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

[Blancmangemouse]

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?

Hot, flooded, lot of AI

A huge issue is going to be democracy and how we get information, already politicians are using lying on a grand scale to manipulate voters, then there is restrictions on protesting... i mean, arresting women handing out rape alarms who are working with the Met to do so, end up in the 'cells.

It will only get worse.

Hot

😂This too!

Humans will adapt to a changing climate, sea level rise etc but it will bring changes. One of the biggest, thats already hitting us, is drought. Wasting water will become, at best socially unacceptable, at worst there'll be water rationing to preserve water for drinking and growing food rather than enabling 2 showers per day and washing everything after one wear.

Like a microchipped pet.
We will have humanoids to do our every whim.. but will we just actually be their pets?

If it comes to that I resolve to be a cat not a dog!

Don't forget the towels😀

So is the solution to just let the human race die out? I'm not saying it isn't btw, I'm just curious to hear your viewpoint.

IMO the fact that someone may have a tough life is not a reason to prevent them being born. Lots of people have horrendously difficult lives for various reasons, maybe some of them would prefer not to have been born but plenty consider their lives to be meaningful and worthwhile.

It worries me that people believe that if you can't guarantee and easy or safe life then the only option is no life at all. It's such a small, defeatist stance.

“arid tundra of Milton Keynes” gave me a chuckle on an otherwise gloom filled thread. You have a way with words!

@TheDailyCarbunkle God knows what the solution is - it’s beyond either you or me. All we can do is act according to what seems right to us I suppose.

i think there’s a big difference between “easy life” and “life in inhospitable climate fighting over water”. I don’t understand people who have kids when that’s their future but clearly they see things differently from me and that’s how it goes.

I don’t think people decide not to have children purely for this one reason.

We decided not to have children for many reasons, one of which was considering what we thought the world would be like for the next 100 years.

You speak as if it's guaranteed that every single person will have an impossible time of it. I don't think anyone is predicting that, or if they are, I can't see what they're basing it on.

I'm sure the German Jewish parents who had children in the 1930s didn't expect what was coming - life can whack you in the face no matter how careful you are. You might think the solution is beyond us both, but your stance is the exact opposite of a solution - it's essentially giving up.

I know there are lots of reasons that people decide not to have children, I'm talking about the reason that this thread is based on, which is concern for the future.

I think we need people to have dc in the UK

We keep being told that's why we have have so much immigration as there aren't enough people having them to support the ageing population etc

Giving up? Please.

Solution? Solution to what?

A solution in the sense of a way of changing the terrible future you've predicted.

If everyone said 'the future's going to be awful, no point having children,' then we'd just go extinct. It's a solution of sorts - no humans, no need for the earth to function for us. But it doesn't seem very attractive to me.

Sorry, I actually almost spat out my Friday afternoon cup of tea.

You think the earth was created for humans?

I genuinely have no idea where you got that notion from.

Man, this is going to age like a fine milk.

“No humans, no need for the earth to function for us”

And? No humans, and eventually after a few hundred thousand years no one would know we were ever here. The earth would function in an equilibrium, not ruined by 8 billion humans. Other species would come and go, but I doubt one species would cause even the tiniest fraction of destruction that humans have.

Fair enough - you feel extinction is the best option. I don't.

To be clear, when I said 'No humans, no need for the earth to function for us,' I meant that if humans don't exist then it doesn't matter whether the climate doesn't suit us or there's a lack of food. I don't believe the earth was made for humans, I believe the same as you - that we're just one of the species that happens to be here and that the earth would continue on its merry way without us.

I expect water rationing and gas rationing long before then.

one positive I think life will be more environmentally friendly- almost no plastic and diesel petrol cars will be gone.

im not sure about the UK specifically but can’t see the next 50 years being very positive tbh unless we get a consistent labour government and some radical change. I’m not sure people would accept it but it is required.

a lot more widespread poverty in the world - with also a lot more wealth held by very very very few. I expect some corruption in democratic process, in places you would expect better from - I think that’s already beginning in the states and the uk…Those with money will own the rest of us.

Yes, I suppose I do.

If humans could co-exist with nature then I’d argue a smaller population might live on in harmony. But 8 billion people is just one giant wrecking ball.

This is what is funny with threads on here. People say climate change is going to be the end of the world and children are doomed to a life of hardship with no water or food etc. But you can see why when an huge amount of people on here wash their towels and pyjamas and bedsheets and every item of clothing after every use. Yet the people who are (not even always deliberately) saving energy by doing less washing are called dirty and disgusting etc. People should be thanking them for helping save the planet! I wash my bed covers and towels every 2-4 weeks. Pjs once a week. It's not a conscious effort to use less energy, I just never see the need to wash everything after glancing at it once.