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36 Things People Blindly Close Their Eyes To That Are Bound To Happen Sooner Or Later
No one really likes talking about inevitability. It’s a scary concept altogether, after all, imagining all the possible and likely ways our lives could change forever is frightening, to say the least.
However, it’s also important to stay informed. As much as we’d like to avoid thinking about doom, we still need to make good choices for ourselves and the world, and that includes knowing what experts are warning us about. So, here’s a curated list of things you never thought would happen, but are inevitable.
More info: Reddit
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#1
American consumers are being priced out of consuming.
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#2
- Cases of Perpetrators using AI images/videos to defame people online, will increase more and more.
- Digital evidence will longer be acceptable as evidence (by itself) in the Court Of Law, or in the eyes of the Public.
#3
The massive US economic downturn from 5 decades of tax cuts and running deficits so politicians would not have to make any hard choices of either raising taxes or cutting spending.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, part of these inevitable scenarios revolves around what makes the world turn: money. From poverty becoming more widespread to entire countries and populations no longer being able to afford basic necessities, even in the wealthiest country in the world, this impending economic crisis is looming.
And experts have been warning us about it for a long time. Studies have shown that 70% of U.S. GDP actually relies on consumer spending. However, this lifestyle is becoming fundamentally unsustainable, and nowadays, nearly half of American families cannot afford the true cost of economic security within their communities, struggling to pay for daily groceries.
#4
Ai Slops overflowing the internet and fed fake information. Age of doubt. Age of scams and misinformation.
#5
Widespread poverty.
Some of us actually remember growing up with not much. Most aren't prepared for what is about to happen. And honestly, it's not terrible. Really. But you have to get yourself mentally set for it.
It's just that too many people have gotten used to living in debt in a world focused on aesthetics. Houses and cars and vacations and clothing and meals that people really cannot afford, they still get. They go through life thinking they'll pay it off in the future -- but if the raises don't come, if the jobs disappear, it all comes crashing down.
Some trends are already happening. Multiple generations sharing a home. Shared transportation. Cooking at home; no prepared food delivery. Hand-me-downs. Tent camping vacations IF you get one at all. Regular job + gig work.
Jorge Gonzalez 36 minutes ago
Ahh. First world problems of entitled people. And an old person romanticizing growing in "poverty". Pricelesss
#6
There is about to be a massive fuel shortage that isn't just gonna peter out like the previous ones.
Another major inevitability that even tech bros have been warning us about is the risk of deepfakes. We all know AI has existed in our world for a long time, pretty much as long as modern computers have been around. However, it is now more capable of causing harm than ever before, and a lot of that comes from the possibility of creating deepfakes.
Legal scholars have coined the term “Liar’s Dividend,” which essentially means that because deepfakes exist, criminals can now claim that very real evidence presented in court is actually an AI-generated fake video or image. This will likely force courts and judicial systems to completely restructure how evidence is handled to avoid such situations.
#7
For me it's the likelihood of the collapse of farming as we know it in the USA. Between fuel increases, inflation pricing on machinery, or commodity prices it seems like farming is currently on the brink. I've followed the subreddit for a few years because of this and it seems like they've been shouting that they need _real_ help for a while.
As it stands it seems like corporate farms are acquiring family farmland at an alarming rate.
#8
Elder poverty.
We're about to have the largest generation in modern history reach an age thag requires long term medical care. This generation is living longer than any generation before and has almost their entire wealth (not counting the ultra wealthy) tied up in real estate (at least in the west).
These people qwdw banking on being able to sell those houses to pay for retirement/long term care, but there are 2 problems. Firstly, no one can afford to buy their million dollar 1 bedroom condo. Secondly, the market is gonna flood with these types of sales.
This is likely going to collapse the housing market finally and force boomers to stay in their homes if they can and rely on family and children to care for them. Family and children who are already pushed to the edge financially and dont have the time or skills to care for aging parents; or in a lot of cases any desire to care for parents who did little for them growing up.
This is going to lead to the biggest wave of elder poverty we've seen since the 1930s. Expect to see a lot of filial responsibility laws start to pop up in the next 5 years or so.
Still on the topic of AI, people warn that we’re entering an age of misinformation and scams, many of them enabled by artificial intelligence. It’s not surprising that AI contributes to misinformation, from fake videos that now seem a little too real to deepfakes and even to the spread of convincing false information. We’ve all seen the effects of fake news.
However, scams are just as scary, if not more so. Security experts have recently reported that in 2025 alone, there were over 22,000 complaints in the United States explicitly tied to AI, costing victims nearly $893 million. Between 2024 and 2025, $21 billion in losses were reported in response to around 1 million complaints about online and phone scams. It’s not a very reassuring outlook for the future.
#10
VPNs and all internet anonymity is slowly on the way out. Countries that aren't actively suppressing it are actively surveilling it and the whole world is probably going to end up with real name laws. Virginia and California already have something similar to the UK's Online Safety Act, Europe has its own version, Australia has basically taken teenagers offline...
The days of John Smith saying "No worries I'll just use my VPN" are numbered, I know a load of people will say "that's not even possible mate do you understand how the internet works", but they're being very naive and probably don't work in tech. China were caught possibly experimenting with it recently under the guise of a "technical problem".
What Snowden told us about places like Thomas Street was deeply concerning, and that was 2013.
#12
There is a book called The Good Earth that describes what happens when the rich are too rich and the poor are too poor.
And of course, here comes the inevitable environmental scenarios. Scientists have long been trying to warn us that we’re not only headed toward, but already in, a kind of apocalyptic situation. Entire ecosystems are collapsing as we speak, including insects and other small species. In fact, a staggering 75% to 85% decline in insect biomass has been reported in some regions, and it’s affecting everything.
The bird population in Europe and North America has dropped by billions due to starvation directly tied to insect loss, which also means natural pollinators are becoming scarcer, directly impacting crops and food production. Which, you guessed it, leads to an age in which nutritious food becomes less of a necessity and more of a luxury.
#14
Food shortage in North America.
* California produces about 70% of US fruits and vegetables Most of that is grown in the state's central valley.
* According to *Scientific American*, that central valley has suffered catastrophic floods every 100-200 years, caused by weather anomalies that dumped massive rainfalls. The last time one of those mega-floods happened was in 1862.
* Rainy years in California are referred to as el niño years. Current models forecast an exceptionally strong el niño for the winter of 2026-2027; it's some of the strongest el niño indictations in modern times. [source]
* Meanwhile, there's a global fertlizer shortage caused by the US-Iran conflict and the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz. Petroleum is necessary for large scale production of synthetic fertilizer. Farmers can't get as much fertilizer as they ought for this year's crops.
#15
The loss of critical, independent thinking. Everyone seems to be swayed so much by the algorithms they are constantly seeing on their phones that they’ve already become a******d to. Even people I always thought of as very intelligent, I am starting to see become held captive by the algorithms that are reinforcing their opinions as truth.
And of course, we mustn’t forget that we’re living in an age of technology. Sociologists warn that we’re entering a time where algorithms shape our individuality, or, rather, the lack of it. As more and more people fall into smartphone and social media dependence, the more we consume, and the more we’re influenced by whatever the algorithm wants us to believe. It’s a vicious cycle.
Anyway, we do apologize for this depressing and downright scary reality check. Yes, while we may not be at an apocalyptic, world-ending stage yet, we are slowly but surely heading in a more... catastrophic direction. So, do you have any other inevitabilities to add to this thread? Let us know!
#16
Post truth society - eventually AI will become so indistinguishable from reality we can’t tell what’s real and fake. Most people will then just believe whatever evidence is presented to them.
End of ownership - things that were “mid end” for the average consumer such as cars, computers, TVs, etc will be prices so massively out of pocket that we’ll resort to non-ownership options. You’ll see increasing computers that only connect to a company server which does all the work and people will stop driving and instead rely on taxi services or public transport.
(Potentially) the single party system of democracy - private interest in traditionally democratic countries will be so saturated that government policy from one party to the next will be virtually indistinguishable. Instead party alignment will be over the most trivial and nonsensical arguments.
#17
Somewhere the billionaires and trillionaires are scheming to end the rest of us off by taking our water and electricity to make more money for themselves. Money wins, humankind loses.
#19
A return to:
regional food economies (more people growing their own food, as it was commonplace before the industrial rev),
simple machinery/tech (wind and water power),
more communal based living/reliance on people in our immediate environment.
#21
That we're living through a period of civilizational collapse as we speak.
#22
The US economy is about to be decimated because of the children running our government. It's going to make the Covid crash look like a walk in the park.
#24
Nuclear proliferation. Russias invasion of Ukraine proved that giving up nukes in exchange for security guarantees is a terrible idea. North Korea and Israel show that it’s worthwhile to pursue a nuclear program for some countries because it is ultimately possible to complete it even in the face of external opposition. There’s a lot of countries that are strongly incentivised now - Taiwan firstly, Japan and South Korea too, Iran pretty much has to continue its program, not to mention some other European countries like Sweden, Poland, and Germany. The old system of preventing proliferation is d**d even if many people haven’t realised yet.
#26
AI eliminating entry level jobs in most knowledge industries. It's already happening.
#27
Ecosystem collapse. We are already seeing it.
First insects then a ripple effect that will not only accelerate global warming, further compounding the issue, but decimate our food/agricultural systems. Then we’ll just be left with the ticks, mosquitos and roaches.
#28
The end of American STEM dominance
Edit: to everyone responding “it’s already happened” yeah no s**t Sherlock, the question was “yet most people don’t see it coming”.
#31
Increase in petty crime as people become desperate and hungry.
#32
Huge drop in average intelligence as AI makes people lazy and more educated people have less children.
#33
The AI bubble will collapse in the not too distant future, the spaceX IPO might be one of the first dominos to go south.
This can´t run on hype forever and the numbers are not there and won´t be for a while. No, not all white collar jobs will be replaced within 18 months that is just horsepoo.
This bubble is massive and when it pops the wave will be huge. Probably a lot of "too big to fail" and bailout money being issued again.
#36
Critical thinking and literacy will be so low that we will probably have 1800s rates again. On top of that, A.I. will the fuel of propaganda and misinformation, so even if you could read, it's wrong.
I tried looking up if a specific character was in the Odyssey because the new movie showed her, but I didn't recall any scenes with her in it. I searched Google.
Oh my god. A.I. was literally in every single g*****n result, hallucinating the same wrong answer. It mixed up a play, the Illiad, and random Reddit comments of people who pretended to read the Odyssey. I had to find an old scholar essay dissecting this character's reference and importance... no, the character does not have a scene. It's only referenced. Which is fine if Nolan wanted to show her, but now those results are gonna be so much worse because people will get it wrong, so A.I. will be even more wrong.
That seems minor, but imagine that A.I. suddenly hallucinates that the American Civil War had nothing to do with s*****y or that labor unions existed at one point? Imagine if you were sure that you read somewhere that Frederick Douglass had been a s***e, but A.I. insisted he was some wealthy black landowner from an entirely different country or that John Brown was scheming to bring slavery back under religious rule? Small things and details make the difference in perceptions.
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