I predict that there will be a movie where the characters wear masks and socially distance. It'll be like an artsy indie movie about how we live in a society and you'll watch it because everyone will be sharing their takes and you don't wanna be out of the loop and the movie will be ok.

  • MolotovHalfEmpty [he/him]
    ·
    edit-2
    4 years ago
    • Initial COVID vaccines will be rushed to market, but the rollout will be a disaster with large neoliberal nations falling way behind smaller, poorer ones in the proportion of the population vaccinated.

    • A superior vaccine will be blocked by US/UK governments due to political considerations under the guise of safety or trade considerations.

    • Several major retail chains will declare bankruptcy or close altogether.

    • Governments will tout flat or only mild increases in unemployment numbers despite mass unemployment due to the masking effect from a massive increase in part-time unlivable-wage gig economy jobs.

    • Boris Johnson will resign as PM and the fawning media coverage of Kier Starmer will swing back to the new 'sensible' Tory ghoul who takes his place.

    • A major festival will return in socially distanced form and will either be a financial or logistical disaster.

    • A single new blockbuster movie will release on a streaming service at no extra cost, causing a massive increase in subscriptions. Following large movies will return to having an additional charge however as it's deemed no economically viable.

    • Cyberpunk 2077 will release to mixed reviews settling on a good but slightly meh average score around 80/100.

    • It will be the final production year for many small petrol cars, with them either going electric or being removed from manufacturer lineups all together for 2022.

    • A major country with industrialised agriculture will start restricting pesticide use to address plumeting bee populations. Most won't.

    • There will be a major push in Europe for open source science papers and journals with limited success.

    • Space X will see more competition in the private space flight industry, with more private rocket launches than ever before.

    • There will be more workplace shootings as people lose their jobs and homes.

    • A new animal will be discovered, but will be immediately endangered due to deforestation or dwindling sea life numbers.

    • You'll make a new friend and they'll be cool and nice. :heart-sickle:

    • kristina [she/her]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago
      • The vaccine will have nasty side effects due to being fast tracked and anti-vaxxers will become very commonplace, causing the vaccine to be nonmandatory
      • Importantguy123 [comrade/them]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Libs were flirting with being openly anti-vaxx when it looked like Trump had a lock on the election. I think people reallly underestimate how skeptical libs are of vaccines when it comes down to the nitty gritty of distributing em. I think you'll see a lot of problems in conservative states.

        • zeal0telite [he/him,they/them]
          ·
          4 years ago

          The government is already willing to do so many awful things to people, I can see why you'd maybe feel a little worried by the Trump admin saying "here, inject this into your body, it's good for you".

          I'm personally not anti-vax though am maybe a bit skeptical because when your country is willing to give medical personnel bin bags as PPE then you might wonder about the quality of the vaccine. Definitely still take it when it's available but there will be that voice in my head who's not so sure.

          Anti-vax in general seems to be misplaced anger anyway. Anger that your kid has some kind of disability, anger at big pharma, anger at the government etc.

          • crime [she/her, any]
            ·
            edit-2
            4 years ago

            Yeah, I'm also a huge proponent of vaccines in general but what skeeves me out about the American vaccine candidates is that they're new kinds of vaccines that haven't been used in humans before, which is itself fine (kind of cool even) but mixed with the rush to market and FDA fast-tracking it makes me super nervous.

            Really hope I'll be able to get the Chinese vaccine which uses a pretty tried-and-true method of invoking an immune response for a vaccine and seems to be performing well in its trials.

            I'm pretty privileged in that I don't need the vaccine immediately since I rarely go out into the world these days, so I'm gonna hold off for awhile.

            • s0ciety [he/him]
              ·
              4 years ago

              but mixed with the rush to market and FDA fast-tracking it makes me super nervous

              This is reasonable tbh. I'm fine with a vaccine, but there's not a lot of data and absolutely no data on potential long term effects (especially that new type of vaccine).

              There's a ocean of difference between being an anti-vax weirdo and being cautious.

              • theother2020 [comrade/them, she/her]
                ·
                4 years ago

                There’s a ocean of difference between being an anti-vax weirdo and being cautious.

                Agree, but what happens is anti-vaxxers exploit that window of reasonability to push their agenda and the vax side demands complete party loyalty, or they characterize you as an anti-vaxxer loon

                • OgdenTO [he/him]
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  4 years ago

                  This is how I feel about 5g. I don't think the RF levels are high enough to cause cancer or "cook your brain", but being skeptical about a more than doubling of the background RF radiation, in conjunction with some initial studies that show some metabolic disruption with low-rise long term RF at some of the 5G frequencies maybe suggests that we should take a step back and do some additional longer term tests first rather than rush it to market.

                  Like, the Covid vaccine I understand there's a benefit to getting it fast. But 5G? Nobody needs that urgently or even at all. Putting people potentially at risk for slightly better video streaming does not really show a good cost/benefit risk ratio to speed it past testing

                  • ParodyTheLibs [comrade/them]
                    ·
                    4 years ago

                    Where did you read about 5g downsides? Something I haven't researched much and sounds like I should

                    • OgdenTO [he/him]
                      ·
                      4 years ago

                      There are a lot of studies, but this is a good and reputable overview of some of the more interesting results ( also check out the references therein, if you want more details). I think it is of note that of the studies they looked at, approximately 80% showed effects from irradiation on the functioning of cells (both in vitro of in vivo) : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6765906/

    • threshold [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Shiiiii I hadn't even thought of workplace shootings!! Fuckkkkkk

    • s0ciety [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      You’ll make a new friend and they’ll be cool and nice.

      😍

    • emizeko [they/them]
      ·
      edit-2
      4 years ago

      You’ll make a new friend and they’ll be cool and nice.

      these are supposed to be predictions, not pie-in-the-sky fantasies :sadness: