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  • When I was a kid, and a teen, I was optimistic. I always felt that things could only get better. Why? Because as humans we all work towards things getting better. So they would. Because how could they not??? Billions of people all working together in unity, for a better tomorrow. What could go wrong???

    I did not take one key piece of information into account. The fact that people are ASSHOLES!!!

    I was imagining a world where internet speeds get faster and faster. And with new advancements would come new technologies. I imagined a world where you could prick yourself the same way diabetes patients do, dip a strip into your blood, and it would use the internet to tell you all your health issues instantly, and for cheap.

    I imagined a world where cars were solar powered, and came with butt massagers.

    I imagined a world where nobody smoked cigerettes. Which would lead to a massive decrease in cancer.

    I imagined a world where teleportation were possible. Transport yourself from NYC to Sydney in 3 seconds.

    I imagined all these crazy things that might be possible if all the top minds were all working like a collective hive to solve the pressing issues.

    But I forgot people were assholes. Everything is political. People would rather a good idea didn't happen if they couldn't take credit for it....even if they had nothing to do with it.

    People would rather large populations starve, and suffer from preventitive diseases if they can't profit from the solutions.

    People would rather willingly go forward with known bad ideas if it meant their enemies suffer with them through the bad times too.

    So adult me knows that NO. The future is not bright. It's not a fear of the unknown. It's an educated guess of the obvious. The world is shit. It's always been shit. It's always going to be shit.

    Adult me is sad.

  • I'm struggling with answering this question. I mean, obviously, I don't know. I could give an opinion on what I think is most likely to happen, but what does it matter? Like, legitimately, what does it matter? And I do mean it earnestly, what would it matter even if I just so happened to be right about my speculation?

    We all certainly hope that 2025 will be better. But I think the important thing to remember is that 2025 being better is possible. In fact, I used to be a homophobic ultra-conservative fundamentalist Christian bigot. In my remorse over the person I used to be, I noticed I felt shame rather than self-righteousness over my condemnation of people just being who they are. In my longing to undo the evil I committed in the past, I realized I have the opportunity to fight for good, even if it means fighting what feels like my own reflection. I got better. I still have a ways to go and even more internalized prejudice I need to demolish, but at least I know getting better is possible, because I did it before goddammit. And if a dickhead like me can be better, can't we all?

    And even if things just turn to absolute shit, I know I can at least make my tiny corner of the world a little bit brighter if I can make myself better. And you know what? I think it's good enough for me to know that I can start doing something about that right now. Afterall, as Marcus Aurelius would say to himself; It is up to you!

  • Nothing will ever be as good as 1996 was.

    • Independence Day in theaters, Seinfeld on TV, The Macarena all over the place. Hell yeah, '96.

      • Nintendo 64 came out. Pokemon, Quake, Duke Nuke 3D, Command and Conquer red alert, Kirby Superstar, Metal Slug, Twisted Metal 2, Tomb Raider, and not awesome games came out.

        Daft Punk released their debut album. The Spice Girls debuted. 2Pac released his last album before his death. Space Jam released in theaters, along with Mars Attacks, and the first Tom Cruise Mission Impossible.

        On a personal note, I think I had the most friends at once in 1996. School was going well. I was getting old enough that I had more independence as a teenager and could go out to see friends. Life was good.

  • shrugs * Depends on what happens during it, I guess. I'm a chronic worrier and anxiety haver, but even I feel that this question is a bit too premature.

    For anyone worried about the future, I recently stumbled upon this video which hopefully can put things in perspective. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGmdvdXoJ-8

  • I think it will be better. I think trump will lose. I’ll graduate in December, I just got married, and we’re going to move out of my in-laws house sometime in the spring trading suburbia for a coastal urban city. I’m going to make new friends and have kids and ask them questions which will prepare them to be good and thoughtful citizens and whatever else they choose to become.

    At this point you may, and rightly so, assume that mine are rose tinted glasses. However as a hobbiest student of history I’ve come to the conclusion that the world is always on fire. Humanity tends to have a bias towards bad news, and there is plenty of bad news around, but cynicism only incentivizes inaction. If we want to give the world the best chance for happiness in our time, to honor the legacy of those forebears who strove to build the better world of today, then we have to acknowledge the good.

    This doesn’t mean ignoring the bad, or giving up on the better, but we have to immerse ourselves in the electrifying notion that civilization has moved over the past 200+ years gradually, with new and terrible acts of inhumanity along the way, toward better lives for the average human. We have a duty to fight for that trend so that we in our old age can scoff at the perceived slights of our progeny as our parents and elders do now. The disconnect between the generations in some ways can stand as a testament to the progress that has been achieved.

    They don’t make cardboard like they used to so I’m going to get off my soap box before it sloughs into a pile of microplastics.

  • Unless you are already retired, and often even then, for you personally it has an extremely good chance of getting better, even if only slightly. More life experience often translates into ability to convert new things heading your way into less suckiness. Pro-Tip: lean into that for even better results - get married, or perhaps divorced, ditch Windows if you haven't already, etc. Don't let life pass you by - enjoy it!:-)

    But the trajectory won't be as high as it would have been previously for someone a few years ago, and for all of us overall that trajectory will be objectively worse. Especially minorities bc fuck them all, apparently - says the Leopards Surely Won't Eat My Face Off party. Oh well - anyone who thinks life is supposed to be fair hasn't been paying attention (especially since the late 70s with the advent of corporations that can shirk legal duties that the rest of us cannot, like they can die and in so doing offer massive payouts to the board members at the expense of the customers, etc.). On the other hand, as the suffering increases comes the possibility of finally waking up and doing something meaningful - apes together strong. In the meantime, refer back to the first paragraph, for now.

  • 2024 is good for me so far, but I’m going to finish my bachelor’s degree in 2025 and still have no real clue what I want to do after (very likely something that has nothing to do with the degree though). So it’s completely up in the air lol. But hopefully I’ll find something I actually want to do and enjoy.

  • The glass will go from half-full to half-empty.

    ...seriously, I don't think that '25 will be meaningfully better or worse than '24.

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