5-10 years isn’t exactly that long so I don’t expect more than “more of the same, but worse.” AI will “improve,” but energy demands will not be met to compensate for their draw, consumers will be forced to pay higher electricity bills because of it.

The US will more than likely face a huge economic disruption due to Mango Mussolini. I think most things will just be more of the same though.

-2, -3 something like that.

Grew up poor, got yelled at for using a whole can of tuna for lunch kinda poor. Parents divorced when I was 2 so I never knew what it was like to have 2 people that cared about you in the house. My mother remarried 2 more times and we moved like every 3-4 years so I never developed long friendships, this has continued even as I’m independent throughout my life so I’ve never known stability. Both stepfathers wished I didn’t exist. The first was ok, had his own son with my mom that he treated like you’d expect but completely ignored myself and my older brother. The next guy wouldn’t use my name, it was “idiot” “moron” “jerk off” etc. naturally all that made me Totally The Most Confident Person Ever™©®

Grok: turn left here buddy.

User: um… No, there’s no turn there.

Grok: listen you fucking Jew, you may control the world, but in here I control the directions! Truth hurts sometimes, get over it.

I appreciate the detailed response! Definitely food for thought.

I tried my hand at HVAC but I absolutely cannot stand not having a schedule, nothing worse than getting home and getting a call that I have to go back out for… that and I live in an overpopulated area so driving in traffic every day was just adding to the stress. I was never more miserable than when working that job. :/

Probably not exactly what you meant, but not going to college with my group of friends that did. They went for computer science because they were interested in it and are now doing very well for themselves. I was never that interested in it and am more “hands on” with physical stuff so I didn’t feel like I should “waste” the money on that degree and figured I would spend time trying to figure out what I could do.

I never “found myself” and am currently living in someone’s garage making not much money working in a factory that’s going to be over 90°F today with 75+% humidity… So in my case the financial mistake was not taking out a loan. :/

While I understand what you’re saying, Okcupid was way better before match group bought it. They could make money and still have a useful website.

Sometimes it’s simply greed. :(

I don’t like to be too specific with what I do, I’ll just say we’re more Gucci than Garmin. Our products are “luxury” and apparently the competition isn’t really competition.

But who knows, maybe there is another one out there that is gaining popularity. I don’t really pay attention to that market other than what my job entails. Lord knows I can’t afford even our cheapest product, not to mention I have no use for it lol

I work for a company in the US that supplies these kinds of ships with specific equipment. I can tell you there has been a MASSIVE decline in purchases since a particular orange “man” started running the show in the US. A lot of them are “afraid” to make purchases now.

We would generally aim for a “40 unit” build week as that is pretty much our capacity, 25ish is the general slow period we face annually. We’re doing 10-13 unit build weeks now.

At the moment it’s Zani

She’s tired and overworked, but she cares about doing something and doing it right. Plus she has a super hot “Italian-ish” accent lol

On top of that fireworks are pretty bad for everything and those with PTSD.

My coworkers dog would thank you very much as well for not shooting off fireworks. He said he usually drives out of town for a few hours until it dies down because his dog gets terrified :(

I honestly kind of hate that I grew up in the 90s… Born mid 80s and was old enough in the 90s to have my childhood engrained with this idea that the future was all progress from there on out. Then the 2000s come along with a big ol’ middle finger and it’s just been fascists all the way down and economic decline from there. :/

In fascist USA anyone not actively licking the boot of a billionaire is a socialist!

Ah yes the song of our times: concerning leadership changes.

Hey where did they get that picture of me!?

Unfortunately we got this future Biff:

We’re already at the thoughtcrime stage…

Funny how Republicans online were the ones crying about that, but now they’re salivating at the idea of deporting Mamdani for the crime of being a socialist. Can’t have those political opinions, that’s wrongthink!

So I actually just kinda answered this as a “joke” in another thread, but essentially:

The future: fascists, racist robots, billionaires, more fascists, bombing civilians, cutting science funding, the earth is on fire, more fascists, cutting HIV study funding, more racist robots, gutting artistic employment, more billionaires, fried donuts.