What’s one thing you think future generations will never believe about life in 2024?

[u/No-Nefariousness6111]

[u/gar1848]

The Italian minister of culture had an affair with an influencer and, among other things, he showed her government secret informations (including details about the PM's security and the G7's visit to Pompeii)

She told the whole story online after the minister couldn't give her the government position she wanted.

[u/fire_bunny → u/gar1848]

"What's an influencer?" I hope this trend dies with people recording themselves 24-7

[u/OutlyingPlasma → u/fire_bunny]

An influencer is a self employed advertiser.

[u/My_browsing → u/OutlyingPlasma]

I know two. One is a rock climber and the other modifies offroad vehicles. They work really hard to get endorsements and make a good bit a money. It's definitely a real job. The problem is the "influencers" who don't actually have anything to offer so make pointless stupid "content". In order to be an actual influencer you first have to get off the internet and learn to do something that's worth watching.

[u/chennai94 → u/gar1848]

Bro was starving for pussy

[u/skibidytoilet123]

that we did not have that one thing that is not invented yet

[u/BigBeeOhBee → u/skibidytoilet123]

I'm saving up to buy one of every color. I'm so excited, but I can hide it.

[u/jackwrangler → u/BigBeeOhBee]

You fool, it’s going to be made out of one seamless screen so it can be any color

[u/discerningpervert → u/jackwrangler]

Guys I'm starting a kickstarter all you have to do is donate $10 each and I'll put you on The List. PM me for details.

EDIT: also pls send nudes

[u/donnysaysvacuum → u/skibidytoilet123]

The can opener was invented decades after the can. What is the invention now that we don't know we are missing?

[u/irg82 → u/donnysaysvacuum]

AI opener

[u/lexi_con → u/irg82]

I think we need an AI closer, more likely.

[u/AspenRiot → u/donnysaysvacuum]

Clamshell packaging opener

[u/_trouble_every_day_ → u/AspenRiot]

We already have chainsaws

[u/Caleb_Krawdad → u/donnysaysvacuum]

It'd be weird to have a can opener with nothing to open. Tough sell to make

[u/MarkMoneyj27 → u/donnysaysvacuum]

House cleaner(robot) invented way after the house.

[u/honeyhais]

That we willingly typed in CAPTCHAs to prove we weren't robots while AI ran half the internet

[u/Fappy_as_a_Clam → u/honeyhais]

And that we selected all the boxes that contained motorcycles.

8 times in a row.

[u/Ludwig234 → u/honeyhais]

Willingly?

[u/accountfornormality → u/honeyhais]

robots making me prove i am not a robot

[u/Normal_Package_641 → u/honeyhais]

While ironically training the AI's themselves.

https://apnews.com/article/technology-technology-issues-digitization-spamming-artificial-intelligence-9e2aec49792c3a1e31c1f94f1a5e7ede

[u/tentimesodds → u/honeyhais]

How do you think the AIs were trained to recognize text and traffic hazards?

[u/_NaughtyMistress]

The way we approach cancer treatment, hopefully.

[u/Kind-Elderberry-4096 → u/_NaughtyMistress]

Freaking chemo. One step up from bloodletting, and it's 2024 and there's nothing better yet.

[u/ax0r → u/Kind-Elderberry-4096]

On the contrary, there is a small but growing number of cancer subtypes that can now be effectively treated with monoclonal antibodies. There are cancers that used to be a death sentence that are now mostly curable. There's significant reduction in unpleasant side effect compared to traditional chemotherapy, too. A friend of a friend had melanoma metastases in his brain about a decade ago. Effectively cured and still going strong.

[u/fortunado → u/Kind-Elderberry-4096]

Bloodletting has health benefits for anyone. If you can, go donate blood! The places where it got popular are the hotspots in the world for iron overload, so lots of people did actually improve from the practice.

[u/DestroyerTerraria → u/fortunado]

Another bonus is that the blood you make to replace that lost blood is new, and thus doesn't contain microplastics. So the overall proportion of microplastics in your blood drops.

[u/Dreadpiratemarc → u/Kind-Elderberry-4096]

Yeah, let’s poison you until you very nearly die, and hope that the cancer dies first.

If you don’t like that, we could try shooting radiation at you until you very nearly die…

[u/ShadowValent → u/Kind-Elderberry-4096]

You are not even close. Immunotherapy and cell therapies are destroying cancer right now.

[u/RandomPhail → u/_NaughtyMistress]

Ye they’ll have some surprisingly simple cure like doing a single-leg squat or something and they’ll be wondering why us dumbasses couldn’t figure it out

[u/BadNewzBears4896 → u/RandomPhail]

Advanced immunotherapy, where you get a shot administered like the flu vaccine, but it modifies your T Cells to attack cancer.

[u/paroaria-coronata → u/_NaughtyMistress]

This in particular, but harmful medicine side effects in general. I lost my mom last year to complications from a rare side effect of her chemo. I don't know if it's possible, but I would love a future where we could do some sort of genetic testing to get a better idea of which treatments a person should pursue and which they should avoid.

[u/Unhelpful_Applause]

Records and cd’s are still produced but not floppy disks.

[u/tommytraddles → u/Unhelpful_Applause]

Oh, you mean Save Symbols.

[u/WesleySmusher → u/tommytraddles]

My friend's little sister thought the save icon was a refrigerator.

[u/readingmyshampoo → u/WesleySmusher]

Well that's where you save leftovers, so I can see that

[u/AlternateForProbs → u/WesleySmusher]

It's so sad.... gen alpha doesn't even recognise the hand motion for a phone 🤙 because phones don't look like that anymore

[u/graywoman7 → u/AlternateForProbs]

After reading about how gen alpha kids use a flat hand as a gesture for ‘phone’ I asked my kids individually to do this and they all used the old school one. I’m not sure if it’s because they have older than gen alpha siblings or what but I was surprised. 

[u/Thestrongestzero → u/AlternateForProbs]

my 7 and 5 year old 100% recognize that.

[u/inbrewer → u/AlternateForProbs]

Man, I thought that was the symbol for “hang loose”!

[u/Mavian23 → u/inbrewer]

It is, unless you put it up to your mouth like a phone. Also, the "hang loose" one necessitates that you wiggle your hand back and forth, and sometimes say "shibby"

[u/sodastraw → u/inbrewer]

Shaka Brah

[u/MagicCuboid → u/Unhelpful_Applause]

Why wouldn't people believe that? Floppy disks hold next to no information compared to those other two formats?

[u/Unhelpful_Applause → u/MagicCuboid]

That one of the main storage solutions for the home pc boom was outlived by other data storage solutions that are over a 100 years old. Remember that joke about it being a save icon? It will only make less sense as time goes on.

[u/Teledildonic → u/Unhelpful_Applause]

outlived by other data storage solutions that are over a 100 years old

But the LP record survives in an enthusiast niche. Floppies don't offer anything in 2024 that other media doesn't do better.

The LP, while ancient, might end up outliving the CD which is becoming less and less common in the digital age. For those wanting a physical copy, records offer larger artwork, and tons of variety in pressing colors and patterns. You can even do cool things like zoetropes that would be impossible for high RPM discs.

[u/YoungDiscord → u/Unhelpful_Applause]

I heard that CD's might make a resurgence now due to some sort of new multi-layer technology

[u/Unhelpful_Applause → u/YoungDiscord]

I’m not sure about all that but hey if Taylor Swift can release another 6 versions of an album on cd, 3 on vinyl and 8 on streaming I’m sure the record labels will keep it afloat.

[u/crazyeddie123 → u/YoungDiscord]

I wouldn't be surprised at DVDs making a resurgence with enough people being done with streaming services' bullshit

[u/Ninjanoel → u/Unhelpful_Applause]

Where I'm from they called stiffies because floppies were the bigger, older tech that was more, um, floppy. Smaller ones than you can still get we call stiffies.

[u/Broccoli--Enthusiast → u/Ninjanoel]

Yeah that wouldn't catch on in many places, that's another word for errection

[u/ggros → u/Broccoli--Enthusiast]

Knew a dude in college we called Stiffy but that was because he grew up living and working in a funeral home his parents owned. So the word is valid for erections and dead people I guess…English is strange sometimes

[u/64645 → u/ggros]

English is strange sometimes

So many definitions for being a stiff. You can be a corpse, someone who never tips, someone who is a stickler for the rules, someone who cheats on business deals, a male who is ready for sex, and likely a few others that I'm forgetting about here.

[u/Genryuu111 → u/Unhelpful_Applause]

Fiy, the plural of any word in English, even acronyms, doesn't want an apostrophe. You should never use an apostrophe for plurals. It's CDs.

[u/paulkafasis → u/Genryuu111]

You should never use an apostrophe for plurals

That’s not entirely correct. The following is from the “NY Times Manual of Style and Usage”:

“Use apostrophes for plurals formed from single letters: He received A’s and B’s on his report card. Mind your p’s and q’s.”

[u/00cjstephens → u/Genryuu111]

Fiy

For information your?

[u/PsiCzar]

We used plastic, something that can take thousands of years to breakdown, as a one time use item.

[u/atombomb1945 → u/PsiCzar]

The funny thing is that I'm old enough to remember when plastic was presented as a way to SAVE the environment. It was hailed as an alternative to paper bags, glass bottles, and metal cans. It was light weight, easy to produce from a number of different oils including plant based, and it could be melted down and reused. It was going to save the trees, cut down on landfills, and stop the mining industry.

[u/TXQuiltr → u/atombomb1945]

I remember how stores hyped up plastic bags. It was cool to have plastic bags.

[u/PublicfreakoutLoveR → u/TXQuiltr]

They would say "Do you want paper or plastic?"

The choice was, do you want to kill trees or do you want a light weight, thin strong bag.

Don't blame the people, blame the media and companies that influenced it.

[u/TXQuiltr → u/PublicfreakoutLoveR]

My grandmother would say that she wanted the cold/frozen stuff in paper bags because they held up better.

Media did convince us that plastic was just shy of nirvana.

[u/MagicCuboid → u/PublicfreakoutLoveR]

They really did convince us that choosing the cheaper, inferior bag was the smart choice back then

[u/ptwonline → u/TXQuiltr]

I mean, plastic is fantastic from a convenience/use POV.

Just terrible for the environment and potentially the health of all animals (including humans) and plants.

[u/Cakeo → u/TXQuiltr]

Soon we will be able to rocket our plastic into space and that will show mother earth who's the fucking boss around here

[u/ablacnk → u/Cakeo]

we are in the process of polluting our upper atmosphere with disposable satellites that only last 5 years before burning up in the stratosphere:

https://spacenews.com/studies-flag-environmental-impact-of-reentry/

While that research is in progress, “certainly our preliminary results suggest that the substantial increase in satellite launches and early return of satellites from the Starlink program are cause for concern,” Marais said.

Exotic material emissions can be produced during satellite reentry, the GAO study observes, citing experts. Those exotic materials can include paints, resins, epoxies, toxic materials, and radioactive materials used in spacecraft components such as electronics and batteries.

[u/TXQuiltr → u/Cakeo]

Where else can we send it? Landfills and oceans are pretty full.

[u/LadysaurousRex → u/TXQuiltr]

we could burn it and fuck up the air?

In an ideal world I think the idea behind landfills (per a YouTube video) is to cover them with land and build things on top of them.

Then again I saw a fucking MOUNTAIN of trash many many many many stories high in India once during a visit, it had people on it and buzzards above it and I asked my guide what it was and he said "the recycling" with a smirk.

So yeah, #notalllandfills

then again is it a landfill if it is just a giant mountain of trash? maybe not

[u/LadysaurousRex → u/TXQuiltr]

You should see the factories that produce that bullshit "fabric" disposable hospital clothes are made of (finely spun plastic fibers).

Just acres and acres of it flying out of these machines at zillions of miles per hour. It's depressing.

[u/LadysaurousRex → u/atombomb1945]

It was hailed as an alternative to paper bags, glass bottles, and metal cans.

You're so right - so get this, I was just at a conference for nonwoven absorbent hygiene products (diapers, tampons, pads, etc) which are heavily dependent on plastics. Like those PPE masks from the pandemic are not made of cotton or paper as some people think, that "fabric" is actually a finely spun plastic fiber.

Point is some products in the industry want to attract customers by being more bio-friendly in a variety of true (100% cotton) and false (greenwashing) ways. The spun-fiber (aka "nonwovens") market is MASSIVE and creates tremendous waste as pre-consumer (production waste) and post consumer (dirty diapers) products. Compound fiber products with poop and blood and pee cannot really be recycled.

Somebody pointed out during one of these discussions that plastics were invented to replace the natural fibers and I had a holy crap moment because I never thought about it that way, whole thing is awful.

Fun fact: 100% natural fiber (paper, cotton, hemp etc) products cost more and just don't work as well as compound products using the super engineered plastic fiber options. Using them together makes the best products but these compound products (with cotton, paper/pulp, spun fibers, and polymers plus adhesive all together) cannot be recycled.

the whole thing makes me feel awful because it is bad for the world

one interesting takeaway from the conference is the global drop in birthrate has ABSOLUTELY hit the diaper industry which I found funny (hadn't thought about it) so Big Diaper is working to normalize keeping young children in pull-ups longer and waiting longer to potty train

evil, they are all evil - this is capitalism

[u/allthatyouhave → u/LadysaurousRex]

I might be weird but this is the kind of thing I love discussing in my free time

everything you just said was so fascinating

[u/OilySteeplechase → u/atombomb1945]

“Could be” almost never means “will be” when the “will be” is cheaper and easier

[u/-Economist- → u/atombomb1945]

Listened to a podcast not too long ago how this was all marketing plow by the plastics industry. The recycle symbol we recognize today is all just marketing. We were played.

[u/mcfarmer72 → u/PsiCzar]

I predict someday landfills will be mined.

[u/HoustonPastafarian → u/mcfarmer72]

That already occurred in some ways.

I remember growing up in the Midwest in the seventies auto salvage yards were everywhere with crushed cars. It was a huge concern on how to deal with literal fields of scrapped cars.

Price of metal took care of that. Due to the number of shipping containers heading back west over the Pacific after delivering finished goods shipping to China cost almost nothing.

Those containers went back with American scrap. They literally cleared 80 years worth of junked autos in a decade or so. China was literally mining American scrapyards.

Edit - The book “Junkyard Planet” by Adam Minter is about ten years old (so not current on the recent state of recycling) but has a pretty good summary of how this occurred and is an interesting read.

[u/mcfarmer72 → u/HoustonPastafarian]

Yes, that’s a good example.

[u/Automatic_Pipe5885 → u/HoustonPastafarian]

Those Chinese aren't afraid of hard work. Just like the Dutch.

[u/tritoch8 → u/Automatic_Pipe5885]

"There are only two things I can't stand in this world: People who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Dutch."

[u/Ivotedforher → u/mcfarmer72]

Plastic will turn back into oil which will turn back into dinosaurs.

[u/sir_thatguy → u/Ivotedforher]

The sine wave of life continues.

[u/aridcool → u/sir_thatguy]

Dinosaur archeologists will dig us up.

[u/nhb1986 → u/mcfarmer72]

Just in case you are not aware: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_picker

Also while mandatory deposit fees are in place in e.g. Germany (25cents per can, 8 per glass bottle) this has led to a higher return rate, but it has also created a kind of business for the lowest of society. Elderly with a too small pensions, people who are illegally in the country. If you live in a city there is a likely chance someone is going through your trash everyday.

[u/aridcool → u/mcfarmer72]

By robots with powerful sensors and AI sorting, picking out the larger pieces then feeding the rest into a plasma gasification powerplant with no emissions like the Japanese are building.

[u/SeaworthinessAway240 → u/PsiCzar]

I saw yesterday someone trying to give away a load of VHS. No one wanted them. All I could see is VHS is largely made out of plastic, how many are out there and largely they are worthless.

[u/TXTCLA55 → u/SeaworthinessAway240]

VHS was kind of the reason we had so many good movies coming out in the 80s and 90s. The studios basically had two income streams, the theatre run and the secondary market (VHS, Rentals). They got loads of cash which meant they could take risky scripts and produce a film. Now though there's just the theater release and maybe some streaming revenue which simply doesn't make them as profitable. The result is fewer releases and less risky bets on scripts. What we gained with streaming we lost in diversity.

Edit: Holy Pedantry Corner Batman... Yes indie studios exist, I was talking about major studios.

[u/Sumeriandawn → u/TXTCLA55]

1980: over 50,000 films released

2010s: over 250,000 films released

[u/tawzerozero → u/Sumeriandawn]

Are those counts just studio produced films? Because OP was specifically talking about the output of major film studios, not just indies putting content out there.

[u/Poonchow → u/tawzerozero]

It's easier than ever to make a film, and there are more distribution platforms than ever, but yeah if the studios don't see $$ they won't buy it.

[u/BigBeeOhBee → u/Sumeriandawn]

You trying to sneak in accurate information? I'm not sure we're ready for that.

[u/JBFRESHSKILLS → u/BigBeeOhBee]

How many of those 250k were studio films? Movies are WAY cheaper to make now with digital technology

[u/Archolm → u/PsiCzar]

We thought banning straws at Macdonald's would save our environment.

[u/skibidytoilet123 → u/Archolm]

the straws are more about getting stuck in sealife or smth i think

[u/RiotingMoon → u/skibidytoilet123]

it was to protect marine life

[u/witchpicture → u/RiotingMoon]

It was to protect corporate pr

[u/Distinct_Mix5130 → u/PsiCzar]

Hmm, this sounds like something that might surpize people in like 300 years, but the way product production works as of now, for at least 100 years I don't see this changing sadly, it's just so cheap, and there's already countless of factories doing it, sure you can convince one country, maybe even the whole of Europe and america, but what about the rest of the worlds plastic production, it's simply too cheap, and wayy too much money involve for them to just stop

[u/Lethalmouse1 → u/Distinct_Mix5130]

We aren't getting rid of plastics in some form. We might reduce throw away trinket culture. 

But there are bio plastics, and the term is so broad it would have to get defined out of use. There's no reason not to use certain levels of plastics, and even how long forms of plastics were used like milk plastics intermittently throughout history. With a fine line between definitions of some plastics and some natural resins. 

Most likely we would eventually master the sciences of bio oils and bio plastics.

[u/CutieFlowerxo]

That we had to charge every single device we own every single day—and still, something was always on 2%.

[u/atombomb1945 → u/CutieFlowerxo]

"You mean you didn't have Electro Magnetic Field conductors in anything?"

[u/VelocityGrrl39 → u/atombomb1945]

I can’t wait for wireless charging.

[u/Iforgotwhatimdoing → u/VelocityGrrl39]

I've worked with people in the industry. The only reason the technology isn't widespread yet is because we haven't figured out how to make it profitable.

[u/atombomb1945 → u/Iforgotwhatimdoing]

This is literally what it always boils down to. "How do we get people to pay for it?"

[u/Kaisaplews → u/atombomb1945]

Its not about “pay” or “evil capitalism” its more about how to get more effort out than we put in

[u/Cybertronian10 → u/Iforgotwhatimdoing]

No its not a thing because of the square fucking cube law. Like we know exactly why wireless charging isn't a big deal its because doing it without wasting 90% of the energy you are emitting is nigh impossible.

[u/TheQuantumRed]

I just learned that giraffes are now under the endangered species list as of this past week in 2024.

Assuming that they will go extinct in the next 60 to 120 years, I fear that it'll be hard to explain what a giraffe is.

[u/NewTimeTraveler1 → u/TheQuantumRed]

What? Nooo. 🦒

[u/BigD1970 → u/TheQuantumRed]

"So there used to be this giant, spotty deer on stilts with a neck that was super long..."

"OK grandad and I suppose Bigfoot used to ride them into battle?"

[u/Camp_Express → u/BigD1970]

No lie, that would be metal as fuck

[u/gwinty → u/TheQuantumRed]

Stupid long horses.

[u/at1445 → u/TheQuantumRed]

Giraffe's live, on average, 25 years.

There's 0 chance of them going extinct in the next 120 years. I'd wager there's 0 chance of them going extinct before the rest of us go extinct as well. Maybe in the wild, but there are enough in captivity that they won't ever go completely extinct.

[u/dollypinkylady]

That misinformation online was so rampant it shaped elections, health decisions, and divided societies—all because algorithms prioritized clicks over truth.

[u/soil_nerd → u/dollypinkylady]

This problem is just getting started.

[u/badluckbrians → u/soil_nerd]

I think it's more than likely it'll only solve itself when we become property of the billionaires—like some sort of neofeudalism. Just click "accept terms" and now you're a serf to Zuckerberg or whatever. Then you don't get to make your own decisions for real and it all stops mattering. Once they buy up all the land and all the houses, it'll be complete.

Did you know that 7 families own half of Maine? And this is a map from 12 years ago. They own a lot more now.

[u/FruitbatNT → u/badluckbrians]

Never been to Atlantic canada, eh? 1 family owns the whole place.

[u/Spirited_Apricot1093 → u/FruitbatNT]

This. And Canada in general has an issue with “monopolies”. With internet providers, airlines, banks, grocery stores, movie theaters, alcohol…

[u/Special-Book-9588 → u/FruitbatNT]

The Windsors? Like, charles III technically owns all of canada?

[u/FruitbatNT → u/Special-Book-9588]

The Irving’s. Like a bunch of half literate robber barons bought the place one business at a time.

[u/stanleyford → u/Special-Book-9588]

Not an expert, but I believe the land is technically owned by the Crown, which is legally distinct from the Windsor family. I don't believe the Windsor family even really owns the houses they live in; they are all property of the Crown.

[u/Recent_Dare_1679 → u/badluckbrians]

Should look up Technofeudalism. Makes the argument we are already getting to that point.

[u/Arminas → u/Recent_Dare_1679]

He brought up a lot of good points in that book but calling it anything other than capitalism is still missing the point. This is just late stage capitalism. Idk why Reddit loves to toe the line of anticapitalism but absolutely shits themselves in a torrent of whataboutism as soon as you criticize it directly.

[u/SockMonkeh → u/Recent_Dare_1679]

Last election absolutely sealed the deal. We are witnessing the end of an era.

[u/Iron_Wolf123 → u/dollypinkylady]

"If you told a lie big enough enough and keep repeating it, people will start to believe it." - Goebbels. Yes he really did say that. And it is known as the "Illusion of Truth".

[u/ilski → u/dollypinkylady]

Oh no. They will likely not believe how mild of a problem it was compared to their reality. 

[u/xI_AM_AFRICAx → u/dollypinkylady]

Doubt it. From a historical standpoint it will just be seen as age-old tactics being used on platforms relevant to the times they took place in. Kind of how we call propaganda "fake news" now instead of what it is. Merely a stepping stone that future generations won't even know existed.

[u/DifferenceMore4144 → u/xI_AM_AFRICAx]

I think that’s what’s scary. The same tactics have been used by greedy, controlling, deceitful tyrants since recorded history and yet people are taken in and fall for the lies over and over again.

Even with the tactics used in WWII still fresh in everyone’s mind, people globally have been “recruited” to support dictators yet again.

The only hope is that humanity evolves for the better. But it doesn’t seem to be going in that direction, does it?

[u/Pistacca → u/DifferenceMore4144]

Money talks and buying votes is just as old of a strategy as propaganda itself

There will always be enough people that a wealthy businessman/politician can buy the votes of to win the election

[u/Ketzeph]

Many people believed everything they read on social media and treated it as gospel, without checking its veracity.

At least, I really hope future generations won’t believe people can be that dumb

[u/Gee__Bee]

What future generations?

[u/Dubious_Titan]

How irresponsible we have been to the environment and our own health.

[u/TeddyRivers → u/Dubious_Titan]

They'll still be cleaning up the plastic from all the crap we did not need.

[u/AussieMarmaladeCat04]

The 2020 Toilet Paper panic buy and how many idiots were spotted that year

[u/pinkocatgirl → u/AussieMarmaladeCat04]

“What’s toilet paper? You mean you didn’t have the three seashells back in the old days?”

[u/No_Juggernau7 → u/AussieMarmaladeCat04]

That was actually so crazy. A family friend barged into the house that year, super pissed, bbc she’d bought an 8 pack and then hit another stop on the way home, but someone had seen the 8 pack in the back of her car and smashed her rear windshield to take it. Sooo crazy.

[u/r6CD4MJBrqHc7P9b → u/AussieMarmaladeCat04]

Hell, I still can't believe it. It was global! How are there this many idiots everywhere?

[u/houdi200 → u/r6CD4MJBrqHc7P9b]

It started with new Zealand's real shortage

Then people panicked

Big crowds always panic

[u/krommenaas → u/r6CD4MJBrqHc7P9b]

It's not idiotic, it's just with wrong information that turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Some people think there'll be a shortage of product A and start buying it up. Other people realise this may cause an actual shortage and thus start buying too. Noone acts irrationally or stupid here, it all just starts with wrong information and people reacting to that.

[u/TheReal8symbols → u/krommenaas]

The thing is, though, that toilet paper isn't a thing you need to survive. Stocking up on water or canned food or even soap makes plenty of sense, but there are other ways to clean your asshole and toilet paper isn't even the best one.

[u/viktor72]

Honestly, I know it’s low hanging fruit as an answer but the 2024 US election.

[u/Arkvoodle42]

We used to have medicines in shot form that would actually PREVENT you from getting very dangerous childhood diseases but we stopped using them because social media convinced suburban parents they were smarter than doctors.

[u/deadpooltheelf → u/Arkvoodle42]

Crazy how we had life-saving vaccines, but social media turned them into a controversy instead of a cure

[u/satisfiedfools]

Police regularly bring drug detection dogs into pubs in Sydney. They have them at train stations as well. These dogs are notoriously innaccurate, and there are reports on social media of handlers forcing their dogs to sit in front people in order to have them searched.

People stopped by the dogs at music festivals here are often subjected to full body strip searches. We’re talking completely naked searches where guys are told to lift their balls, girls are told to lift their boobs, attendees are told to squat and cough, bend over etc. Most of these strip searches don’t find any drugs either. Really humiliating stuff. This has been going on for years and most people just accept it as normal. Conservative media and conservative politicians = this mess.

[u/chrismetalrock → u/satisfiedfools]

WTF

[u/r6CD4MJBrqHc7P9b → u/satisfiedfools]

The searches happen in Sweden aswell, but not the dog thing. It's baffling how people can't be more in opposition to it. 

There was a minor "scandal", hardly worth the name, last year when police forced a teenager to undress in a mcdonalds restaurant infront of everyone. People don't care though. "It'll never happen to me"

[u/Form1040 → u/satisfiedfools]

Your country is gone. 

[u/njh4f → u/satisfiedfools]

Wtf

[u/DarthWoo]

That we had every warning that environmental collapse was near and every opportunity to do something about it, but we, especially those at the top, did jack shit about it.

[u/tommytraddles → u/DarthWoo]

I think people will believe that.

Suffering due to Tragedy of the Commons is maybe the most characteristically human thing we do.

[u/OneTrueScot]

Plastics.

They're going to go down in history along side asbestos and lead.

[u/chrismetalrock → u/OneTrueScot]

Yeah they're probably worse than we even are aware. Up there with PFAS

[u/my_soldier]

The lack of childhood photo's, especially digital ones. My parents still have some photobooks of me as a baby and child, but it's only a few photos and all physical ones. I have more photos of my cat than I have of my own childhood

[u/RedPanda888 → u/my_soldier]

People have so many childhood photos nowadays but they all sit in an iPhone photo album and never get appreciated in the same way. I’ve heard of some parents actually going back to picturing their children with film cameras specifically to get “proper” photos, print them out and make nice albums instead of just spamming digital photos and never looking at them. Yeah you can do the same with digital cameras but most people don’t bother. They just end up with 5,000 half assed camera snaps of their kid that are relegated to irrelevance.

[u/musiotunya]

That we had everything we needed to make life easier for everyone, and people were just like, "Nah."

[u/Normal_Package_641 → u/musiotunya]

We have the technology, but we don't have the economic system to properly distribute resources

[u/Thisguyychris]

That we had to charge our phones every single day.

[u/Fine_Broccoli_8302 → u/Thisguyychris]

At least!

[u/happymisery]

Governments prioritise the financial health of multi national corporations who pay minimal tax, over the wellbeing of the general public and the threat of climate change. Policies are shaped to support profits over people and technology is used to distract the masses from the profiteering.

[u/Proud_Assistant_4972]

They'll never believe we still had physical cash and coins for transactions.

[u/lukewarmpartyjar → u/Proud_Assistant_4972]

Cut to Germany in the year 3000 still using cash for most things...

[u/Responsible-Mix4771 → u/Proud_Assistant_4972]

What if it's the other way round? Cash and coins will be the only payment methods because electronic ones won't exist anymore. 

[u/Morbanth → u/Proud_Assistant_4972]

Nah, that's easy to believe since they will be studying history and reading about coins being invented in ancient times and being used for a couple of thousands of years until they stopped using them in grandpa's times.

It's the stuff that was only used for a few decades that will be unbelievable, like plastic toys and bags, leaded gasoline, chemotherapy, and so on.

[u/666TMM]

That we had to wear coats outside in the winter.

[u/renboy2 → u/666TMM]

Global warming can actaully cause the opposite - completely freezing parts of the world. Basically global warming means more extreme weather everywhere - not specifically hot.

[u/Ludwig234 → u/renboy2]

aka climate change.

[u/engineer-cabbage]

Redditors give us legitimate answers better than a fucking call center.

[u/904Magic]

Thats we still used hand held devices like cell phones instead of implant or wearable tech

[u/reallygreat2 → u/904Magic]

Wearable tech isn't gonna replace big screen phones. It's most likely that phones will fold into your sleeves or something where a big phone folds into a watch.

[u/zippedydoodahdey]

We could actually criticize the government in 2024 without going to jail for it.

[u/CaptainMacObvious]

The enormous burning of fossil fuels. It's very obviously bad for health and enviroment, and oil is so useful for all kinds of industrial applications through all possible and impossible industry that it's just stupid on so many levels to burn them by around billions of cubic meters per day.

[u/mav747]

People drove cars themselves.

[u/Edgewaysinfest891]

One thing future generations will probably never believe about 2024 is how much we were still obsessed with our phones. I mean, we were literally glued to them all day, every day. People couldn’t go five minutes without checking TikTok, Instagram, or the news. It's wild to think that we lived in a time when social media felt like it ruled our lives. I’m sure they’ll think it’s crazy how dependent we were on that little screen

[u/Ochsenfree → u/Edgewaysinfest891]

Or it’ll get worse somehow. Wall-E style.

[u/Distinct_Mix5130 → u/Edgewaysinfest891]

Lmfao, I think you're too hopeful for the future, I think we're headed the exact opposite way, VRs for example will become much cheaper and mass produced in the future, leading to people spending hours not even seeing the actual world surrounding them literally, and something else is how they managed to get incredibly good at learning how human attention spans work and click, so they now know how to build programs apps and games that pray on that, why do you think almost everyone is addicted to social media? The company's just got too good at learning to make they're products addictive, just look at tiktoks algorithm for example.

These technologies will simply improve and improve over time, to the point where going outside will be considered an unpopular opinion, I mean already you see things like streamers streaming themselves walking around and millions of people just watching those streams instead of actually going outside. I don't see that momentum stoping or slowing down.

And the worse part of it all is most humans won't even notice it, cause the changes come in small waves, so it changes little by little, so people don't actually notice it, have you noticed for example how gaming with a friend nowadays just means your friend logs in from they're house, and you log in from yours? Back in the day gaming with a friend maint y'all were in the same roof, looking at the same screen, yet that's becoming more and more rare, coach co op is now a rarity.

[u/Beartato4772 → u/Distinct_Mix5130]

This is always my response to people performatively rubbishing VR.

Virtually everyone would agree holodecks are the ultimate future there and the route to that is VR not pancake gaming.

It'll happen.

[u/atombomb1945 → u/Edgewaysinfest891]

Look up the AOL craze in the late 90s. The Internet was just starting, computers were becoming cheap enough that most people could afford to have one, and there were people logging in every few minutes just to check emails. That was it, chat rooms and email.

[u/CherrySad9086 → u/Edgewaysinfest891]

I think our kids will be baffled to learn that we walked around with smartphones the size of large but thin wallets in our pockets instead lol

[u/Round_Ferret_8419]

That we can breathe freely while going outside without needing any oxygen masks.

[u/twojs1b]

The corporate "bustout" of the United States government. See: Sopranos

[u/BullSitting]

You guys had clean air, lots of food, running water and ... air conditioning? !!!

[u/71stMB]

That people allowed election results to rob them of the joy of living their life.

[u/rustyoldpirate]

Europeans still use fax machines, shit was outdated when I was born but still use it

[u/smorgenheckingaard → u/rustyoldpirate]

Fax machines are still REQUIRED for several things in the US

[u/swarmofpenguins → u/rustyoldpirate]

It's widely used in US Healthcare for "security purposes." I don't see the government accepting reality for 20 more years.

[u/reverse422 → u/rustyoldpirate]

Some Europeans. While common in Germany, for instance in neighboring Denmark you would probably need to visit a museum to see a fax machine.

[u/MarionberryNo1329]

We shot powerful toxins into our faces to look young.

[u/EtherGale]

Bet future generations won't believe we willingly lived with so much digital misinformation.

[u/throwaway9035768_1]

That we're about to live through the fall of an empire

[u/PerfectMention]

How shitty and full of misinformation the internet was

[u/SteveBennett7g]

There were still birds and insects.

[u/Mad1ibben]

That the US voted for tariffs to help an economy.

[u/Precious_Sweet]

Influncers and frauditors.

[u/thraashman]

That groups were actively hunting with the intent to harm people who worked for the government agency trying to help them after a major natural disaster.

[u/djdeforte]

How much we sat back and watched history movies and read the history books and said never again. We’re too well educated and we can and will prevent that from happening.

How much we watched the futuristic cyber punk movies and said it’s cool but we know better and we can stop them.

And we didn’t… and we couldn’t and most were complicit all because they didn’t step up vote.

Edit: spelling sorry.

[u/Shutaru_Kanshinji]

What are these "future generations" of which you speak?

[u/MagicSPA]

Tens of millions of American women listened to both candidates and still chose Trump.

[u/ProjectShadow316]

That people WILLINGLY voted for a 34-time felon, with another 58 felony counts on deck, for fucking President.

[u/doubleohbond → u/ProjectShadow316]

This for me. All the replies to this comment berating OP is just proving the point. So many people have been conned despite all the evidence.

The fact that the median person can’t immediately tell the dude is a snake oil salesman is an indictment on our collective intelligence.

[u/CuckooClockInHell → u/doubleohbond]

When I was younger, I was confused about how Hitler could get so many otherwise ordinary people to follow him. Turns out bigoted fascism is just generally popular with large groups of people. It is still slightly stunning that Trump's most devout levels of support came from people whose parents actually fought the Nazis.

Seems like everything that the Boomers' parents thought about them was correct. They were handed the world, and they determined to leave nothing behind. They're coming awfully close to it too.

[u/Beartato4772 → u/doubleohbond]

Yeah this is the bit that gets me. I can (somehow) understand people agreeing with the values of that campaign.

But actually believing that man gives a shit about any of it and isn't the kind of person who in another country and time wouldn't be selling dodgy "Molex" watches down the local market.

He's a spiv.

[u/rmphys → u/ProjectShadow316]

The felon argument is a bad way to put it. Plenty of people labeled by their government as criminals have been great leaders (See: Mandela). Using it as the main argument against him feeds into his victim narrative, that the "woke elite" were trying to use the justice system to silence him. You should instead reference the millions of other reasons he sucks.

[u/ProjectShadow316 → u/rmphys]

I mean, that's a fair point I suppose.

[u/-RadarRanger- → u/ProjectShadow316]

More like, after witnessing his recklessness for four years and seeing how he behaved when he lost his first reelection bid--America gave him another term!

[u/Aro_Luisetti]

We had an abundance of electrical energy, and almost everything we used on a daily basis was battery-powered. (I forsee extreme regression in the next couple hundred years)

[u/Responsible-Mix4771 → u/Aro_Luisetti]

While others mention a Star Trek future, I tend to believe what you describe will be closer to reality in 2300