If you grew up in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, you likely had the same answers as children when someone asked you, “What do you think happens in ten years?” Responses usually revolved around flying cars, robot servants, and pretty much what they saw on The Jetsons.
Those predictions were colorful, fun, and, you could say, came with a sense of optimism. These days? People are foreseeing a grimmer future a decade from now.
Just take a look at these responses in a recent Reddit thread when someone asked, “What’s something that’s highly likely to happen in the next 10 years that almost nobody is preparing for?”
If you’re easily freaked out, these posts may keep you up for the next three days.
#41
The water shortages.
Between climate change and AI - there's going to be a lot of places in the developed world that will be rationing water through cost, limits and fines.
Between climate change and AI - there's going to be a lot of places in the developed world that will be rationing water through cost, limits and fines.
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10points
#42
The need to retrofit homes with high-grade air filtration (for wildfire smoke), heavy-duty HVAC systems, and air-tight weather sealing to handle extreme climate events.
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10points
#43
Economic collapse with a food shortage due to climate change which will cause even more civil unrest than there already is, leading to a civil war.
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10points
#44
Natural disasters happening more often. More hurricanes, typhoons, tornados, heavy blizzards, giant hailstorms, floods, wildfires.
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10points
#45
The AMOC will collapse. It brings warm water to winter hemisphere and cool water to summer hemisphere. Losing it means more extreme temperatures, less rain, and the disintegration of food supply.
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9points
#48
Our baseline sense of "money value" is about to warp over the next decade, and I do not think most people have fully registered what it means.
Take $100,000 as a benchmark:
* **10 years ago:** $100,000 had the buying power equivalent to roughly **$139,000** in today's money.
* **10 years from now:** With standard inflation, that same $100,000 cash will likely only buy what **$71,880** buys today.
That is a massive drop in purchasing power in a relatively short window of time. $100k used to feel like a milestone number for security or middle-class stability, but it is rapidly turning into what $60k–$70k used to be.
If wages and salaries fail to keep pace with this trend, we are heading toward huge systemic issues—lifestyle compression, shifting definitions of retirement, and major economic friction for anyone relying solely on standard income or stagnant cash savings.
It feels like a quiet shift that everyone sees coming on paper, but very few are actively adjusting their lives for.
Take $100,000 as a benchmark:
* **10 years ago:** $100,000 had the buying power equivalent to roughly **$139,000** in today's money.
* **10 years from now:** With standard inflation, that same $100,000 cash will likely only buy what **$71,880** buys today.
That is a massive drop in purchasing power in a relatively short window of time. $100k used to feel like a milestone number for security or middle-class stability, but it is rapidly turning into what $60k–$70k used to be.
If wages and salaries fail to keep pace with this trend, we are heading toward huge systemic issues—lifestyle compression, shifting definitions of retirement, and major economic friction for anyone relying solely on standard income or stagnant cash savings.
It feels like a quiet shift that everyone sees coming on paper, but very few are actively adjusting their lives for.
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9points
#49
Ai and robots taking jobs away from both skilled and unskilled workers. The cost of operating a robot is already approaching the equivalent of minimum wage.
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9points
#50
Government debt and spending has gone out of control and the only way to deal with it will be both massive spending cuts and tax increases.
By 2032ish half of all government spending will be just for paying interest on the debt.
All the debt the US accumulated since its inception has doubled in the last 10 years, and deficit spending has quadrupled in the last 10 years as well.
And the best thing is, we have jack to show for it, its all been squandered.
Spending cuts will mean your services and benefits. Even if we cut military spending in half it would only cover less than 1/3rd of the deficit spending. Expect a major recession due to job losses and money being taken out of the economy too.
By 2032ish half of all government spending will be just for paying interest on the debt.
All the debt the US accumulated since its inception has doubled in the last 10 years, and deficit spending has quadrupled in the last 10 years as well.
And the best thing is, we have jack to show for it, its all been squandered.
Spending cuts will mean your services and benefits. Even if we cut military spending in half it would only cover less than 1/3rd of the deficit spending. Expect a major recession due to job losses and money being taken out of the economy too.
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8points
#51
Repercussions and eventuality of climate change. I live in an area where it is not just complete denial, they think the current trends disprove any sort of an issue and my own mother weirdly loves it.
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8points
#52
Climate change to a point where certain parts of the planet become uninhabitable. Sea levels rising and people moving away from coastal areas. More extreme heat events in the summers and increased forest fires. Certain regions starting to see physical conflict over water and other resources.
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8points
#54
Massive Infertility due to heat stress, microplastics as hormone disruptors, and economic stress.
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8points
#59
Losing the ability to look forward to things you used to get excited about.
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3points
