#1
#3
TN17:
On a positive note I reckon we've had a massive bounce back in the UK this year.
I think a type of pesticide was banned last year, and we all planted wildflowers and didn't mow our lawns.
They're everywhere. Windscreen is covered again. My plants are all infested. It's great to see the twats out in numbers again.
It all started, as often happens, in the AskReddit community, where a couple of months ago, the user u/Weird_Tax_5601 asked the question: "What's a thing that is dangerously close to collapse that you know about?” We don't know what exactly - real or social constructs - the topic starter had in mind, but the resulting thread gained popularity, with over 8.6K upvotes and around 6.2K various comments as of today.
Well, it must be said that the resulting thread looks rather pessimistic and even alarmist - after all, in our world, if we believe the authors of the most popular comments, literally everything has rotted and fallen into disrepair - from roads and communications to school education and public relations. Is this true? Well, let's figure it out together.
#4
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#6
Probably the most popular and widespread take from many responders concerns the so-called "superbugs," which, as a result of their own evolution, acquire resistance to most existing antibiotics. Well, in fact, there is a gene called NDM-1, which really does provide bacterial resistance to many known antibiotics.
However, this doesn’t mean that tomorrow we will face a zombie apocalypse, or at the very least, a new pandemic. The fact is that the NDM-1 gene was discovered by scientists back in 2009 - so we’ve been living in this new world for more than a decade and a half, and you know - we are still alive. Moreover, the use of AI in medical research causes some optimism about the development of new, more effective meds.
#7
audiofarmer:
As someone whose mother is getting to that age, I'm dreading it.
#8
anonymous:
More over, higher education. We're entering an incoming student cliff and numbers of new students will decrease all while higher ed has grown in size, complexity, and cost.
All but the best state schools and good private schools are going to go through a decline phase. Some won't survive.
#9
By the way, while humanity admires the prospects of artificial intelligence, and it, in turn, spends its incredible computing capabilities on redrawing our photos in different styles and various chatting hallucinations, another problem is rising in all its frightening growth. The problem of obsolescence of critical software.
Among the most popular programming languages in the world, completely outdated "mammoths" pop up every now and then - simply because it’s necessary to service programs written more than half a century ago - and which, of course, are written in those “ancient” programming languages that no developer has studied for a couple of decades.
At the same time, it is, of course, possible to write a full-fledged replacement for these programs in modern language - but the entire transition would cost so much that it’s way easier to pay a fortune to some gray-haired old guy, or to instruct them to teach the old language to younger programmers. For now, we are coping - but sooner or later, the problem will become much more obvious than it is today.
#10
PryingMollusk:
I live in Australia and it’s amazing how many kids just kept rolling through graduation from year to year who could barely read or write. Don’t you have to … pass a grade to progress?!
#11
C_Alan:
I’m a civil engineer, and I see a lot of this. Let me lay out the problem for you.
A housing development is completed in the 1970s. All the pipe, valves, tanks, and wells are part of the project. The developer sets up a small water company to run the system, and the board members are part of the community.
The board members run the water company on a shoe string budget because if they raise rates, they are voted out.
It’s 50 years later and the system infrastructure is now on its last legs. They have done some well maintenance over the years, but now the steel casings on the wells are starting to collapse, and the main tank is corroded badly. The water company has no reserves to replace anything because they only ever raised rates to cover operating expenses. The board is hoping the state or will give them grants to replace their infrastructure only to be told that they are not eligible because they still have a functioning well.
So now they have to try to go finance the improvements, but they don’t have any assets other than their small customer base. To cover the finance cost, the board is forced to raise rates, which gets half of the voted out. This delays the improvements a couple of years until the new guys are finally convinced they are not fixing their system without a rate increase… and then rates triple. To hear they customers whine you would have thought we [ended] their dogs. No, it was all the result of poor planning.
#12
"The modern economy operates on the principle of short service life of goods - otherwise, given the colossal production capacity accumulated in the world, no one will buy new goods,” says Valery Bolgan, a historian and editor-in-chief of the Intent news agency from Ukraine, whom Bored Panda asked for a comment here.
"In other words, it’s not profitable to make things 'for centuries' - so many manufacturers include a shortened service life in their goods, limit independent repair of devices, programmatically 'slow down' gadgets when they reach a certain age. Everything is done so that you buy new things after a couple of years. Ideally - every year.”
"So it’s not surprising at all that today we’re faced with the problem of deterioration of many technical elements - simply because we’ve largely forgotten how to make truly durable things. Like, for example, the roads of the Roman Empire, which stood for two thousand years - and will stand for another two,” Valery sums up.
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#14
Monotreme_monorail:
As someone that works closely with this kind of infrastructure, the answer is easy. Maintenance isn’t s*xy. It’s kind of like housework. Nobody notices when it’s done well, but if it’s not, the consequences are pretty clear.
Politicians like big new projects. They can cut ribbons. Everything is shiny and modern. Nobody cuts a ribbon when you replace structural components or clear out ditches and culverts or repaint road lines.
So. That stuff suffers while the Shiny New Thing eats up the budget.
#15
These $200 million movies with $100 million in marketing just arent sustainable. The current theatre model for movies is dying. Rude patrons, cell phone use and people constantly talking during movies is [hurting] the theatre. A lot of moviegoers have no respect for the people around them like they used to. Add in broken down seats and overpriced concessions and going to the movies is becoming a disaster
Tickets and snacks is now running close to $100 for a family of 4 that I can rent for $24.95 at home within a few weeks of theatre release.
Most movies now are sequels, remakes, or reboots of old movies. There are very few unique storylines in Hollywood anymore.
I can get a fantastic projection tv system that goes to a 150 inch tv with a full surround sound 8 speaker system for under $5000 now. And I don't have to put up with all the c**p from other rude patrons at home. Theatre style kettle popcorn maker for under $100.
And I can pause it when I need to go pee.
By the way, this also applies to many critical architectural structures and communications, many of which were created in the first half or the middle of the last century - and since then, they have undergone only “cosmetic” repairs. We can only hope that if this all starts to fall apart, it will not be in our lifetime.
"After us - even the deluge!" as the French aristocrats said on the eve of the Great French Revolution, which later mercilessly dealt with their offspring. Perhaps we’ll be a little more far-sighted - at least for the sake of our own children?
#17
#18
Been teaching 14 years. I’ve always loved it, even the hard parts. I don’t know any teachers who still really have their whole heart in it anymore, we are all emotionally checked out, burned out beyond repair, exhausted and barely getting through. None of us are in it for the money, so if we also aren’t there for the personal fulfillment anymore I don’t know how long the health insurance will really keep us in the profession.
Many districts are facing continuously declining enrollment. That means less money each year, so everything gets a little (or a lot) shittier. Unless there’s a total overhaul of how we fund schools, this is a death spiral. School buildings are crumbling and overcrowded.
The kids are not okay. COVID broke the world and while I guess a lot of adults can overlook that it’s glaringly obvious in a school setting. I don’t blame kids or families— it’s deeper than that. We have been collectively failed by our government and it is our kids who are suffering. They don’t know how to function in a community. There’s an epidemic of mistrust, expertise and reliable information have lost all credibility, and the normalization of AI has eroded any sense that learning is even worthwhile.
Our public schools should be the glowing centers of our communities. We should be proud of how much we spend on education, because it should matter to us that our children are able to do incredible things. We should brag about how beautiful the new middle school is and how every kid has access to the best books and equipment in every classroom. My neighbors should be excited to pay my salary and fund my classroom projects instead of having been convinced that my union exists to steal their taxes.
Free public education is the best idea anyone has ever had. There are a million systems and structures within it that I desperately want to change, but the central concept of allowing every kid in America to learn enough to be able to dream big is f*****g beautiful and I’m not ready to give up on it yet. I hope we can come together and turn the tide.
Is everything really that bad? Fortunately, no - at least the fact that we’re aware of the problems that have accumulated in our world is already evidence that not all is lost for humanity. All that remains is to find the strength to start solving these problems.
By the way, can you, our dear readers, recommend any effective means? If so, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
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#20
I used to install alarm systems. Before we would hardwire everything. Every sensor, and connection to phoneline. Camera systems were also hardwired and recorded locally.
Then people stopped having home phones and burglars would sometimes cut telephone lines before breaking in. So everything went cellular for communication.
Over the years big companies like ADT didn't want to pay for trained and experienced installers and service technicians, so they started installing wireless sensors. Because it takes almost no training or experience to install or repair a system like this. Just plug and play, super quick installations, no wiring to worry about, hardly any liability related to accidents in installations, no drilling or going into attics or crawl spaces. Way more cost effective for them, especially since ADT also owned the manufacturering companies that made the products.
Then people started install wifi cloud based cameras like ring and arlo. That ceased to function if they lost connectivity. Versus hardwired cameras with local DVRs.
Everything got easier and faster and streamlined.
Only problem is that what this means is the entirety of someone's security is contingent on open air communication of wireless signals.
Now you can go online and buy cheap jammers that will k**l: Wifi, 4gLte, and wireless alarm sensors.
Before you would have to cut phonelines and disable sirens, and take dvrs with you to circumvent a person's security system.
Now in the majority of homes you can just turn on a high powered portable jammer and walk right in. The alarm wont trigger, because the alarm panel can receive signals from the sensors because of the interference. Even if it does, it cant call the police because the cellular signals it sends are being blocked. And wifi cameras wont even leave you with any usable footage.
Worst yet, alot of small buisness are set up this same way. Not all, alot still do hardwired. But every day more and more are being upgraded to wireless equipment, less hardwired systems are being installed.