I'm getting increasingly angry and depressed for our children's future.

[WhenWillTheShitEnd]

To think that my hard working son, who gets minimum wage is now strugglying to make end meet because of an egotistical, corrupt, millionaire/billionaire pervert is giving me sleepless nights. To think that the whole world is being held to ransom by men like Trump and Putin is making me so depressed and angry that its affecting my every day life. I feel so utterly helpless. We are all recycling, being told not to use our woodburners etc, while the like of the US and Russia are pumping colossal amount of CO2 into the atmosphere with their bombs. I'm so FUCKING ANGRY.

I've got 3 adult children and a growing number of grandchildren and I'm frightened for all of their futures. I don't see any way back of making this country into something to be proud of again. It's not a slide downhill, it's a downhill bobsleigh run.

What a depressing perspective on life.

Nail on the head with all that.

We are all recycling, being told not to use our woodburners etc, while the like of the US and Russia are pumping colossal amount of CO2 into the atmosphere with their bombs. I'm so FUCKING ANGRY.

It is very frustrating.

My kids are near end of education start of careers and it's a massive worry - work out there for them high rents and cost of living.

There only been a few periods of my life when money was relaxed though - few years in late teens before uni - then mid childhood in second house after getting rid of money pit - since then it's ever tighetning fiancial situation. We're better educated than parents better careers but much worse off then them at same age.

Wasn't easy for our DGP or our parents - living through wars then 70s and 80 in areas badly hit econimically - not been easy for us - but it's looking even harder for our kids. I think AI bubble will break soon on top of oil shock - people who study poltical patterns seem to be saying we were due a shake up globally and climate change will be playing into that as crops fail and water becomes a even more precious resource.

@Marchitectmummy

Some people are panicking about AI while others are learning about it and what is needs. Those who are educated in it are not as bothered by it as you think.

My son's employer, one of the UK's biggest insurance/pension firms, has already reduced it's yearly graduate intake and is currently restructuring internally to prepare for ever-increasing use of AI, meaning fewer jobs, early retirement being offered, and potential redundancies in the next few years. He spends all his day on data science/statistics and already uses AI, so is "educated" in it, and the entire firm are certainly "bothered" about it as they can already see it's influence, reduction in jobs head count, etc., and it's only just beginning.

I'm an accountant, long gone are the days of poring over spreadsheets and data entry - book-keeping is now more or less fully automated in lots of ways, AI is now moving into data analysis, tax planning, business valuations, forecasting, etc. I already use AI to save lots of man hours when designing spreadsheets and databases (i.e. getting AI to write program sub routines etc). I can do things today in just a couple of hours that would have taken 20-30 hours just a few years ago because of AI.

It's the people who aren't "educated in it" who are the ones who aren't bothered as they don't know what it's capable of. The ones who are educated are basically scared shitless about their future jobs!

I honestly think it drives you mad if you think about it and then get to the ‘maybe people shouldn’t have kids’ point, the way some people say, they say there’s no hope for them etc etc, but there is hope, there is potential, there is possibility and there’s still good in the world.I truly believe that

I did enjoy the late 1990s but I was younger then. Most people feel better about the world when they were younger. It was still much easier to get away with outright misogyny and sexism then, tons of it was absolutely normal throughout the media, Jeffrey Epstein and his ilk exploiting young women and people turning a blind eye, Jimmy Saville regarded as a hero and people turned a blind eye to paedophilia, homosexuality was not as widely accepted as now (same sex marriage not legalised until 2013), we had a horrific war in Europe right on our doorstep, Rwanda genocide in the 1990s also and IRA terrorism happening right up to the Good Friday Agreement.

I think even if our country declines I'm still glad was born and greatful for my kids.

My parents generation coming of age in 60s many in my family had to emmigrate for work - a pattern previous generations also had to do. We've had to pare areas we can afford with careers and jobs and education for kids. It is ever harder to find those areas in UK at least but they aren't completely gone yet.

I do worry there will be an increasing inheritocracy - especially as there's not much money in our families to push towards our kids.

I think US is just on a self decrstictuve path and it's who else they take down with them - China is one the rise but historically for most of their history they were a huge regional power.

AI interesting becuase I do think it will bring changes but it's hiding other economic problems behind it like fewer graduate positions. I think it very similar to Railway Mania - when investors pumped money in and we got railways which relvoutionised transport - but when the bubble burst it caused widespread financial ruin. The way the AI being invested in at minute by most US companies - makes no sense.

Though have seen youtube vidoes about the bubble of youtube vidoes on AI being a bubble.

I was with you until you posted this.

It seems that actually you're not interested in trying to help your children to make their best way through life. You just want to blame everyone else for trying.

I heard a depressing thing on the Rory Stuart AI podcast. When the number of jobs declines due to AI there will be more competition for those fewer jobs so businesses will be able to cut pay rates to v low.

I know, I was pondering this today. Greed that poisons society and the planet

I made this decision as a teenager, for similar reasons: I always thought that the world is an extremely hostile place to bring children into. Thirty years later, I have stood by this; and 2020 was the year which irreversably cemented my decision.

I think AI will ruin the job market for the younger generation. I would be terrified if i had a child under 12 now. But i do not know what the answer is.

Do you remember a Channel 4 Drama called Years and Years? It was a kind of dystopian near future based on what AI/technology and neoliberalism will/could do our lives? Parents lose jobs, dad starts work as a cycle delivery person on 0 hours contract, as they sell the house their money is stolen, etc.

Towards the end of the series, the family grandmother, who is alright because she owns her own home and has a pension, talks to her desperate, dispondent family and says; 'It's all your fault.' And her point is that we have voted for successive governments who have facilitated the law changes, who have bowed down to the most powerful businesses in return for donations, who have lied to us and we have believed in the hope offered.

Well, it is happening now. The world is run by a few extremely powerful billionnaires and there is nothing we can do about it.

I think we might see a swing back to people wanting "real" things as AI makes anything produced with technology increasingly fake.

I also think AI is going to create all kinds of messes that people will then need to sort.

I worry, but I think we have to be balanced.

Well, if the billionaires study their history books they will learn that once people get unhappy enough and desperate enough things tend to end badly for the ruling elite

That’s what I don’t understand. If their
products are automated but we don’t have jobs who is buying their products?!

@mugglewump

Towards the end of the series, the family grandmother, who is alright because she owns her own home and has a pension, talks to her desperate, dispondent family and says; 'It's all your fault.' And her point is that we have voted for successive governments who have facilitated the law changes, who have bowed down to the most powerful businesses in return for donations, who have lied to us and we have believed in the hope offered.

But the older generations have also voted for their own self interests, i.e. how political parties and governments are frightened of the "grey" vote, i.e. so they maintain the unaffordable triple lock, continue to pay winter fuel allowance, etc. After all, the statistics show that the older generations are the ones most likely to vote.

I’m encouraging mine to study what they enjoy. It’s impossible to predict what will be needed if anything .

But the billionaires are "safe" in their tax havens and don't have to deal with reality on the streets of Clapham!

I certainly think there'll be a trend towards "localism" again, where people work and live in their own locality, start doing "crafty" things themselves again, i.e. a trend towards self reliance. Or put another way, a shift away from globalisation and centralism we've seen over the past few decades.

Indeed. But eventually people can rebel in ways that impact them

I am not saying it would be easy or painless just that any wise billionaire will think about how power can shift quite rapidly once people are angry and desperate enough

I support her decision. I posted on the thread ‘who is going to pay for your pension’ that I’m stunned that anyone is choosing to reproduce especially when we’re already seeing poor outcomes for young adults (e.g graduates unable to find jobs in their chosen industry and even struggling to find minimum wage work). Add that to the cost of living which means their chances of owning a home is ever diminishing, plus the state of the climate and real risks of climate migration and food shortages, why would anyone want their child to experience that kind of life?

Exactly this.

I am going to go against the grain here, and please don't think that means I am an ardent Trump and Putin supporter.

But your son is not earning minimum wage because of them.

There has to be personal responsibility.