately everything related to in-group/out-group, politics, religion, conspiracies, money and having power over others will never die. It's human nature to judge, hoard, and exclude. Competition is crucial for survival and evolution. It sucks royally but it's not just humans and it's not going to change in any species ever.
Hypocrites, especially celebrity ones. Why are they still admired when time after time they get caught out in their lies.
This is weird but I think tubing like on a lake will be illegal cause two of my cousins have broken their joses
The recycling of content is getting worse and worse. Now BP is recycling whole posts. BP was fun while it lasted.
Sorry, I'm all for change, but most of these have been around for thousands of years. All of humanity. 100 years is a blink of the eye.
Sounds very optimistic. I want to believe it too, but when I see how it is now, I don't have much faith in humanity.
I know this will probably be disagreeable with a lot of people but being allowed to live an un-healthy life (both physically and mentally). The societal strain cause be people's inability (and freedom) to live unhealthy lives is really starting to show. I hope it becomes socially unacceptable to tolerate such things and have all of society as a whole push to make things better.
I hope that in the future we will stop treating domestic violence and sexual violence against men as a joke. We have to realize that male rape isn't a joke. Cutting off male genitalia shouldn't be "funny". I see a lot of media that is sensitive to every subject ... except male victims of domestic and sexual violence, and the problem isn't just that men are the victims. It's that ANY time we treat this kind of violence as a joke, it's bad for EVERYBODY.
Say you're a racist and/or homophobic piece of s**t without saying you're a racist and/or homophobic piece of s**t
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As a black person... it does tho?
Load More Replies... This article is not accurate at all. It should be "What do you hope won't be acceptable 100 years from now"
I was thinking that. We have no idea what they'll think or do. And history says that a lot of what we currently believe ferverently, they will find either hilarious or horrifying.
Load More Replies... I have an ongoing dream that the leaders will say, "We're going to war" and the military will collectively reply, "No." And completely refuse. Don't have any hope that it will happen, just wish it would.
Abusing animals and the planet. Hopefully 100 years from now both will have the same rights as human beings.
I hope so too! When I See deer I yell "Trust nothing on two legs!!! Good luck!!" Run bambi run!!!!
Load More Replies... Hooters and strip clubs. Hopefully lust would be less socially acceptable, or at least when wouldn't be shamed for it. Either way.
Breast and butt implants. Hopefully 100 years from now women will be smarter than that.
Cruises. They are just garbage dumpsters in our precious oceans.
Treating cancer patients with chemotherapy and radiation. Future generations will think we were absolutely insane for doing that.
Reminds me of the hospital sequence in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home"
Load More Replies... In the US, employees not being guaranteed paid vacations, sick days, and parental leave.
I think with the way the world is going right now. Anything and everything will be acceptable. It's already happening now we make excuses and justifications for almost everything nowadays. Even if it's wrong people are just constantly making an excuse and justifying stuff that we know deep down is not okay. So I think in the future there won't be anything that's not deemed acceptable somehow. Humanity is already proving what I'm saying. Kind of like a free for all, screw you you can't tell me what to do future. Granted some people will know where to draw the line. But from what I've seen 1st hand, anything goes and there's not much anyone can do about it if we are not all on the same page. The amount of people I've seen justify things that are absolutely horrible is to damn high. It's only getting worse from what I see, very misguided and if you speak up about it all. People will get upset and say chill, it's not that serious, or it's a joke, or any other excuse to get away with whatever it is going on. Kind of sad when you think about it.
Well ... this is the optimistic part. The pessimist in me says, the minority with bad intentions and/or greed trumping ethical consideration of the results of their doing will get it their ways, as long as the truly caring minority remains a minority. I don't wanna sound like I'm perfect or so ... I'm not. But, it takes effort and belief of a majority, endurance and commitment and tolerance against the frustrating experience that it often not even not pays off, but leaves no other impact than you paying more (be it in time, be it in money, be it in social outcastery) and nobody caring.
Unfortunately everything related to in-group/out-group, politics, religion, conspiracies, money and having power over others will never die. It's human nature to judge, hoard, and exclude. Competition is crucial for survival and evolution. It sucks royally but it's not just humans and it's not going to change in any species ever.
Hypocrites, especially celebrity ones. Why are they still admired when time after time they get caught out in their lies.
This is weird but I think tubing like on a lake will be illegal cause two of my cousins have broken their joses
The recycling of content is getting worse and worse. Now BP is recycling whole posts. BP was fun while it lasted.
Sorry, I'm all for change, but most of these have been around for thousands of years. All of humanity. 100 years is a blink of the eye.
Sounds very optimistic. I want to believe it too, but when I see how it is now, I don't have much faith in humanity.
I know this will probably be disagreeable with a lot of people but being allowed to live an un-healthy life (both physically and mentally). The societal strain cause be people's inability (and freedom) to live unhealthy lives is really starting to show. I hope it becomes socially unacceptable to tolerate such things and have all of society as a whole push to make things better.
I hope that in the future we will stop treating domestic violence and sexual violence against men as a joke. We have to realize that male rape isn't a joke. Cutting off male genitalia shouldn't be "funny". I see a lot of media that is sensitive to every subject ... except male victims of domestic and sexual violence, and the problem isn't just that men are the victims. It's that ANY time we treat this kind of violence as a joke, it's bad for EVERYBODY.
Say you're a racist and/or homophobic piece of s**t without saying you're a racist and/or homophobic piece of s**t
Load More Replies... As a black person... it does tho?
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