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“What Is Acceptable Today That You Think Won’t Be Acceptable 100 Years From Now?”: 35 Predictions Shared By Our Community
“Every man is the creature of the age in which he lives; very few are able to raise themselves above the ideas of the time,” wrote Voltaire.
Many institutions, attitudes, actions, etc. that people of previous generations found perfectly acceptable are frowned on today. Racism, child labor, blood sports - all of these are generally unacceptable today. So I asked the Bored Panda community to share their thoughts on what they think will be impermissible 100 years in the future. Here are all the answers!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Climate change denial
Final score:
373points
RELATED:
#2
Certain cultures being allowed to do bad things because it’s part of their tradition
Final score:
336points
Theoretical Empiricist 3 years ago
"Just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it's not incredibly stupid." -despair.com
#3
Religious exemption of medical care for minors.
Final score:
333points
#4
Plastic packaging.
Final score:
325points
#6
Celebrities being paid so much more than teachers and caregivers
Final score:
305points
#7
Hopefully, sexual harassment and victim blaming
Final score:
290points
Wondering Alice 3 years ago
And stop excusing 'historic sex crimes' with - it was a different time. No it wasn't wrong was wrong. Just because there was a lack of prosecution years ago, that didn't make it OK. Prosecution is still far from good enough, and 20 years from now todays offenders might get tried and they will all cry and say 'but every one was doing it'
#8
'9-to-5' jobs in offices. Maybe not 'unacceptable' per se, but I expect future generations to focus more on each person's individual productive hours and remote work (even more than now).
Final score:
286points
Joanna Werman 3 years ago
Absolutely. This whole nine to five is a joke. Do your best work when you're at your best.
#10
Pay differences based on gender, trans/homophobia
Final score:
273points
#11
Schools punishing kids for getting beat up and trying to fight back.
Final score:
273points
Jo FrH 3 years ago
Or just generally schools using punishment for emotional issues at all. Consequences have their place but rewarding positive behaviour works a lot better. We don't teach our kids to negotiate properly either from an authority/ education perspective so the can also ask questions and understand why we are asking for specific behaviour to change, so they can't then do their own thinking and problem solving as well as self risk management (I work with young people in the criminal justice system and the stories I could tell you.. 🙃
#12
I really hope it doesn't take anywhere close to 100 years! Wasting precious Helium on stupid inflatable single-use balloons or to make your voice higher. We have a limited supply on Earth that is rapidly running out and once it's gone, it's gone. The only other source is literally the Sun and it's not like we can mine that! And when it goes you can kiss goodbye to MRI machines (which use liquid Helium to work) and our ability to look inside your bodies and diagnose medical problems and save lives without requiring dangerous, time-consuming and often life-limiting or life-threatening invasive exploratory surgeries.
Final score:
254points
#13
Mass treating mentally ill patients (especially schizophrenia) with dumbing-down medication so they just suffer in silence and not bother "other people" with the "noisy symptoms". I'm a medical student and all antipsychotics have their place and indeed are lifesavers but in my opinion, they are over-used and not ideal for long-term therapy. They do not solve the root of the problem, they just make it temporarily more manageable -which is great but we should not leave behind the end goal. TL;DR: subduing problematic mentally ill patients with medication for decades instead of searching for / researching other options.
Final score:
248points
Joanne Fabrick 3 years ago
I'm a licensed counselor with 25 years of experience, and this is inaccurate. Nobody wants to quiet them or dumb them down,they want them to be as healthy and productive as they can be in life,and that means taking away or muting the voices that tell them to hurt themselves or how awful they are. Would you prefer people suffer from their disorder?
#14
Medicine not tailored to the person's DNA. Medicine, food, housing, education being a luxury item.
Final score:
214points
#15
Unhoused individuals. People will be treated with dignity, housed, rehabilitated if it occurred is needed, taught skills, etc.
Final score:
211points
Karl Geisel 3 years ago
Their are perfectly fine small housing developments in Seattle I thought they were finally taking care of the HUGE homeless population. Guess what, they were for sale
#16
Buildings and public places being inaccessible for disabled people.
Final score:
194points
Jessica Combrink 3 years ago
Absolutely! There is literally NO excuse for not making buildings and places accessible
#17
I very much hope the Prosperity Gospel will be frowned upon in future generations.
Final score:
183points
#18
The treatment of my neurodivergent learners and students will evolve. In 100 years, forcing neurodiverse children to suffer, struggle, and undergo forced change will be over. We will focus on creating a more equitable school system that asks neurotypical people to support all students, as they are.
Final score:
175points
Karl Geisel 3 years ago
Yes please, I hope everyone can find the same care and learning environment as my brother .
#19
"Cancelling" people and ruining their careers based on a rumour or allegation. There's nothing wrong with exposing sexists, rapists, abusers and all that lot, but at least put in some effort to fact-check the allegations and rumours before lynching the "offenders". People put in years of hard work to build a career and it just takes one attention-deficient psychopath to ruin all of their work. Also: ignoring victim statements because of the social position and wealth of the accused person.
Final score:
170points
MyOpinionHasBeenServed 3 years ago
Actually it might become wrong to expose the latter because it comes before a fair trial. Law is law and just because one person does a heinous act against humanity and caught red-handed, the law cannot just be exempted for one person and not another. There's already problems with people wrongly accused for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or mistaken identity or just situations taken out of context. I feel it's going to be unacceptable to stick a camera in a man's face accusing him of preying on children at a park when he's just with his son because some vigilante is itching to catch a predator.
#20
Tolerance of attention-seeking deliberate stupidity (ie. flat-Earthers, anti-vaxxers, etc.) is likely to go down. Real, verifiable and researched information is widely available on these subjects and will only become easier still to access as time goes by. Such mindsets will be seen as intentionally being difficult as the ability to say that you've never had access to said information becomes more and more impossible to claim.
Final score:
163points
Miriam Spaulding 3 years ago
Idk I mean I sure hope this becomes unacceptable someday but I feel like there will always be someone who has "opinions" like this ya know?
#21
Absence of universal healthcare and discrimination of people based on nationality, ethnicity, skin color, social status, etc.
Final score:
163points
MyOpinionHasBeenServed 3 years ago
I feel it's getting worse but might level out in 100 years. There may be another major pandemic. Universal healthcare has become threatened in some nations.
#22
Hopefully, homophobia and transphobia won't be socially acceptable. I know so many individuals who have to hide who they are because their parents won't accept them, and could risk being disowned.
Final score:
156points
#23
How people twist religion and take it a step too far. I hope that ends
Final score:
148points
#24
Food wastage
Final score:
142points
Lucky2BAlive 2 years ago
How in the hell is this not up voted for? There is NOTHING wrong with freeganism. Okay not for he faint of heart but the sheer waste of food from high profile restaurants? There are more than enough persons who could easily be fed.
#25
Personal freedom, free air and water (I'm a pessimist)
Final score:
131points
GoddessOdd 3 years ago
Free water is definitely on the list. Most natural resources are teetering on the brink, and I think water will be the first big divider. I am glad I am old and won't have to be here for the cataclysm. The planet can't go on as it is, and the change will probably only come with violence, and may well be too late even then. I still hold hope that we'll wake up, but then we get the donald trumps of the world...
#27
The Republican and Democrat parties.
Final score:
116points
#29
HOPEFULLY:
Racism, sexism, sexual assault, abusive relationships and HAVING TO PAY FOR MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS!!!
Final score:
100points
Mikayla Lynn 3 years ago
So... what, you want companies to just give you menstrual products for free? You know if they do that they'll go out of business, or just stop making menstrual products altogether. Then what will you do?
#30
The glass ceiling. It is still around, although not nearly as obviously as it once was. When I was growing up, women were housewives and mothers. If they HAD to work, they could be teachers, nurses, secretaries, or any of the other 'women's work'. Now, women can choose any career, but in too many institutions, the good ol' boy network is as strong as ever, and actively screening out women and others. There are too many law firms, financial institutions and other corporate structures where promotions are based, not on ability, but on being 'one of the boys'.
Final score:
96points
Wise beauty 3 years ago
My grandfather didn’t let me open a jar for him because I was “threatening his masculinity.”
#31
Controversial one but: The death penalty
Final score:
85points
#32
Of course these are based in the U.S. because it's where I am. But some are universal
People going hungry,when just down the corner is plenty..
Native American People on reservations or anywhere else they don't want to be.
Education being priced so far out of the range of anyone, that is a basic need to a majority.
The fact that if your grandma's grandpa was very very poor, and then so on, until the most recent generation, one is doomed to have to fight harder, and longer, for everything you get. Rich or even middle class privilege isn't even realized by those who have it, but the lack of it is glaring to those who don't.
Animals being allowed to breed into feral colonies, and go without homes.
Nursing homes that are paid by the state being so substandard.
Female centric birth control
Plastic overused until it comes out everywhere
Oil rigs, and transport ships
Police brutality
And this I hope is no longer tolerated
Hate.
Final score:
82points
Richard Smith 2 years ago
Anything that a private company can do, the government can, and will, do worse, and at greater cost.
#33
Media companies asking people to make content for free.
Final score:
80points
#34
Eating meat from dead animals. I bet on artificially grown meal-like substance.
What do you think ?
Steve Kenney 3 years ago
This article is not accurate at all. It should be "What do you hope won't be acceptable 100 years from now"
Blarrg 2 years ago
I was thinking that. We have no idea what they'll think or do. And history says that a lot of what we currently believe ferverently, they will find either hilarious or horrifying.
Load More Replies...
Laika-Mutton 2 years ago
I have an ongoing dream that the leaders will say, "We're going to war" and the military will collectively reply, "No." And completely refuse. Don't have any hope that it will happen, just wish it would.
Leslie-Ann Drummond 2 years ago
Abusing animals and the planet. Hopefully 100 years from now both will have the same rights as human beings.
tara 2 years ago (edited)
I hope so too! When I See deer I yell "Trust nothing on two legs!!! Good luck!!" Run bambi run!!!!
Load More Replies...
Luis Gomez 2 years ago
Hooters and strip clubs. Hopefully lust would be less socially acceptable, or at least when wouldn't be shamed for it. Either way.
Leslie-Ann Drummond 2 years ago
Breast and butt implants. Hopefully 100 years from now women will be smarter than that.
Leslie-Ann Drummond 2 years ago
Cruises. They are just garbage dumpsters in our precious oceans.
Daniel Yamada 2 years ago
Treating cancer patients with chemotherapy and radiation. Future generations will think we were absolutely insane for doing that.
Freya the Wanderer (Post author) 2 years ago
Reminds me of the hospital sequence in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home"
Load More Replies...
Appalachian Panda 2 years ago
In the US, employees not being guaranteed paid vacations, sick days, and parental leave.
Stephanie Keith 3 years ago
I think with the way the world is going right now. Anything and everything will be acceptable. It's already happening now we make excuses and justifications for almost everything nowadays. Even if it's wrong people are just constantly making an excuse and justifying stuff that we know deep down is not okay. So I think in the future there won't be anything that's not deemed acceptable somehow. Humanity is already proving what I'm saying. Kind of like a free for all, screw you you can't tell me what to do future. Granted some people will know where to draw the line. But from what I've seen 1st hand, anything goes and there's not much anyone can do about it if we are not all on the same page. The amount of people I've seen justify things that are absolutely horrible is to damn high. It's only getting worse from what I see, very misguided and if you speak up about it all. People will get upset and say chill, it's not that serious, or it's a joke, or any other excuse to get away with whatever it is going on. Kind of sad when you think about it.
DC 3 years ago
Well ... this is the optimistic part. The pessimist in me says, the minority with bad intentions and/or greed trumping ethical consideration of the results of their doing will get it their ways, as long as the truly caring minority remains a minority. I don't wanna sound like I'm perfect or so ... I'm not. But, it takes effort and belief of a majority, endurance and commitment and tolerance against the frustrating experience that it often not even not pays off, but leaves no other impact than you paying more (be it in time, be it in money, be it in social outcastery) and nobody caring.
Vera Cyning 1 year ago
Unfortunately everything related to in-group/out-group, politics, religion, conspiracies, money and having power over others will never die. It's human nature to judge, hoard, and exclude. Competition is crucial for survival and evolution. It sucks royally but it's not just humans and it's not going to change in any species ever.
Will Cable 2 years ago (edited)
Hypocrites, especially celebrity ones. Why are they still admired when time after time they get caught out in their lies.
lapis lazuli 2 years ago
This is weird but I think tubing like on a lake will be illegal cause two of my cousins have broken their joses
Peign Gaming 2 years ago
The recycling of content is getting worse and worse. Now BP is recycling whole posts. BP was fun while it lasted.
Valerie Young 2 years ago
Sorry, I'm all for change, but most of these have been around for thousands of years. All of humanity. 100 years is a blink of the eye.
Lara Verne 2 years ago
Sounds very optimistic. I want to believe it too, but when I see how it is now, I don't have much faith in humanity.
Elliot Fowler 2 years ago
I know this will probably be disagreeable with a lot of people but being allowed to live an un-healthy life (both physically and mentally). The societal strain cause be people's inability (and freedom) to live unhealthy lives is really starting to show. I hope it becomes socially unacceptable to tolerate such things and have all of society as a whole push to make things better.
similarly 2 years ago
I hope that in the future we will stop treating domestic violence and sexual violence against men as a joke. We have to realize that male rape isn't a joke. Cutting off male genitalia shouldn't be "funny". I see a lot of media that is sensitive to every subject ... except male victims of domestic and sexual violence, and the problem isn't just that men are the victims. It's that ANY time we treat this kind of violence as a joke, it's bad for EVERYBODY.
Boodah Jones 3 years ago
Say you're a racist and/or homophobic piece of s**t without saying you're a racist and/or homophobic piece of s**t
Load More Replies... 
Persephone hates Pomegranate 2 years ago
As a black person... it does tho?
Load More Replies... Steve Kenney 3 years ago
This article is not accurate at all. It should be "What do you hope won't be acceptable 100 years from now"
Blarrg 2 years ago
I was thinking that. We have no idea what they'll think or do. And history says that a lot of what we currently believe ferverently, they will find either hilarious or horrifying.
Load More Replies... Laika-Mutton 2 years ago
I have an ongoing dream that the leaders will say, "We're going to war" and the military will collectively reply, "No." And completely refuse. Don't have any hope that it will happen, just wish it would.
Leslie-Ann Drummond 2 years ago
Abusing animals and the planet. Hopefully 100 years from now both will have the same rights as human beings.
tara 2 years ago (edited)
I hope so too! When I See deer I yell "Trust nothing on two legs!!! Good luck!!" Run bambi run!!!!
Load More Replies... Luis Gomez 2 years ago
Hooters and strip clubs. Hopefully lust would be less socially acceptable, or at least when wouldn't be shamed for it. Either way.
Leslie-Ann Drummond 2 years ago
Breast and butt implants. Hopefully 100 years from now women will be smarter than that.
Leslie-Ann Drummond 2 years ago
Cruises. They are just garbage dumpsters in our precious oceans.
Daniel Yamada 2 years ago
Treating cancer patients with chemotherapy and radiation. Future generations will think we were absolutely insane for doing that.
Freya the Wanderer (Post author) 2 years ago
Reminds me of the hospital sequence in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home"
Load More Replies... Appalachian Panda 2 years ago
In the US, employees not being guaranteed paid vacations, sick days, and parental leave.
Stephanie Keith 3 years ago
I think with the way the world is going right now. Anything and everything will be acceptable. It's already happening now we make excuses and justifications for almost everything nowadays. Even if it's wrong people are just constantly making an excuse and justifying stuff that we know deep down is not okay. So I think in the future there won't be anything that's not deemed acceptable somehow. Humanity is already proving what I'm saying. Kind of like a free for all, screw you you can't tell me what to do future. Granted some people will know where to draw the line. But from what I've seen 1st hand, anything goes and there's not much anyone can do about it if we are not all on the same page. The amount of people I've seen justify things that are absolutely horrible is to damn high. It's only getting worse from what I see, very misguided and if you speak up about it all. People will get upset and say chill, it's not that serious, or it's a joke, or any other excuse to get away with whatever it is going on. Kind of sad when you think about it.
DC 3 years ago
Well ... this is the optimistic part. The pessimist in me says, the minority with bad intentions and/or greed trumping ethical consideration of the results of their doing will get it their ways, as long as the truly caring minority remains a minority. I don't wanna sound like I'm perfect or so ... I'm not. But, it takes effort and belief of a majority, endurance and commitment and tolerance against the frustrating experience that it often not even not pays off, but leaves no other impact than you paying more (be it in time, be it in money, be it in social outcastery) and nobody caring.
Vera Cyning 1 year ago
Unfortunately everything related to in-group/out-group, politics, religion, conspiracies, money and having power over others will never die. It's human nature to judge, hoard, and exclude. Competition is crucial for survival and evolution. It sucks royally but it's not just humans and it's not going to change in any species ever.
Will Cable 2 years ago (edited)
Hypocrites, especially celebrity ones. Why are they still admired when time after time they get caught out in their lies.
lapis lazuli 2 years ago
This is weird but I think tubing like on a lake will be illegal cause two of my cousins have broken their joses
Peign Gaming 2 years ago
The recycling of content is getting worse and worse. Now BP is recycling whole posts. BP was fun while it lasted.
Valerie Young 2 years ago
Sorry, I'm all for change, but most of these have been around for thousands of years. All of humanity. 100 years is a blink of the eye.
Lara Verne 2 years ago
Sounds very optimistic. I want to believe it too, but when I see how it is now, I don't have much faith in humanity.
Elliot Fowler 2 years ago
I know this will probably be disagreeable with a lot of people but being allowed to live an un-healthy life (both physically and mentally). The societal strain cause be people's inability (and freedom) to live unhealthy lives is really starting to show. I hope it becomes socially unacceptable to tolerate such things and have all of society as a whole push to make things better.
similarly 2 years ago
I hope that in the future we will stop treating domestic violence and sexual violence against men as a joke. We have to realize that male rape isn't a joke. Cutting off male genitalia shouldn't be "funny". I see a lot of media that is sensitive to every subject ... except male victims of domestic and sexual violence, and the problem isn't just that men are the victims. It's that ANY time we treat this kind of violence as a joke, it's bad for EVERYBODY.
Boodah Jones 3 years ago
Say you're a racist and/or homophobic piece of s**t without saying you're a racist and/or homophobic piece of s**t
Load More Replies... Persephone hates Pomegranate 2 years ago
As a black person... it does tho?
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