Hindsight is 20/20, but foresight is a little more complicated. Just as we look back at the Victorian era, with its arsenic makeup and child labor, and shudder, future generations will undoubtedly look back at 2025 and wonder, “What were they thinking?”
A recent thread on r/AskReddit posed a fascinating thought experiment: “What’s something normal to us in 2025 that by 2075 will be seen as barbaric?”
The thread exploded with over 4,500 upvotes, generating a mix of hopeful medical predictions, environmental critiques, and harsh truths about our social norms. Here are 17 of the most compelling things we do today that might horrify the history students of tomorrow.
The “Primitive” Hygiene & Diet
1. Wiping with dry paper
The concept of chopping down forests to dry-wipe our bodies baffled many users.
“They cut down trees just to wipe themselves?!” one user imagined a future citizen asking. Another, u/Dramatic-Avocado4687, was blunt: “Wiping our asses with toilet paper.”
The Future: High-tech bidets becoming the global standard.
2. Factory farming
This was a top answer. The industrial scale of animal agriculture was predicted to be looked upon with deep shame. “The worst hell on earth that humans have ever created,” wrote u/w0ke_brrr_4444.
The Future: Lab-grown meat that is indistinguishable from the real thing, without the suffering.
3. Eating animals entirely Some users went a step further, suggesting that 2075 society might be entirely vegetarian.
“We don’t care because we don’t see it,” u/Zetsubou51 noted about our current disconnect from food sources. “Factory farms are awful for the animals and the people that work in them.”
The “Dark Ages” of Medicine
4. Chemotherapy
While it saves lives today, “poisoning the whole body to kill a tumor” will likely look crude to future doctors.
“We still poison the whole body with chemo and hope the cancer dies first,” noted u/Vocalscpunk.
The Future: Targeted genetic therapies that delete cancer without making the patient sick.
5. Drilling into teeth
Dentistry involving drills and metal rods might be viewed the way we view Civil War amputations.
u/nomiis19 offered a hopeful alternative: “Pull the tooth, get injection, grow a new tooth.”
6. Ignoring women’s pain
The medical industry’s historical dismissal of women’s pain was a major point of contention. “Not giving anesthesia with placing IUDs,” wrote u/tt_DVM2011.
u/ThatRoryNearThePark shared a personal horror story: “Worst pain of my life… couldn’t sit upright for at least 48 hours.”
7. Medical bankruptcy
The idea that getting sick could make you homeless is a concept many hope will be extinct.
“Medical bankruptcies and for-profit healthcare leaving people to die if uninsured,” wrote u/SarlacFace.
8. Orthopedic hardware
“Orthopedic surgery with drills, rods, and screws?” asked u/Orthocorey. Future surgeons might view our titanium pins and screws as barbaric carpentry rather than medicine.
The Environmental & Social Reckoning
9. Single-use plastics
We wrap fruit in plastic, drink from plastic, and wear plastic.
“Plastic everywhere, all the time,” wrote u/letthisbeanewstart. u/MarkNutt25 added that “plastic textiles” and microfibers will likely be viewed as an environmental disaster we willingly wore.
10. Burning fossil fuels
Burning liquefied dinosaurs to move cars will likely seem inefficient and dirty.
u/loftier_fish offered a grim reality check: “If the answer isn’t ‘using fossil fuels,’ there will be a lot fewer humans to deem anything barbaric in 2075.”
11. Humans driving cars
We let imperfect, distracted, tired apes pilot two-ton metal death machines at 70 mph.
“Driving yourself will seem barbaric,” predicted u/CranberryCheese1997.
The Future: Fully autonomous transport networks that eliminate traffic accidents.
12. Fast fashion
The cycle of buying cheap clothes to wear once and throw away was called out by u/rabbity_devotee for filling landfills and exploiting labor.
13. Animal entertainment
“Drugged dolphins in resorts and whales at SeaWorld. Barbaric,” wrote u/w0ke_brrr_4444. Future generations may view zoos and marine parks the way we view old-timey circuses.
The “What Were We Thinking?” Lifestyle
14. Child influencers
Putting children on the internet for profit before they can consent was a major ethical concern. “Hopefully, monetizing your children for social media will seem barbaric,” wrote u/TheWorstWitch.
15. The 40-hour workweek
“Working a 9-5 just to survive? Barbaric,” said u/DeathofSmallTalk1. Though u/EvaMayShadee cynically noted, “We’ll probably be working 60-hour weeks by then.”
16. Doomscrolling
Spending our one wild and precious life staring at a glowing rectangle.
“Spending multiple hours, every day, scrolling mindlessly on social media,” predicted u/cornylilbugger.
17. The optimistic twist
Finally, one user suggested that we might be the civilized ones compared to what is coming.
“By 2075, we’re gonna be way more barbaric… we’ll fight over everything once food gets scarce,” u/NapoleonDonutHeart warned.
Let’s hope the optimists win this round.
This article originally appeared last year.
