To learn more about the Aged Like Wine subreddit, we reached out to the community's founder, who was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda.
"It started on a whim! I was a typical Redditor browsing r/agedlikemilk when that first started, and some people were pointing out posts that aged like wine instead," the creator shared. "Making a new sub is only a few clicks, and I was surprised at how quickly the sub started. Maintaining and removing constant reposts and deleting vile mean comments was way more work back then. There's more tools and automation, so it isn't as big of a hassle nowadays."
"The weirdest part is that now I feel a bit of obligation to keep it running and free of spam," the founder continued. "It feels like a surprise kid I gotta babysit now, and it nags in the corner of my mind whenever I think about quitting Reddit. I recently set timers to restrict my Reddit usage (30 or 60 minutes depending on the day), and it can get rough doing some mod stuff while staying under the timer."
We also asked the founder what the community in Aged Like Wine is like. "Thankfully, our subreddit is pretty chill," they noted. "Things apparently age like milk way more often than aging like wine! Their number of submissions and moderation team size dwarves ours by a ton."
"The sub went crazy when COVID hit, apparently lots of people predicted stuff about vaccines and quarantine," the creator added. "Then it was chill during Biden's term, but with DJT president again, the sub is seeing more activity again."
We were also curious about the kinds of content that often pops up on Aged Like Wine. "When we first started, there were a ton of appreciation posts. Like such and such celebrity aging fine (ex. Steve Carrell) and occasional positive news," the founder says. "I miss those! We've lost some of that as the sub grew; some people even report wholesome posts as off-topic, which is kinda sad."
"My favorite post of all time was the insane predictions about the Area 51 meme from a while back (predicting Naruto running)," the creator continued. "Nowadays, I enjoy posts whenever any major new technology is developed, as there's always someone who predicted it beforehand."
Finally, the founder left us with some wise words: "Remember, the internet never forgets!"
#4 Well Said Stephen King
When it comes to predicting the future, there’s not much that most of us can do. We might make hopeful bets on our favorite sports team winning the game tonight or pray that it doesn’t rain when we plan to go for a picnic over the weekend. But according to the BBC, there is a simple rule that can help us make better predictions.
Apparently, author Nassim Nicholas Taleb came up with a rule of thumb for how to predict how long something will last. “The first question you should ask is how long it has already existed. The older it is, the more likely it is to go on surviving,” Tom Chatfield explains.
Chatfield goes on to explain that time is the best indicator of what’s going to happen in the future. So instead of looking forward, we actually need to look back. “Our only genuinely reliable technique for looking ahead is to ask what has already proved enduring: what has shown fitness and resilience in the face of time itself, surviving its shocks and as**ults across decades, centuries or millennia,” he notes.
According to McCrindle, there are a few important factors to keep in mind when trying to predict the future. First, they note that we mustn’t ignore asymmetrical trends. Nowadays, even a trend that emerges through social media can be extremely important and impactful. Just look at the #MeToo movement. At the same time, generational transitions can help us anticipate future trends. If we keep an eye on the younger generations, we might be able to see what’s coming.
McCrindle notes that catalytic changes can assist us when making predictions as well. They explain that this is when a catalyst and a trend work together to cause societal changes. An example of this is how popular working from home has become in recent years. The catalyst for this change was the pandemic, as many people were forced out of the office. But society has since transitioned instead of going back to exactly where we were before.
Another important factor we can’t ignore when looking towards the future is human centricity. McCrindle points out that the human psyche will always play a crucial role in shaping what’s to come. And finally, counter trends are something we should all be keeping an eye on if we want to predict what’s going to happen next. There will always be a subset of people who want to go against the grain and revive past trends that are no longer mainstream.
