6 ms·

Any guesses on what's next? What do you suppose, in retrospect 30 years from now, will seem crazy that we all did?

steve_g 8y ago
I wonder what future generations will _despise_ us for. For which behaviors or beliefs will they take down our statues, remove our portraits from display, take our names off memorials, and revile us as evil?
- aplummer 8y ago
  Maybe how we treat refugees, or watch Syrians being bombed on the news before carrying on with our day.
- ShabbosGoy 8y ago
  Nothing, because after a certain point, only artificial and semi-synthetic life will exist.
- girvo 8y ago
  For Australia (where I'm from), it's certain to be our treatment of asylum seekers arriving via boats. It's absolutely disgusting how our government and a lot of society want to treat them.
- winter_blue 8y ago
  I think one of the greatest political evils today, is how many people think it is justified and good to commit acts of violence against peaceful self-sufficient (ie non-welfare-dependent) immigrants. I’m talking about restrictive immigration policies of course. I think it’s a moral travesty how most countries treat self-sufficient peaceful migrants. I actually don’t believe countries have a right to unreasonably restrict movement. Arguments on this can be found on: https://openborders.info https://openborders.info To quote a comment I can across recently: “It is hypocritical to expect everyone else to stay where they happen to be born just because they’re not born on this side of the fence. That to me is the best definition of a spoiled brat.” Besides the deep selfishness of such a desire, it is actually emphatically evil — since it involves inflicting real harm and violence, on peaceful migrants. Of course, my comment here might invite lots of downvotes. Reading certain recent HN threads, like on The Economist article promoting open borders, showed me that many (not all but a disgustingly high number of) HN readers have a Nazi-esque hatred for open borders.
  - greglindahl 8y ago
    I downvoted you for the Nazi reference. Good luck having a reasonable conversation with that start.
- ashleyn 8y ago
  The treatment of people with mental illness is overdue for a sea change. In much of criminal law I can predict a move from punishment to mental health treatment. Comedians and anchors who make fun of "nuts" won't particularly age well.
diego_moita 8y ago
My bet is on irresponsibility on dealing with global warming.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
notslang 8y ago
That depends on whether the Overton window continues to shift leftward, or if it is pushed in another direction. There were LGBT rights movements as early as the 1890's, but those didn't last.
- oldcynic 8y ago
  Leftward? lol In every respect except gender and sexual politics we have moved massively right since the seventies. The UK Labour party are now to the right of the 1970s Heath Tory party. Yes even under Corbyn. In 1970 he'd have been mostly a moderate. It was Nixon who oh so nearly brought in UBI, at a surprisingly generous rate too. As far as LGBT rights are concerned that seems far more a generational thing than of the right or left. Here in the UK it's had cross party support in recent years, though of course there are more anachronistic conservative views on the right. It was, nevertheless, the Tory party that legalised gay marriage.
  - beaconstudios 8y ago
    the modern conservative party is also more central than in previous times though. In my eyes, the overton window has shifted leftward so drastically in sudden years (the standard of discourse moving from classical/renaissance liberalism to progressivism) that it has triggered a reactionary right wing movement that keeps the left-right balance by both sides diverging further and further from the centre. Ideas that I was taught in school as being moral maxims like racial colourblindness and meritocracy are now often called out as not good enough in mainstream online media.
    - oldcynic 8y ago
      > the modern conservative party is also more central than in previous times though I have to go back to the inter-war years to find them to the right of now on anything substantive. Disraeli's One-Nation Conservatism, the tenets of which still existed and were still somewhat respected under Heath, is resolutely dead, killed with malice by Thatcher's neo-liberal "there is no such thing as society, only the individual". Theresa May briefly using one-nation as a soundbite doesn't mean it actually exists any more. Both Cameron and Blair were making policy changes and privatisations that Thatcher ruled out as too radical or unthinkable. It was Brown who removed the final remnants of banking control. Both governments were firmly to the right of the Thatcher years. Both would be unrecognisable to the Wilson Labour party. The formerly mainstream One-Nation Tories were redefined as the "wets" in the Thatcher years and it was the radical right of the party who came to the fore. Similar can be seen on the other side of the Atlantic. > In my eyes, the overton window has shifted leftward so drastically I cannot think of a single solitary policy that has moved leftward since 1979 and the Thatcher era without requiring a fundamental redefinition of left/right as political terms. "New Labour" was the redefinition of the Labour party as a Tory-lite party. Thatcher notably said in her later years her biggest achievement was New Labour. On work, unions, welfare, state ownership, tax and redistribution of wealth, even austerity the current Tories are markedly to the right of any previous party since the war. Crucially so are the current and previous (New) Labour party. You could go back further, but prior to the inception of the Labour party it's going to become an increasingly meaningless discussion. The Labour party of today is no longer a party of the left in the generally accepted European sense but firmly of the centre in the same space as the LibDems. Under Blair (new) Labour were firmly of the neo-liberal right. The only reason the Conservative party has moved more slowly on gender, race, and LGBT issues, and other orthogonal non left/right issues, is it has always been the party of the older generation hoping for the country to be run as it used to be run. Such is the nature of conservatism (small C), even whilst Thatcher was implementing radical neo-liberal reforms. Those issues are steadily changing on both sides of the political spectrum, and mostly always have with each generation.
chasil 8y ago
Take a really good look at DSM-IV or DSM-5. These are insurance billing codes for (classifications of) mental illness. You will find paranoia, all sorts of sexual (dis)alignments, narcissism, psychopaths/antisocial personality disorder, and a whole pile of sundry unhappiness that plagues the human soul. Then turn your gaze upon our culture, and you will see many of these things amplified. Our narcissistic politicians openly advocate psychopathic violence against one another, we are in a paroxysm of #metoo without ever bothering to ask how we got here or how to fix it, and the word that forces itself to mind in modern social discourse is a disorder of the zeitgeist. This is the age where our culture went insane, and we wallowed in it.
- glhaynes 8y ago
  we are in a paroxysm of #metoo without ever bothering to ask how we got here or how to fix it These things are being constantly discussed.
  - chasil 8y ago
    It appears that the current paraphilia disorders involve: - Non-human objects - The suffering or humiliation of oneself or one's partner - Children - Non-consenting persons Being a "disorder," they must cause distress. But if distress is the requirement, the list is by far not long enough. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraphilia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraphilia
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  > Take a really good look at DSM-IV or DSM-5. These are insurance billing codes for (classifications of) mental illness. Technically, the billing codes are ICD-9 or -10; the DSM-IV and -5 include mappings of their respective diagnoses to ICD-9 (-IV) or both ICD-9 and -10 (-5) codes.
wmf 8y ago
American football may be phased out over the next 30-50 years because it causes brain damage.
- steve_adams_86 8y ago
  Hopefully hockey will change as well. https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/nick-boynton-everythings-not-ok https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/nick-boynto...
- CalChris 8y ago
  Parents are keeping kids out of football and some schools are having trouble fielding teams.
knuththetruth 8y ago
Industrial agriculture, if not all meat consumption, following climate-change induced ecosystems collapse. Possibly also as a result of advancement of research into animal sentience.
stickfigure 8y ago
"Separate but equal" gender segregated bathrooms.
Waterluvian 8y ago
We will be pitied for having to poison our mothers to fight back the cancer. We will be shamed for climate change. We will be admired for how simple and private our social lives were.
hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
The thing that scares me is that things that were appropriately condemned 30 years ago are now becoming socially acceptable. People have always been racist, but overt racism wasn't something that was politically acceptable 30 years ago. That is changing.
doug1001 8y ago
maybe ageism will be stimgatized as form of bigotry

I wonder what future generations will _despise_ us for. For which behaviors or beliefs will they take down our statues, remove our portraits from display, take our names off memorials, and revile us as evil?

aplummer 8y ago
Maybe how we treat refugees, or watch Syrians being bombed on the news before carrying on with our day.
ShabbosGoy 8y ago
Nothing, because after a certain point, only artificial and semi-synthetic life will exist.
girvo 8y ago
For Australia (where I'm from), it's certain to be our treatment of asylum seekers arriving via boats. It's absolutely disgusting how our government and a lot of society want to treat them.
winter_blue 8y ago
I think one of the greatest political evils today, is how many people think it is justified and good to commit acts of violence against peaceful self-sufficient (ie non-welfare-dependent) immigrants. I’m talking about restrictive immigration policies of course. I think it’s a moral travesty how most countries treat self-sufficient peaceful migrants. I actually don’t believe countries have a right to unreasonably restrict movement. Arguments on this can be found on: https://openborders.info https://openborders.info To quote a comment I can across recently: “It is hypocritical to expect everyone else to stay where they happen to be born just because they’re not born on this side of the fence. That to me is the best definition of a spoiled brat.” Besides the deep selfishness of such a desire, it is actually emphatically evil — since it involves inflicting real harm and violence, on peaceful migrants. Of course, my comment here might invite lots of downvotes. Reading certain recent HN threads, like on The Economist article promoting open borders, showed me that many (not all but a disgustingly high number of) HN readers have a Nazi-esque hatred for open borders.
- greglindahl 8y ago
  I downvoted you for the Nazi reference. Good luck having a reasonable conversation with that start.
ashleyn 8y ago
The treatment of people with mental illness is overdue for a sea change. In much of criminal law I can predict a move from punishment to mental health treatment. Comedians and anchors who make fun of "nuts" won't particularly age well.

diego_moita 8y ago

My bet is on irresponsibility on dealing with global warming.

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

notslang 8y ago

That depends on whether the Overton window continues to shift leftward, or if it is pushed in another direction. There were LGBT rights movements as early as the 1890's, but those didn't last.

oldcynic 8y ago
Leftward? lol In every respect except gender and sexual politics we have moved massively right since the seventies. The UK Labour party are now to the right of the 1970s Heath Tory party. Yes even under Corbyn. In 1970 he'd have been mostly a moderate. It was Nixon who oh so nearly brought in UBI, at a surprisingly generous rate too. As far as LGBT rights are concerned that seems far more a generational thing than of the right or left. Here in the UK it's had cross party support in recent years, though of course there are more anachronistic conservative views on the right. It was, nevertheless, the Tory party that legalised gay marriage.
- beaconstudios 8y ago
  the modern conservative party is also more central than in previous times though. In my eyes, the overton window has shifted leftward so drastically in sudden years (the standard of discourse moving from classical/renaissance liberalism to progressivism) that it has triggered a reactionary right wing movement that keeps the left-right balance by both sides diverging further and further from the centre. Ideas that I was taught in school as being moral maxims like racial colourblindness and meritocracy are now often called out as not good enough in mainstream online media.
  - oldcynic 8y ago
    > the modern conservative party is also more central than in previous times though I have to go back to the inter-war years to find them to the right of now on anything substantive. Disraeli's One-Nation Conservatism, the tenets of which still existed and were still somewhat respected under Heath, is resolutely dead, killed with malice by Thatcher's neo-liberal "there is no such thing as society, only the individual". Theresa May briefly using one-nation as a soundbite doesn't mean it actually exists any more. Both Cameron and Blair were making policy changes and privatisations that Thatcher ruled out as too radical or unthinkable. It was Brown who removed the final remnants of banking control. Both governments were firmly to the right of the Thatcher years. Both would be unrecognisable to the Wilson Labour party. The formerly mainstream One-Nation Tories were redefined as the "wets" in the Thatcher years and it was the radical right of the party who came to the fore. Similar can be seen on the other side of the Atlantic. > In my eyes, the overton window has shifted leftward so drastically I cannot think of a single solitary policy that has moved leftward since 1979 and the Thatcher era without requiring a fundamental redefinition of left/right as political terms. "New Labour" was the redefinition of the Labour party as a Tory-lite party. Thatcher notably said in her later years her biggest achievement was New Labour. On work, unions, welfare, state ownership, tax and redistribution of wealth, even austerity the current Tories are markedly to the right of any previous party since the war. Crucially so are the current and previous (New) Labour party. You could go back further, but prior to the inception of the Labour party it's going to become an increasingly meaningless discussion. The Labour party of today is no longer a party of the left in the generally accepted European sense but firmly of the centre in the same space as the LibDems. Under Blair (new) Labour were firmly of the neo-liberal right. The only reason the Conservative party has moved more slowly on gender, race, and LGBT issues, and other orthogonal non left/right issues, is it has always been the party of the older generation hoping for the country to be run as it used to be run. Such is the nature of conservatism (small C), even whilst Thatcher was implementing radical neo-liberal reforms. Those issues are steadily changing on both sides of the political spectrum, and mostly always have with each generation.

chasil 8y ago

Take a really good look at DSM-IV or DSM-5. These are insurance billing codes for (classifications of) mental illness. You will find paranoia, all sorts of sexual (dis)alignments, narcissism, psychopaths/antisocial personality disorder, and a whole pile of sundry unhappiness that plagues the human soul. Then turn your gaze upon our culture, and you will see many of these things amplified. Our narcissistic politicians openly advocate psychopathic violence against one another, we are in a paroxysm of #metoo without ever bothering to ask how we got here or how to fix it, and the word that forces itself to mind in modern social discourse is a disorder of the zeitgeist. This is the age where our culture went insane, and we wallowed in it.

glhaynes 8y ago
we are in a paroxysm of #metoo without ever bothering to ask how we got here or how to fix it These things are being constantly discussed.
- chasil 8y ago
  It appears that the current paraphilia disorders involve: - Non-human objects - The suffering or humiliation of oneself or one's partner - Children - Non-consenting persons Being a "disorder," they must cause distress. But if distress is the requirement, the list is by far not long enough. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraphilia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraphilia
dragonwriter 8y ago
> Take a really good look at DSM-IV or DSM-5. These are insurance billing codes for (classifications of) mental illness. Technically, the billing codes are ICD-9 or -10; the DSM-IV and -5 include mappings of their respective diagnoses to ICD-9 (-IV) or both ICD-9 and -10 (-5) codes.

wmf 8y ago

American football may be phased out over the next 30-50 years because it causes brain damage.

steve_adams_86 8y ago
Hopefully hockey will change as well. https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/nick-boynton-everythings-not-ok https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/nick-boynto...
CalChris 8y ago
Parents are keeping kids out of football and some schools are having trouble fielding teams.

knuththetruth 8y ago

Industrial agriculture, if not all meat consumption, following climate-change induced ecosystems collapse. Possibly also as a result of advancement of research into animal sentience.

stickfigure 8y ago

"Separate but equal" gender segregated bathrooms.

Waterluvian 8y ago

We will be pitied for having to poison our mothers to fight back the cancer. We will be shamed for climate change. We will be admired for how simple and private our social lives were.

hn_throwaway_99 8y ago

The thing that scares me is that things that were appropriately condemned 30 years ago are now becoming socially acceptable. People have always been racist, but overt racism wasn't something that was politically acceptable 30 years ago. That is changing.

doug1001 8y ago

maybe ageism will be stimgatized as form of bigotry