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Original poster

What do you think life in the UK will be like 30 years from now?

274 replies

Blancmangemouse · 18/05/2023 21:44

The year is 2053. I will hopefully be about to retire. What do you think life will be like?

I remember in my teenage years I became irrationally convinced I would die at 25. I remember reading that young people inexperienced with life can feel this way because they just can’t picture their future selves in an adult world which is unknown to them.

Now mid 30s I am getting similar feelings and it could be because the future seems so uncertain. AI, Climate Crisis, World Powers shifting- etc etc.

So what do you think 2053 will realistically look like?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
9
blahblahblah1654 · 19/05/2023 04:44

Wow this thread is depressing.

Hal9001 · 19/05/2023 04:51

@blahblahblah1654

It's only depressing if you think we're fucked.

I don't believe that.

I feel quite optimistic about people, humans.

I think we'll be ok.

blahblahblah1654 · 19/05/2023 04:52

@Hal9001 I hope so too!

Hal9001 · 19/05/2023 05:10

I think we'll be reet @blahblahblah1654

Honestly. I'm quite old.

And quite optimistic.

But if we're doomed, hey, we're doomed.

And I can't even be arsed to be sad about that.

It is what it is. What you gonna do?

PaperSheet · 19/05/2023 05:19

saltinesandcoffeecups · 19/05/2023 01:17

Wow… you lot must be fun at parties 🤣

OP, you’re in your 30s? So born in the ‘90s? Things will be fine. It will be more or less the same.

  • There will be rich people and poor people
  • religious and non-religious
  • More and better tech but my old timey potato masher will still work just as good as it does today.
  • there will be a new environmental crisis that will be on the brink of offing the lot of us- Ozone layer anyone?
  • there will be wars fought and one brimming on the horizon
  • There will be people looking back at the good ol’ days of the ‘20s and someone else calling them “boomer” or equivalent and blaming them for all the current problems…psst that will be you by the way
  • people will be bitching about In-laws, kids these days, dog shit, taxes, and work

This.

Honestly I love a good dystopian story and I'm a mini prepper. (Would love to do more but can't afford it and living in the middle of a town would make it pointless as not defendable long term) But I really don't think we'll all be living like a scene from the walking dead.

I also remember being taught about the ozone layer in the 90s and how disastrous it was going to be.
To everyone who thinks there will be no point living in 30 years, if you have kids why did you have them? Climate change isn't new news. I don't believe that every single person posting doom on here has kids who are adults so weren't aware of it. The majority will have kids age 12 or younger. If you genuinely believe the world will be inhabitable or a war zone in 30 years why did you have kids? Multiple kids in most occasions.
Also does anyone think what all this negativity might do to young people? Imagine being told from childhood that you have no future and you'll be living in scenes like the walking dead. No wonder young people have so many mental health issues.

110APiccadilly · 19/05/2023 05:41

Extrapolating certain trends:

The NHS will still be creaking on, though by then most people will also be paying through the most for private health insurance. Anyone trying to reform the NHS will be told they want us to have a US style system - the irony that that's what we'll have by the back door will be lost on them.

People who object to their children doing the practical elements of sex education in primary school will be told they're bigots. Children are, it will be said, autonomous beings, and have the right to know what sex is and how can they know unless they've had it. Besides, lots of them are already having it so we need to make sure they're doing it right.

Euthanasia will be strongly encouraged for the elderly. You'll be told it's your own choice but then reminded how selfish you are for taking up NHS resources.

Free childcare will be available from birth and everyone who doesn't use it will be told how their three month olds are missing out socially.

QuentininQuarantino · 19/05/2023 05:46

gosh there’s a lot of dystopia on this thread!

I think that we will have confronted the huge problem we’re facing of ageing populating by legalising euthanasia and there will be more AI based care. I’ve visited a lab working on intelligent care home facilities, they can effectively look after a very disabled person without any other humans there. The tech is too expensive now but in 2050….

i also think that a lot of the new technology we think we be implemented won’t be because of the cost to the govt of implementing the infrastructure. Think how long it’s taking just to do charging points for electric vehicles. There is a motorway in Spain which wirelessly charges electric cars - it is the future but governments can’t afford to fix potholes!

GreenwichOrTwicks · 19/05/2023 05:51

AndIKnewYouMeantIt · 18/05/2023 22:26

Don't ask this on here, OP. By the end of page 2 you'll want to jump out of a plane with no parachute.

This.
All the doomsayers pile on like in Covid.
Even for the poorest life is immeasurably better today than 50 years ago.

ThankmelaterOkay · 19/05/2023 05:54

Jeez.

It won’t be hugely different to today. Worse of course, and considering today is worse than 30 years ago, then clearly the trajectory is wrong.

But it won’t be apocalyptic. Humans are very good at just about changing to avoid hugely dire situations. Otherwise the underclass (currently large and getting larger) would rise up as they’d literally have nothing to lose (they have nothing to lose now, but capitalism makes them believe they do).

As for the posters worried for their children…Jesus, why did you have them then?!

SisterWivesrus · 19/05/2023 06:00

I think cyborgs who look like humans will have taken over but a small band of human resistance fighters led by a hero will be battling against this.

This threatens the cyborgs so they send a robot back in time to stop the hero from being conceived.

SarahSmith2023 · 19/05/2023 06:05

Dovetail40 · 18/05/2023 21:58

Cure for many genetic conditions cancer, heart disease and diabetes etc.

@Dovetail40 wouldn't that be amazing.

ThankmelaterOkay · 19/05/2023 06:07

SisterWivesrus · 19/05/2023 06:00

I think cyborgs who look like humans will have taken over but a small band of human resistance fighters led by a hero will be battling against this.

This threatens the cyborgs so they send a robot back in time to stop the hero from being conceived.

You joke but several years ago with Alphabet’s incorporation, I made a joke that this was Skynet, and that ticking clock towards Judgement Day had started. Fuck, that was a sweet prediction..almost, if Google get their shit together anyway.

MyFaceIsAnAONB · 19/05/2023 06:11

I really don’t think in only 30 years people will be inserting chips into their newborn babies 😵‍💫

SarahSmith2023 · 19/05/2023 06:16

@SleepingStandingUp

not that you've thought about it ...🤪🤪🤪

I can't imagine what my life will be like in 5 minutes years, let alone 30. I think I need to commission you!!

SarahSmith2023 · 19/05/2023 06:19

@Blancmangemouse

i don't know, I'm 54, when I imagine having been asked this 30 years ago, the life I personally have & how the world is now, is NOT what I would have guessed at.

it tells you something when I have kept avoiding your thread. I'm finding it far too scary to think about.

PaperSheet · 19/05/2023 06:21

ThankmelaterOkay · 19/05/2023 05:54

Jeez.

It won’t be hugely different to today. Worse of course, and considering today is worse than 30 years ago, then clearly the trajectory is wrong.

But it won’t be apocalyptic. Humans are very good at just about changing to avoid hugely dire situations. Otherwise the underclass (currently large and getting larger) would rise up as they’d literally have nothing to lose (they have nothing to lose now, but capitalism makes them believe they do).

As for the posters worried for their children…Jesus, why did you have them then?!

I also asked about why people had kids if they're that worried. But I have seen this answered before on similar doom threads. Most of the time these people say they weren't aware how bad the situation was when they had their (1, 2, 5 and 6 year old) kids so this is all brand new to them and they wish they'd never had (and happily completed) their large family. But if they'd had known how bad it was they wouldn't have done it and they think everyone should think of the kids already here now and not have any of their own now to help save the planet.

Pinkest · 19/05/2023 06:30

Sometimes it's having children that opens eyes because suddenly you're not the centre of your universe, they are.

MovinGroovinBarbie · 19/05/2023 06:35

A genderless society where men can convincingly change sex.

SunnyEgg · 19/05/2023 06:37

GreenwichOrTwicks · 19/05/2023 05:51

This.
All the doomsayers pile on like in Covid.
Even for the poorest life is immeasurably better today than 50 years ago.

Show quote history

Don't ask this on here, OP. By the end of page 2 you'll want to jump out of a plane with no parachute.

All the doomsayers pile on like in Covid.

Haven’t RTFT but betting this is the closest answer

ElmTree22 · 19/05/2023 06:38

CheeseTouch · 18/05/2023 21:51

Widespread famine, disease and wars over resources. Mainly driven by runaway climate change.

Absolutely this!

ElmTree22 · 19/05/2023 06:40

Dovetail40 · 18/05/2023 22:17

We will have rejoined the EU.😎

We're a fucking shambles, they won't have us back, we're Europe's entrainment these days!

PaperSheet · 19/05/2023 06:42

Pinkest · 19/05/2023 06:30

Sometimes it's having children that opens eyes because suddenly you're not the centre of your universe, they are.

This is true. But telling other people not to have children once you've had as many as you want is wrong. Plus telling your children their futures are worthless and pointless isn't helpful either.
Going from not listening/caring about the future of the planet to an online doomsdayer after having kids isn't helpful to anyone.

RhubarbFairy · 19/05/2023 06:45

Well, this is a cheery thread for 0645 on a Friday morning.

Isoqueen · 19/05/2023 06:45

Higher population so more demand on resources. People reporting each other to the authorities for saying the ‘wrong’ thing so not much in the way of comedy ( already happening). Driverless cars, trains, buses etc. Faster travel times by air but also a lot more expensive so not available for most.
Another pandemic emanating from China but no one can say a word because that country will rule the world and you would be carted off to a re-education camp.
More automated jobs but a growth in technical jobs for the tech savvy. Political extremism - probably left rather than right but not easy to live with either way.
An ongoing war involving Europe.
Not too good but I won’t be here to see it anyway.

MelonsOnSaleAgain · 19/05/2023 06:46

Honestly I think things will be much the same. Bar a genuine disaster (another world war, plague, or unpredictable natural event) then we’ll trundle on.

everyone always thinks they live in terrible times. Only now we have social media and the internet to enable us to catastrophise about it at length.

I find it much more likely that we’ll have the same issues but different tech. Maybe I’ll have a house robot to clean up. We’ll have had a Labour cycle of power here in the Uk by then and will orobabaly have been through another conservative one and be back looking at another start of Labour again.

i refuse to be pessimistic and think the world is a shit show. I think mostly the world is ok, where it doesn’t work, we’ll keep trying to fix it!

One thing I can guarantee is we’ll all still disagree and have different ideas about what making the world decent looks like.