We've learned nothing. We make the same mistakes over and over. We saw what happens when fascism takes over. Yet it's happening again. Millions died from COVID, and people are abandoning vaccines. The planet is overheating, and our roads are full of giant, gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs. None of this had to happen, we had the knowledge to prevent it. We just didn't.

Climate change. Shit is going to get super real in the next 20 years. Like half the planet starving real.

Mostly I'm just really fucking sad.

There was such a potential for all of us to live brilliant, flourishing, fulfilling lives.

Instead, half the folks in my country decided to shit on everything and everyone. The remaining half of us are now too fucking busy cleaning up after those fuckwits to make forward progress. We can't even advocate for changes to things we know are bad because we're trying to defend the broken status quo from something worse.

It's going to take generations to unfuck the damage. More than my lifetime, at least.

at this point i'm beyond being afraid. i just plain dont care anymore, maybe we even deserve what is coming for letting it happen

America is run by the Neo-Nazi party, and following their idols more or less to the T.

Israel is running a widely known genocide, and the world doesnt care.

Global Warming is going to start killing crops en masse soon enough, while removing the amount of livable land.

The American Neo-Nazi party is speed rushing the great depression, and WWIII at the same time.

China is the next largest power in the world, and they arent much better than America.

YES

Climate change, consolidation of power in the hands of fewer and fewer, increasing economic inequality, increased surveillance, AI, enshittification of everything

Yes, the future looks rough.

I feel guilty having kids.

Being afraid puts one in shackles. There's no sense in being afraid of a situation you cannot change. So: no, I'm not afraid, but I'm pessimistic and I'm trying to adapt, and prepare myself with my kids for a possibly worse future and try to develop workaround strategies.

Humans are adaptable. We’re living shit lives now from the perspectives of some past generations. Younger generations will not know any differently. Don’t worry, we’ll be dead or have dementia in no time.

Climate change and the breakup of the US are my two large-scale fears.

Yes,

I don't see empathy in people any more. It is mostly showoff and greed all around.

Sometimes I feel like joining/creating a village just like the Amish villages but without religion.

I'm old and this may not happen in my lifetime, but I fear the collapse of the ocean current systems. The resulting global weather chaos would have a drastic effect on my younger family members, some of whom are already struggling to make their way in the world.

The way governments everywhere are backing off green commitments and seems only interested in waging war and/or protecting the greedy makes me despair, but every single day I meet people with warm hearts and open minds, so I do have some hope.

I started drinking more! You should try it.

I don't feel like the world is about to fall apart so much as its already in the midst of it. I don't like the analogy personally, but it's the boiling frog. Just because the water isn't fully boiled yet doesn't mean the frog isn't already cooked.

That probably sounds pretty dark, depressing, and nihilistic as well as overly pessimistic and extreme to a lot of people. For me it is just a logical observation, like if I saw a delivery truck pulling out of my driveway and I conclude that I must have just gotten a package delivered.

At the heart of the matter are the two principle mechanisms I feel could hold things together. First, is people working together. Second, is technological solutions.

People will work together to solve problems, but now that things are actually falling apart, it's more like (the other analogy I don't like but I'm going to use anyway) crabs in a bucket. Too many people are in it for themselves, grabbing everything they can for themselves, pulling the ladder up, and it's more than enough to overwhelm the people who can and do work together to make things better.

Technology isn't even being used to solve easily solvable and relatively tractable problems, in fact, it's often being used to make things worse. I suppose I could go on my old man yells at clouds rant about technology at the grocery store. Instead of using it to make sure the shelves stay stocked and things aren't out of stock for weeks, we use it to adjust prices on a daily basis via e-ink displays and then forcing people to use terribly implemented self-checkouts. Now imagine that kind of problem solving being used on actual meaningful problems. Some of the technological "fixes" sound great on paper, but in the end they solve nothing at best and on average seem to make things worse.

So from that perspective, yeah, you might say I'm a bit worried at a minimum.

Yep.

At this point I'm 90% sure that we are in a regression similar to the dark ages after the fall of Rome, or the collapse of the Bronze Age.

During our lifetime quality of life will keep going down, and who knows how low we will fall.

To be honest I don't even think climate change would have a chance of getting us. I think society will collapse before the average temperature rises one degree. I'm looking forward total dissapear of basic commodities in one or two decades top. For instance, my country has universal healthcare. I think in 10 years it would be completely unusable to the point of being equal to not have universal healthcare at all.

We're fucked, I just hope I can get with the girl I like and not ride the storm alone. Trying to get a meaningful job that help people

Techno robber barons pushing us toward ecological disaster? Why would anyone be afraid of that? /s

Although on a serious note, I don't despair; I'm taking action, and I hope plenty of others are as well.

Yes, mass famine caused by the global warming and climate crisis

Everyday, whenever I hear the hum of a combustion engine. It's the sound a group of people make when they're indirectly killing someone; however, as of yet that person likely isn't known to them and the death happens maybe in a few years so they can easily ignore these facts and continue to pretend that they are a good person.

The most prudent passage for me is the lyrics of the poem spoken in God Speed You! Black Emperor's song Dead Flag Blues:

We are trapped in the belly of this horrible machine, and the machine is bleeding to death.

What scares me is a humans ability to ignore things. To continue to behave in such a way, to maintain a lifestyle, that is excessively detrimental to themselves and everyone and everything they have ever known and loved and will come to know and love.

They can easily come up with excuses for their actions, exactly like an addict, and just like an addict you can't use logic with them. I am sure there are people reading this, if they got this far, that are thinking up thousands of excuses and reasons for why they continue to burn fossil fuel for their own convenience. How to dismiss this somehow, with an angry reply or whatever else. As if the chemical waste they themselves released into the atmosphere doesn't count, as if it somehow did not contribute to the catastrophic biosphere collapse that has already killed millions of people. Hundreds of millions. As if they can be forgiven for that small transgression. As if by being part of the group they can avoid blame for the groups actions and it's consequences.

They simply can't give a shit, because they're good people.

I live in the U.S., and with how fucked the country is with fascists and fascist bootlickers, I don't know where my future lies.

I can't really afford to move to another country, and I can't see myself settling down in this fucked up place.

So I'm just stuck in limbo, and it feels like my future is being held hostage.

And climate change is just the icing on the cake. Shit loads of people are going to die, quality of life is going to significantly drop. Climate immigration is going to explode and provide even more political power to fascists.

It does seem like a daily assault on our well being, doesn't it? But there is something that helps with this - read history broadly. It helps give you a deeper understanding of current events that lessens the impact of the current moment. And consider the quote "this too shall pass". It's attributed to Sufi poets about impermanence. If times are bad it gives you hope that those times will one day, eventually but certainly, be gone. If times are good it makes you relish the moment deeply and do what you can to make it last.

My answer has nothing to do with current events: what scares me the most about the future is the inevitable death of my parents. I am scared of never being able to talk to them ever again.

Not anymore.

I was a lot in 2020 and leading up to 2024 USA election. Somewhere along the way, I accepted that we're doomed and started focusing more on the things in my day to day life that make me happy. I can't stop the lunatic behavior of my government or the destructive behavior of the people with all the wealth. If they don't light the world on fire right under our feet, I'll die from the horrible shit in our food and groundwater.

Whatever… just live.

The future is now. We are in it.

No point whatsoever in feeling scared or fearful. Let tht awful feeling be a springboard to action, preparation and community building.

Do something today, plan what you’re going to do tomorrow. Collaborate, train and keep learning. Focus on your health and the health of those around you.

I am not afraid. I’m ready.

I'm cautiously optimistic. Around the world, imperialism is dying away. The global south is developing and gaining sovereignty, and socialist countries are rising as well. We live in tumultuous times, but there's plenty of reason to be hopeful.

you will own nothing, and will be happy!

Believe it or not. This was written OPTIMISTICALLY in an essay by head of an extremely wealthy PROGRESSIVE organization, the WEF.

Klaus Schwab, I want to say.

All you need to feel optimism is to understand and go in life with the understanding that we are ALL humans, held within systems (often systems of our own creation).

The essay Klaus wrote was about how the international lifestyle of the wealthy, travelling, forming communities, talking, seeking opportunity, a lifestyle that makes HIM as a member of the European gentry very happy, might be extended to other Europeans.

That "and you will be happy" was a genuine attempt at optimism, and being happy making money.

He, being of the class he is, is not necessary conscious of lower class conditions, and was rightfully picked out as being out of touch.

This is what the left has forgotten, to be like Jesus in trying to appeal to everyone. We have to understand systems, systems of thought, of social pressure, of education, intelligence, awareness, apply to everyone. The billionaire and the working class racist alike.

We're all just humans in systems. That's the only understanding that's humanist. So we must be able to appeal to all humanity.

Yes, absolutely, for many reasons.

But greater than the fear is the anger that we will just go on like nothing is wrong each and everyone of us in our personal cage dictated by the perfect system of capitalism where it is impossible to break out and meaningfully influence this.

You kidding? Is anyone not?

You will own nothing, and you will be happy!

They're trying their hardest with PCs and gaming consoles. The price of RAM and SSDs will make owning a PC or console out of reach for many, but guess what, you'll be able to stream your games for a subscription fee.

Microsoft is already working on making Windows a cloud-based subscription service.

I know there are worse things to be worried about, like with housing, energy costs, water and food shortages or costing too much, etc. Just pointing out a related example to that quote.

For context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You%27ll_own_nothing_and_be_happy

I share your concerns.

Only when I think about it. Mostly I try my best to live in the moment.

A lot of people will die and then things will change for the better, eventually. 🤷‍♂️

What future? Can't be scared of something we won't have.

Mostly afraid of the climate

Yes, but I'm more scared for humanity itself than the system. We had the chance and the means to create a generous and free heaven, and instead we have created a greedy debt slave hell.

The system isn't the problem, it's us. And if we don't learn then we're heading for another repeat.

Did you know that we actually have the means to eradicate poverty the world over?

It's been a common sentiment for centuries, and I know this time it seems especially dire, but in the grand scheme of everything it's all just a blip anyways. Just enjoy whatever you can and make differences where you can is about all you can do. We need to build something worth fixing if we want to do anything

Every period of history has felt like the world was heading for certain disaster. The human race is shockingly resilient and has survived much more than we deserve to

Nothings scares me. There are a lot of things not going well (climate collapse, extinctions, rise of the extreme right, wars), but as long as I can contribute a little money and time to help other people (and organisms), vote, be politically active, as long as I can do that I have a feeling of being in control and that works wonders against fear.

Just remember you’re going to die, eventually. So never be afraid of death. There are fates much worse than the inevitable. Like a poisoned future of musk clones.

Yes, definitely. I'm afraid that AI is going to keep advancing and companies will keep laying off even more employees then I get laid off and then I'm out of work and unable to find my next job. I've already been laid off once before and it already took me half a year to find a new job and that was even before the explosion of AI. I'm also afraid my shingles infection pain isn't going to go away and I'm going to be stuck with long-term nerve pain, despite my relatively young age, because I started antivirals like 168 hours after onset of symptoms because I was almost misdiagnosed twice in a week.

Yes, plenty of things to be afraid of, I think that's part of being an adult.