People Are Revealing The Terrifying Things About To Implode In Society That Nobody Wants To Acknowledge, And I'm Officially Scared

MelanieSci/Tech2025-07-282330

Between the existential chaos around the world and whatever we're all dealing with in our personal lives, it feels like we're collectively acting like everything is fine these days, but that's not really the case.

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Political turmoil is wreaking havoc across the globe, climate change is getting realer by the second, and the global economy is shifting, for better or for worse.

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Needless to say, we're in very trying times, and it feels like burnout is now a universal feeling. A recent post on the r/AskReddit sub asked users the following question: "What is currently on the brink of collapse but no one is talking about it?"

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From collapsing ecosystems to the rise of AI, these 19 responses highlight just how close our dystopian future might be:

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Note: these responses have been edited and condensed for clarity.

1."The orca pod known as J-pod, that are residents of the Pudget Sound, are starving as the salmon population is collapsing."

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—u/Inkqueen12

2."And to be specific, Chinook salmon. Chinook are their main food source because of the fat content, and they're on the brink of collapse. I mean, it's not looking good for all salmon species, but when/if the Chinook go extinct, that's the first big domino to fall in the Salish Sea ecosystem."

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—u/HotGarbage

3."Here in the UK, the water table. Already seen a massive drought in the North with unprecedented lack of rainfall this year. Reservoirs and rivers are lower than they've been in decades. On top of leaking pipes that date back to WWII, we could honestly be talking about real drinking water shortages in 5-10 years."

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—u/Overall-Habit5284

4."Honestly, I'd say the internet. Everything requires an account, everything collects your information, you can't own anything because you can only get subscriptions to services. There are way too many social media platforms, which are somehow all owned by the same few mega corporations (Meta, Google, Microsoft, etc.) AI is slowly taking over everything and spewing out misinformation left and right."

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"The appealing thing about the internet used to be how 'free' it felt; it wasn't governed by corporations or governments, and it truly felt like a place where humans could have their own thing in peace. Now it's treated more like a shopping mall/homeland security checkpoint that also somehow gives you social anxiety and is dangerously addictive because corporations have found the psychological tactics to hook you."

—u/dresscode_trenchcoat

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5."Lots of collectively-owned private, professional businesses: Private equity has been relentlessly buying up veterinarian practices, CPA firms, and — I’m sure — all kinds of other businesses so they can egregiously increase prices, sell everything that isn’t nailed down, cut staff to nothing, then sell the little bit that’s left to some naive future buyer at a hugely inflated cost."

"That whole last part isn’t any kind of a secret, either. That’s just how their unconscionable business model operates. Make no mistake, though, because they’ll get richer, and all the rest of us will pay for it (same as it ever was)."

—u/ChangeForAParadigm

6."Teachers. Not teaching itself, but the whole system around it. So many teachers are underpaid, overworked, and just done. A lot are quitting quietly or switching careers, and schools are struggling to replace them. It’s kind of scary how fast it's unraveling, but no one's really screaming about it yet."

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—u/gespog123

7."Maybe not on the brink, but possibly approaching — The AMOC, or Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, is a large system of ocean currents that acts like a conveyor belt, circulating warm and cold water throughout the Atlantic Ocean."

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"This circulation plays a crucial role in regulating global and regional climates by distributing heat and influencing weather patterns. Recent research suggests the AMOC may be slowing down, and there's a concern about a potential collapse, which could lead to significant climate shifts."

—u/whoknows370

8."Bridges, railroad lines, power grids, and water pipes. Some of them are decades old and unstable (Germany)."

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—u/DURAKSTARSde

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9."A bunch of small ecosystems around the world."

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"We’ve already seen reef habitats collapse. A lot of people don’t seem to understand that the coral isn’t the only thing affected; all of the fish, invertebrates, and reptiles that may live in that area will abandon it when it dies.

Peat swamps are being overharvested and destroyed by the peat moss business. Kelp forests are being destroyed by invasive urchins, certain waterways are being drained for irrigation/commercial use (like the Aral inland sea), wetlands are suffering due to pollution, and deforestation is driving out keystone species that are necessary for life in those areas.

And almost all of it is being either directly or indirectly caused by us."

—u/Icefirewolflord

10."The working class. Hopefully, the collapse will wake some folks up, but I don't have a lot of hope when they seem perfectly happy in their caves staring at the shadows."

—u/panaceaXgrace

11."Critical thinking. Humanity is over-reliant on devices and AI to do their thinking for them instead of using tech to enhance their own thinking."

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—u/Rumpleshite

12."The movie industry feels that way in Hollywood right now."

—u/THE_TRIP_KEEPER

13."The Cascadia Subduction Zone."

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—u/FangAndBoard

14."The 'enrollment cliff' is starting. This year, the lack of kids born during and after the 2008 recession is starting to graduate from high school. In this population pyramid, you can see that starting at the 15-19 age group, birth rates went down and kept going down. Now, it was already going down on average, but right before the recession, there was a small uptick that could have been a turnaround."

Gizmotoy / Getty Images/iStockphoto

"Any institution that works with high school grads has been panicking for the last few years, knowing that this demographic shift is going to happen. Smaller universities have already been closing or merging into the state system. The US military has already been having issues with recruitment (for multiple reasons, not just population). There are literally fewer kids availableto recruit (university, military, trade school, internships, entry-level jobs that don't require college) than the year before. Then, starting in about four years, there is going to be difficulty recruiting college grads for the same reason. Kids and adults going into the trades just compounds this issue."

—u/tekalon

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15."Civilizations decline/collapse over generations — I'd suggest that there is a strong possibility that 'the free liberal West' is in the early stages of a multi-generational decline, not unlike that of the Roman empire. Facebook and Netflix are our bread and circuses while around us, cultures that are not compatible with our (democratic, egalitarian, progressive, liberal) values are rising to challenge and eventually displace us. It won't happen in my lifetime, but it is happening."

—u/jannw

16."The Anthropocene."

—u/EatsAlotOfBread

17."Overly complex appliances, cars, TVs, etc."

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"I want a toaster that toasts bread without Bluetooth. I want an analog knob and a sliding button that lowers the bread carriage and locks into place. I don't need LEDs telling me how toasty my toast will be. The only light the toaster should emit is the soft red-orange glow from the heating elements. That's how I know it works. In fact, I shouldn't be able to know it's actually working for at least three seconds after the bread carriage has locked into place while I wait for those wires to begin glowing. I don't need an artificial beep, or ding, or cheesy tune. When my toast is done, I want it to let me know by disengaging the spring-loaded bread carriage and sending my toast flying. I want that bread carriage to slam into its original state, ready for another set of bread slices so loudly that it wakes my teenage daughters and pisses them off."

—u/1dolla2dolla

18."I think our civilization’s ability to write without Generative AI. I believe writing is thinking, and it provides clarity to our thoughts. A vast majority of university students are now relying on services like ChatGPT, which I believe will eventually affect us in the long run. I don’t have research backing up my claim, and I hope I’m wrong. Regardless, I’m worried."

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—u/Loose-Web9138

19."Surprised I didn't see many posts about insects. We are in a mass extinction event of something like 60% of their population."

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—u/Senrakdaemon

Note: Responses have been edited for length/clarity.

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