What will be the state of you, and your country, 50 years from now
Posted by Dontdarereadmyposts@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 52 comments
Go to a mall.
You see a lot of stores that barely get any foot traffic? You wonder how they're still open. but take note of the people you see there.
What ages are they? 18- 25 predominantly? Fewer 26- 35, even fewer the older you go.
Are they predominantly foreign born or local?
Covid was 5 years ago, 5 years from today all of those people will be older. Who will replace them? How many people are having kids?
Fewer and fewer people having kids - that's fewer and fewer people paying into the economy to provide goods and services. Things are getting more and more expensive.
And you have a population of more and more older people living longer. And fewer and fewer younger people to replace them.
Things are getting more and more expensive, when you're too old, you have to retire. Who will support you? Can you afford life? Will there be enough jobs? Or will they have collapsed due to there not being enough younger people paying to keep the economy afloat?
lesenum@reddit
The USA will collapse. Mad Max tribalism will be the norm in a new dark ages.
StandUpForYourWights@reddit
Rivers of blood, human sacrifice, cats and dogs living together!
airbrushedvan@reddit
MASS HYSTERIA
lesenum@reddit
Cats and dogs living together...I for one welcome our new overlords! ;)
HardNut420@reddit
Nah man Americans will come together and birth a new civilization that supports each other
Interestingllc@reddit
/
HardNut420@reddit
I don't want to live in the mad max universe bro you just gotta believe the humanity will lock in
9chars@reddit
I want what drugs you're on lol
Interestingllc@reddit
We are going to get violently shafted by the death of our climate as we know it. There is no amount of locking in after a certain point that will make a major difference in the end... new civilizations rise after the fall of others, that's cyclical.... Nothing will rise after the fall of our ecosphere and cascading effects from a 4c world that will become a 5c world to a 6c to a 7c. The time to turn around and stop the shaft was 30+ years ago, we haven't done anything matter of fact we are still lined up perfectly for it.
Tearakan@reddit
Could be a mix of nomadic groups, raiders and large walled cities. Places like the upper midwest could still support large populations for a while if we moved into large scale internal greenhouse farming.
Kind of like cyberpunk. Wasteland and cities supported near water with large greenhouses.
Of course most of the high tech probably won't exist. And it'll be a weird mix of some high tech stuff with a lit of cheaper more durable older technology that's easier to maintain.
BadgerKomodo@reddit
I’ll be 76. Probably will be dead by then.
VenusbyTuesdayTV@reddit
So the argument by OP is an aging population causes inflation. Well look no further to Japan. They've been expanding their money supply and performing yield curve control for 10 years yet they simply have no growth or inflation.
Aging population is a problem but it will cause deflation, not inflation. Simple logic: less people buying shirts = cheaper shirts.
mozmik@reddit
Less people producing shirts = Less shirts
Singularity-is-a-lie@reddit
I will be almost 90, so probably perished by then.
However, Germany...
* Major parts of the south and east are desert-ish by 2075.
* Major parts of the north will vanish due to rishing sea level
* population will be concentrated to the other places, but...
* since the big older generations will all be dead, the population will shrink from 80 million to (far?) below 50 millions depending on the collapse.
* the old backbone of the economy, cars, won't be a thing anymore.
* cities will probably be adapted to heat with more trees, less parking spaces.
* people will grow their own food in the garden whenever possible.
* Germans dislike ACs but that is changing rapidly.
* Germanys biggest hobby, flying into friendlier and poorer countries, won't be a thing anymore. Some simple post-collapse life in the best scenario.
ManufacturerNo1478@reddit
That would make me 107, so I will probably be dead.
USA will probably break up.
Tumbleweed_Chaser69@reddit
shit im gonna be 70
Successful-Bobcat701@reddit
Yep. The state of me will be: Dead, and the state of my country will be: Probably dead
Difficult-Rooster555@reddit
Currently 40 so that would make me 90 in 50 years. At the current rate of warming in the tropics I would expect Puerto Rico to be way too unbearable to live at. Plus if capitalism hasn't collapsed yet and its brain dead bootlicking defenders are still around then the ghost of that stupid unpayable dept would likely be around as well.
EpicMichaelFreeman@reddit
I used to be in the USA. I'm in other countries like Malaysia now where malls are thriving and there is a growing population and middle class. 50 years from now Malaysia will probably have a stronger economy and standard of living than the USA had at its peak, while the USA will give you the option to be raped by the mutant lizard people of Arizonee or the highly inbred tsetse-infested molemen of New Florida.
Substantial_Impact69@reddit
Inb4 the AC goes out and you’ll be begging for help.
EpicMichaelFreeman@reddit
I lived on an organic farm with no electrical utility for a summer. I have also been in a Malaysian condo with power off for weeks. I'll be fine even if Malaysia somehow ever has power outages, which it won't because it is actually a civilized country with politicians trying to keep the infrastructure in good condition. Anyways, the malls in Malaysia are nicely AC'd and where I like to spend most of my time.
https://youtu.be/BuFVACw3Y_o
Substantial_Impact69@reddit
Okay then inb4 the flooding, fishing and food becomes harder to come by due to climate change. It’s not that far fetched, Orang Seletar will not be an isolated example.
It’s not a matter of politicians being good actors or bad, you could have the best politicians on earth. They can’t control the weather, hotter heatwaves, more destructive flooding, coastal losses, and damaged agriculture to deep socio-economic disruptions. It’s a collective global effort.
Also, the mall I live next to is a destination mall. It has a very nice food court (Recently got one of those Chicken Guy Restaurants)
EpicMichaelFreeman@reddit
Don't make me laugh. There are countries being managed properly that will handle food supply just fine. You might be in a country slated for massive depopulation, but I am not. The clowns who let themselves starve or die from politicians mismanaging everything deserve it for letting it happen.
Substantial_Impact69@reddit
Oh honey. Your ruling government just collapsed in 2 years, stability isn’t exactly in your favor. You know your neighbor, Indonesia. That’s your future. Malls or not.
EpicMichaelFreeman@reddit
What are you yapping about? This kind of infrastructure project is what Malaysia is doing for its people. It isn't going to collapse like the USA with almost 40 trillion in debt.
https://youtu.be/t0s4FWjAsRw
Imbecile. Go and die in your collapsing country.
Substantial_Impact69@reddit
Uh huh. Despite my country ‘collapsing’ everybody still wants to get into mine. You’ll do the same, your country is projected to become an aged nation before it becomes a developed one. That’s not counting all the climate nonsense, or any curveballs like disease or major wars.
That’s a fact. That’s not getting into stuff like the Solidarity Deaths. No country is immune to collapse.
lFightForTheUsers@reddit
50 years from now I will be 77. An interesting number, that is if I'm still alive then.
You know the dark future of Battlefield 2042? I'm not talking the game the devs put out with silly phrases at the end of a match and consumables, I'm talking the bleak future that the marketing team made the game out to be - wars not for power but merely for survival - battles over water reserves, people without a home, so called "no-pats" being nomads because they have nobody but fellow deserted to lean on for survival. A cross between that and cyberpunk dystopia is what I'm presuming the future holds for us.
As to the mall question, it varies wildly by mall. I do see a larger international clientele, but ages vary wildly. There are the college aged dudes in Linkin Park shirts going to Hot Topic, the middle aged once divorced office worker on her lunch break, the older twice divorced cougar enjoying early retirement, and the even older couple power walking through the mall because climate change and auto-dominated landscape has made it too hot for them to safely get their steps in anywhere else.
But no matter what, the numbers are much lower than it used to be. You never see massive crowds anything like they used to be. A closed storefront in the mall used to be something only seen occasionally, now it's multiple stores en masse always closed. The worst malls are barely open to foot traffic still but have nobody inside, just endless closed storefronts inside. A dead mall that doesn't know it's dead yet but is on its last legs.
Kids in general are dwindling though. My area will always be an outlier because there are massive droves of people moving here - a suburb nearby took the #1 spot a year or two back for fastest growing "city" because the city limits exploded from a bumbling 5k town a decade ago to 50,000+ in massive suburban communities built there in what used to be rice fields. But nationwide numbers are dwindling especially in the areas that these people are fleeing.
Retirement plan? I have a two faced approach to it. There is the side of me that set up a Roth 401k a decade ago and 10x'd the amount in returns in it over said decade. The side that started investing in work's 401k, in setting up an emergency savings, etc. Then there is the other side of me that focuses on survival skills - how to repair things, how to shoot, how to bandage a wound, how to disinfect, how to mend, etc. I prepare for the best but hope for the worst.
LowBarometer@reddit
Don't worry, AI is going to create a lot of jobs. /s
RicardoHonesto@reddit
Most of us will be dead.
Painful_Colonoscopy@reddit
I’ll be Dust in the Wind (63 now). My country (USA)? Probably a war zone, with competing nations fighting over what territory is left. The Grand Canyon will be a toxic waste disposal site (imagine how much it could hold!). The desert SW will resemble the Sahara. Probably 1/3 of the continental US under water (NYC will be turned into a Bioshock theme park). Canada will have fortified their southern border ala DPRK 🇰🇵. To the south, Mexico, Central and South America will be one nation under the Cartels. Ok I’m not 1000% serious, but would I have imagined 2025 40 years ago when I was serving in the United States Navy?
Exact-Kale3070@reddit
now i have "dust in the wind" stuck in my head. off to watch Final Destination entire series, i guess.
ok, ok, i was probably going to do that anyway, but now for sure ;)
IKillZombies4Cash@reddit
I’ll be 98, malls will be raging back to life as the great “e-commerce boycott” of 2042 gained permanent traction as people finally realized that they need somewhere to go since social media became 99% AI porn by 2038
Ching-Dai@reddit
Questions like this genuinely add to my depression….not due to the subject matter, but because it reaffirms just how few people understand the state of climate change.
The majority of the world will be thankful if it still operates at some level of normalcy within a decade. Within 20-25 (based on current estimates, which eclipsed all previous estimates, etc) everything changes for the worst. We’ll easily pass 2C by then, which locks in the rest of the dominoes.
In 50? Who knows. Insert crappiest imaginable hellscape.
ForestYearnsForYou@reddit
Only way to support yourself going into collapse is a permaculture homestead and a community.
take_me_back_to_2017@reddit
I live in Europe, in a country that used to be socialist but is now a "democracy" and more or less ruled by the US and Brussels. So for my country, there are two possible outcomes.
Outcome 1 : we stick with the West and everything turns to shit just like it is now
Outcome 2 : Russia somehow manages to get us back, and also manages to bring back socialism... then it won't be that horrible, at least for us. How I know this - we have already seen both sides and CLEARLY the West is much worse. Way worse. I know I will get many downvotes now, mostly because this sub is mostly people from the US or Canada. But I don't care. I feel bad for everyone who lives under turbo capitalism and I really don't want it.
BruteBassie@reddit
My sweet summer child... If you think your life will be better under Russian rule, you're in for a nasty surprise.
Old-Design-9137@reddit
Even here in Collapse we apparently have tankies.
take_me_back_to_2017@reddit
Lol enjoy paying for rent, student loans and an ambulance I guess. Wanna know who doesn't ? Me. Why ? Because we had the horrible socialism.
commesicetaithier@reddit
Russia was never socialist. Marx didn't even believe it to be suitable for a revolution. It beat striking workers which it forced to work extremely hard (the Stakhanovite movement) just so that it could have the capitalist growth for the sole purpose of growing. It sabotaged actual socialist movements in the name of "socialism in one country" which was no socialism, just reactionary nationalist duce worship pretending to be leftist.
Russian oligarchy is even more greedy than US, Russia is doomed and brings its doom to the US.
TediousOldFart@reddit
I see from your other posts that you're 25 years old, which makes you far, far too old for these pathetically naive know-nothing tankie fantasies. Grow the fuck up. And once you've done that, read a history book or two.
CorvidCorbeau@reddit
I am also from a former socialist country. Those days had certain advantages over today's openly capitalist system, but it had its massivw disadvantages too. It wasn't better for human rights or environmental protection by any means. And there was far far more aurhoritarianism.
Who was ultimately responsible for this? Russia, they owned the leaders of my country. Everything worked as Russia hoped it would.
I hope Russia can one day create a mutually beneficial economic and political relationship with Europe, but going back to the old ways is not going to help the issues we have now.
TrickyProfit1369@reddit
Russia brings back socialism? What are you smoking? Russia is an imperialist capitalist oligarchy.
SapphosMiddleFinger@reddit
Eastern eu here. Tankie bootsucking of Russian fascists is insane lol. You're getting rightfully downvoted.
commesicetaithier@reddit
50 years from now, the biosphere won't support humankind.
Things are getting more expensive because of price fixing and monopolies at large. Corpos have record high NET profits, not just gross profits, it's just greed no longer stopped by the government which was overtaken by shills of economic pseudoscience.
Growing population is a trap, it only wastes more resources while annihilating worker rights and allowing capitalists to cease innovation.
When there was time to fix things, the choice should be to make economies centrally planned (like in US during WW2, which managed to improve quality of life despite declining resources), focused on optimization, not growth. The health policy chosen should be to treat all people with anti-aging drugs, insulin sensitizers above all, to prevent as much illness as possible before it even develops, reducing the pressure on healthcare and keeping people longer suitable for work, to be replaced with machines.
Normal-Ear-5757@reddit
I'll be dead or 100 years old. If I'm alive I'll be some sort of grey cyborg, kept alive by buckets of pills and shots (the new fatbuster shots apparently rejuvenate you by 3 and a half years!) provided by whatevers left of the health service or some crypto investment or work in VR. I'll live in VR as the real world becomes ever more uninhabitable. My flat, cooled by Aircon and me, taxicabbed around by robots on the rare occasions I go out.
The country: England, my England, will have likely gone through a Fascist turn. I fear we may well have another genocide under our belts... We think we're the good guys but the Irish, the Indians, and many more know just how cruel we can be.
We'll have got through that and likely have dissolved the UK. God knows what the politics will be, maybe some sort of wet social democracy if we're lucky, or varying degrees of capitalist, fascist, or even communist autocracy if we're not. Or maybe technocracy, rule by computer and committee, like in Philip K Dick's Vulcan's Hammer...
Or maybe everything will have collapsed and we'll be back to our roots, bare-assed, woad-painted savages scratching a living in a flooded-out wasteland. In which case I'll be The Old Man, the memory of the tribe, a pissy old bastard who just refuses to die. Who knows?
Vibrant-Shadow@reddit
Nonexistent.
Cultural-Answer-321@reddit
https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1i4oseu/actuarial_report_highlights_the_trajectory_to_2b/
Sorry_End3401@reddit
In 50 years I’ll be dead. Probably for awhile.
The USA turns into the movie idiocracy and other countries ban Americans from setting foot on their soil.
Climate change-which SHOULD BE CALLED WHAT IT IS—-POLLUTION. Will have its way with even the richest dumbest people as their bunkers get flooded and they breathe the same air as the plebs. Each generation of wealth is dumber and dumber and the 90% of the rest hid humanity will hopefully sterilize them
renzok@reddit
50 years? Humanity will likely be extinct, if not entirely then the only survivors will be small and disconnected groups of hunter-gatherers
OctopusIntellect@reddit
Instructions unclear - how do I identify whether someone is "foreign born" or "local" just by walking past them in a mall?
My nearest big stores are usually so busy during the day that I can barely get a parking space.
My country has a steady influx of young immigrants aiming to better their lives, and thereby contributing to the economy and supporting the existing older generations. So there are not fewer and fewer young people, there are more and more of them.
Maybe you should emigrate here too - you don't seem to have much confidence in the long term prospects of your own country.
Yes I'll eventually be too old and have to retire; that's why I pay into pensions and buy investments.
isUKexactlyTsameasUS@reddit
What will be the state of me, and my family, my country/countries in the EU, 50 years from now?
1,
Somehow, I've no idea how, Europe will somehow ''land well'' (yup I know, an ambiguous phrase), anyway...
Somehow, I've no idea how, Putin and his warmongering in the east, it will eventually wind down and die.
Somehow, I've no idea how, the EU will be more united - esp since, and esp BECAUSE the USA's problems (with crimes at the top, education, shootings in education, etc, take a guess...) will rise and rise, MUCH further.
And the EU will do the ''uniting'' NOT because they want to - there'll be all the usual infighting along the way - but
but because they've no other choice.
2,
Or WW3.
DissolveToFade@reddit
The only thing constant is change.