# In 2065: What will people be amused by/incredulous about our current society? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 29, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164 "2015-05-29T23:45:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/21 "2015-05-31T00:46:59Z")
> [@JustinC](#): > > That anyone ever, seriously thought Spiderman was better than Batman. Spider-Man (it has a hyphen) is definitely my favorite superhero. Or was until the comics had him make deal with the devil and wiped out all that continuity. No idea what happened after that, because I quit reading. What I liked about Marvel was that they didn’t reboot and start over, but kept their continuity (albeit with retcons). And I really like a superhero with a life. I liked that he was married (and had a baby on the way when I started reading). ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/22 "2015-05-31T01:02:59Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > :: cough :: > > I prefer non-asshole super-heroes. That said, I expect all comic-book heroes – EVEN WONDER WOMAN --will be passé in 50 years. Get that respiratory disorder checked out. Somethingng, oxygen starvation perhaps, is causing you to talk nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e79b87/32.png) [@The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Joker_and_the_Thief)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/23 "2015-05-31T01:16:24Z")
**Liberal answer:** People will be amazed at how awful conservatives were. **Conservative answer:** As they poke through the post-apocalyptic ruins of their once decadent society, people will be amazed at how morally degenerate and fiscally irresponsible today’s world was. They’ll be thankful for their large stockpiles of firearms and gold, and smirk at the (now deceased) foolish liberals who called them paranoid. But here are some things I think people of the future will be incredulous about that I don’t personally agree with: that we didn’t allow incestuous and polygamous marriages, that the age of consent was defined by a number and not puberty, and that racial preferences in dating were tolerated. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/24 "2015-05-31T01:19:37Z")
That people got fired or suspended for using marijuana outside of work hours. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/25 "2015-05-31T01:24:41Z")
I don’t really see “incredulous” in 50 years, because I don’t think a societal shift will be that huge (in the US; can’t speak to other areas). Though it does matter which age group we’re talking about - is it everyone or just the kids of 2065? I’m in my thirties, and it’s the small things that get to me, I think. Segregation - I know about it, in theory, at least, and as bad I think it was, it doesn’t evoke any real surprise to me. It’s big and taught about in schools. But my father’s rural area not having electricity available until the 1950s was something I was very surprised about when I learned (in the '90s). Sure, most of the country had had it for decades, but it wasn’t everywhere. But even in that case, it was an outlier that surprised me, and that was because I knew the timeline for the majority. I will admit to a cultural shock on the violent racism that my own family members engaged in as children - it’s not the racism that surprised me, but the physical actions that went along with it in the 50s/60s - how could their parents/teachers have allowed it? I know, intellectually, but it’s one of those things I can’t really grasp emotionally. I think the things I’ve been most incredulous about have been things that were surprising to me - if we covered it every year of elementary school, it doesn’t get a response. OTOH, old sumptuary laws are foreign to me and some very strange penitentials (look at 154 v. 179 [here](http://digihum.mcgill.ca/~matthew.milner/teaching/resources/docs/burchard_worms-corrector.pdf)) are funny. But they’re centuries before my time (some over a millennium). But for 50 years ago, I think the issue is usually for many is the person’s DOB-10 years - it _seems_ like a time that wasn’t that long ago. So many things haven’t changed that much, which makes it surprising when some things really have changed. I don’t know if that goes away when you get older, but right now I’m still in the “the 90s weren’t that long ago” phase. If the supreme court cases regarding same-sex marriage and timeline of legalization are taught in something like the fashion of the civil rights movement (particular focus usually in the 50s and 60s), then I don’t think the youth of 2065 will be incredulous over it, because it’s just something they’ve always known. But I could be wrong on that, mostly because of just how fast opinions have been changing on the matter. Amusement is easy - hairstyles and music will do it for many. Incredulity is much harder to predict. Probably because it depends so much on predicting the future and unexpected paradigm shifts are unexpected, but are also the most likely to make now foreign enough to the youth of 2065 to evoke such a response. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/26 "2015-05-31T01:42:40Z")
When I look back at 1965, there is not much I am incredulous about. Yes, we survived without a world encyclopedia at our fingertips, but I am not incredulous about it–that’s just how it was. In fact, as I look around my house, there is not, except for the computers, much that would seemed out of place 50 years ago. Oh, our TV is better but we could have had a TV then (we didn’t in fact). We had a car, although it didn’t run as well and didn’t start reliably in the winter, but this is only minor improvement. Really, not that much has changed in 50 years. There was likely a bigger change from 1915 to 1965 than from 1965 to today. The rise of cars and the fall of public transportation including passenger rail. ---
**Author:** ![2ManyTacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/3da27b/32.png) [@2ManyTacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2ManyTacos)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/27 "2015-05-31T01:56:54Z")
By 2065, the US will have _some_ Gawddamned form of universal health care, whether that’s full blown single payer, modified ACA, or whatever. People by then will realize that it’s not that big of a deal & they’ll wonder why the Hell there was such bloodthirsty opposition to Obamacare. Some jobs like telemarketing and _maybe_ retail cashiers will have become entirely automated, and people might seem incredulous at the fact that such occupations were once facilitated by flesh and blood humans. Also, there will be universal derision at what little action we took to address climate change. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/28 "2015-05-31T02:06:43Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > When I look back at 1965, there is not much I am incredulous about. When I look back at 1965, I am incredulous that my grandmother couldn’t get a credit card in her own name. I’m incredulous that my mother needed my father’s permission to get contraception, and my aunt in Connecticut couldn’t get it at all. I’m incredulous that some of the people I know couldn’t get service at Marshall Fields in Chicago because of the color of their skin (I was taught that segregation was a thing of the South). I’m incredulous that a man could support a family with only a high school diploma and a stay-at-home wife, and that people spent their whole lives in a single career, or even at a single employer. I’m incredulous that secretaries were assumed to provide their bosses with sexual favors or be fired, and that men were openly and unabashedly hired preferentially and paid more than women, and many careers were completely closed to women, and no one thought any of this was wrong. When you grow up with it, nothing much is surprising, but for those of us who weren’t born yet, there was some seriously weird stuff going on back then. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/29 "2015-05-31T02:20:59Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > :: cough :: > > I prefer non-asshole super-heroes. That said, I expect all comic-book heroes – EVEN WONDER WOMAN --will be passé in 50 years. You do realize, Superman and Batman are over 75 years old and more popular than ever? Why does everyone assume society will get better? I predict it will be closer to something like Blade Runner meets Idiocracy (which I guess would be close to The Fifth Element) People will wonder how we let super-intelligent nerds in Silicon Valley and Wall Street subject large numbers of people with their intellect, much in the same way we view medieval feudal lords who subjected people through force. People in the future will look at Paris Hilton, The Kardashians and “The Situation” from Jersey Shore much in the same way we look at the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. Brilliant innovators who pushed the envelope and ushered in their modern age of 24 hour reality show entertainment. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/30 "2015-05-31T02:28:14Z")
> [@The\_Joker\_and\_the\_Thief](#): > > and that racial preferences in dating were tolerated. Well, I think racial preferences in dating will always exist. They’ll simply go unspoken instead. A white woman may always have white boyfriends but insist it’s just coincidental. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/31 "2015-05-31T02:32:16Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > This question really means, “What stance do you hold, today, that you assume everyone will eventually agree with you on?” Yeah, oftentimes this is how people see it. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/32 "2015-05-31T02:41:43Z")
I don’t know about 2065, but I think in a few thousand years, space-age anthropologists will uncover gyms and exercise machines, and conclude that people in the late-20th through the 21st century were obsessed with torture in private and in public. In 2065? I’ll be yelling, “Get off my asteroid, you damn kids! With your hoverscooters!” ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/33 "2015-05-31T08:29:35Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > You do realize, Superman and Batman are over 75 years old and more popular than ever? > Why does everyone assume society will get better? I predict it will be closer to something like Blade Runner meets Idiocracy (which I guess would be close to The Fifth Element) > > People will wonder how we let super-intelligent nerds in Silicon Valley and Wall Street subject large numbers of people with their intellect, much in the same way we view medieval feudal lords who subjected people through force. > > People in the future will look at Paris Hilton, The Kardashians and “The Situation” from Jersey Shore much in the same way we look at the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. Brilliant innovators who pushed the envelope and ushered in their modern age of 24 hour reality show entertainment. Not sure the reality TV stars are pushing any envelopes, TBH. Early newspapers had gossip, non-fiction, outright lies and sensationalism. The earliest printing had stories told - in picture form - that might’ve been true or not, in the 16th century jesters and whole plays went from town to village, given performances that told stories. ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/34 "2015-05-31T09:02:50Z")
Hopefully, the level of religious belief in American society. When they hear about mega-churches, and flim-flam preachers running for president I expect they’ll roll their eyes and feel astonished we ever got anything done. They’ll think we were real assholes for ignoring climate change too. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/35 "2015-05-31T09:14:56Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > When they hear about mega-churches, and flim-flam preachers running for president I expect they’ll roll their eyes and feel astonished we ever got anything done. Can you believe there was a time when there were _preachers_ who ran for president? Gosh, it sure must have been nice to have people running for office because they _believed_ in something other than money and partisan horse races. ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/36 "2015-05-31T12:21:28Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Can you believe there was a time when there were _preachers_ who ran for president? Gosh, it sure must have been nice to have people running for office because they _believed_ in something other than money and partisan horse races. No, more like “can you believe the masses thought it was acceptable for someone to run for president and try to force everyone to abide by their religious beliefs and enshrine their religion as the state religion.” ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/37 "2015-05-31T12:52:00Z")
“What, people were fighting tooth and nail for ‘Universal Health Care’…when _all they had were HUMAN doctors?_ Fuckillit, grandma, they might as well have just signed up for the euthanasia program from the very start, 'saved themselves some trouble! …oh you’re _kidding_—they didn’t have THAT, either!?” ---
**Author:** ![ralfy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ralfy/32/600_2.png) [@ralfy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralfy)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/38 "2015-05-31T13:23:42Z")
We can probably see that in light of the trend lines presented here: > **[Limits to Growth was right. New research shows we're nearing collapse | Cathy...](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/02/limits-to-growth-was-right-new-research-shows-were-nearing-collapse)** > > Graham Turner and Cathy Alexander: Four decades after the book was published, Limit to Growth’s forecasts have been vindicated by new Australian research. Expect the early stages of global collapse to start appearing soon That is, they will probably be too busy surviving. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/39 "2015-05-31T15:57:40Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Here’s a post I once made in a [similar thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=736466) > > College history professor in the year 2285: > "Yes, class…it’s really true…Back in the 21st century, society treated everybody equally! > Weird, isn’t it? > I mean, yes, we have to realize that their medical science was so primitive that they didn’t have much choice…But still, they had already made some progress. They had started to understand their own DNA and they even had a primitive form of psychology.They knew that some people were criminals, yet they insisted on letting those same criminals out of prison, even after repeat offenses. > Their primitive experiments showed that males and females score differently on their crude tests of mathematical reasoning, and that certain races scored differently on standardized IQ tests.They didn’t know why, yet their scientists _refused to investigate_. > And so, if some radical had suggested using what we today know as standard DNA correction, they would have simply refused to listen to the idea. > > Of course, they didn’t know as much as we know now, about how the weak the unimproved brain is until you fix it with our simple medical procedures. But even using the few facts that they had to work with, they ignored the results of their own experiments. They even accepted eyewitnesses as reliable testimony in courts of law! > > We modern folks in the 23nd century of course can laugh at them, because we have real medicine. > We design our children properly from the start, of course! > So, starting with the newborn’s first brainscan, we know how they will grow up. Can you imagine putting Alpha children in the same classroom as Deltas? Well, back in the 21st century, the government not only let them sit together, they let them mate each other!!! > > But let’s not judge the poor people of the 21st century too harshly…At the time, they thought their medical science was sophisticated enough , and so they didn’t realize how they were basing their weird social attitudes on simple ignorance." > > Class dismissed. But as you leave, … try to imagine that in this same classroom, there once sat students from the 21st century, with brains so weak that they had to study hard and re-read the material several times before they learned it." Clearly the level of history education in colleges will suffer a shocking decline over the coming centuries. In spite of all that progress, apparently professors treat their students as infants in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164/40 "2015-05-31T16:28:56Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > People will be incredulous that abortion was legal at all. Abortion will be outlawed completely. Unwanted embryos may be extracted surgically and frozen for future pregnancy treatments…but only if you have the money to pay for it. Which is really a work around to get an abortion, but you’ll have to pay annual storage fees to keep your “baby” frozen “until” you choose to implant it and bring it to term. If you’re poor, you have the same back alley illegal abortion options women have always had, but you’ll be charged with child abuse and murder and jailed if you’re caught. It might instead be that abortion is unnecessary, because women can turn on or off the ability to get pregnant. So no accidental babies. Birth defects will be addressed at the fetal level and virtually eliminated. Another idea; the robots of the early 21st century will be seen as hopelessly primitive and limited in functionality. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-2065-what-will-people-be-amused-by-incredulous-about-our-current-society/721164.md?page=3)