@@Ry-vh3js More like a dystopian version of the future scares them. Like Tom said in the video, it's not *THE* future,just *A* future out of the infinite possibilities there are. Who knows,maybe,just maybe, humanity will not screw up as predicted by almost every sci-fi work ever and instead create a _good_ future for once?
"Yes, knowing the identity of every face in the mob is devastating knowledge, but that won't stop them from storming the gates of your palace if they're already there." *Damn* now there's a good line.
Actually, it might. You can call out to each person and address their concerns, then remind them why this isn't the answer they need. It's not a sure thing, but a whole building being able to pick apart a crowd and personalize the action, saying "I've already called your mum. What do you want me to tell her?" can have a lot of weight.
Many of the teenagers of 2030 are ALREADY ALIVE! Update: Now that it is 2018, we are less than 12 years away from 2030. Anyone born after 31 December 2017 will not be 13 until 2031.
LordFennel 2030 is now less than 14 years away. In fact the last teenagers of 2030 will be born next year (2017). babies born in 2017 will turn 13 in 2030. I heard one that made me feel old. High school freshmen of this year were not alive in any part of the 20th Century. "Time keeps on slipping slipping slipping into the future...."
can you imagine stephen hawking coming up with anything as batshit insane as the idea of people communicating through what seems to be telepathy via mumbling quietly into a 'throat microphone'? comparing this absolutely nuts ted talk to one of the smartest men of our generation makes you sound almost as crazy as tom does.
@@MultiCheeseLouise the whole point of this is to see what the future might resemble and give commentary on the present, not to actually be accurate lmfao
Good luck with that. UA-cam comment section was deleted in 2025 when telepathic communication to the google super hub was installed in all Brain chips. Anyway am wasting time on youtube comment section, time is short, i must stop Hillery Clinton the future is at risk.
"Yes, knowing the identity of every face in the mob is devastating knowledge, but that won't stop them from storming the gates of your palace if they're already there." *welcome to 2021*
Dude no, it's just one Chinese company trying to determine their users' trustworthiness on a second hand selling platform, and no it doesn't spy on people's social media, only their selling records and qualifications are taken into account. I'm shocked on how twisted this news had became.
"Wait, there's no privacy policy?" "Never has been." Seriously, people need to read those things more carefully because it's usually just companies admitting that they sell your data to advertisers and you must accept that to use their product
Tom Scott predicted Tiktok: “You still need an editor to package up the highlights… and put it together for consumption. Powered by measuring attention responses and constant A/B testing. Everyone is providing a life log for their friends, and if they’re good at it, an audience beyond that as well. They’re the ones getting sponsorship and product placement.”
Applies to tiktok as well as youtube and really any platform that delivers video content. Though UA-cam is the main one who will actually let you see those analytics.
2006, spell one word wrong and never find what I need 2016, misspell most of my search terms and google still knows what I want. I'm afraid for what 2026 holds, let alone 2030.
@@tengentopka727 This is actually very annoying to me. I like Hardcore Punk, but guess what search term gets automatically stricken from my search history for being explicit?
I've taken it as a personal challenge to download this to my computer and to try and preserve this until 2030. Then I'll look back on it and see how naïve we all were (maybe).
Everybody values ease, instant result and instant gratification now unfortunately. Once you taste ease and comfort, as a human being it’s difficult to go back. Also the deed was already done from when these apps started many people do not just care anymore.
I love how the there's this... horrified silence in the crowd. The silence when someone tells you that in 15-16 years the end of the world is coming and it may be good, it may be bad, but it's coming. And about the smartphones thing? He's absolutely right. I suddenly remembered that no, I didn't always had an iPhone, before that I had the Nokia 3310 brick. Before he mentioned that specific part I never really thought about that...
When I grew up, phones were attached to the wall with a cord and when we went to the cabin, there was no phone at all. We talked with each other, who were actually there sharing our experience in reality, not some imaginary “Black Mirror” meta life.
Me in 2030: "Kids these days! And their fancy Mind Reading! Back in my days, you'd get to chose which parts of your opinions you'd yell at people on the internet!"
Meanwhile back in the InfoCapital those who disliked your opinions would selectively edit and subvert your message by massaging your body language and facial expressions. With prolonged experience the recipient will learn to recognise and interpret those edited visual and audible tags, leading to the misinterpretation of telepathy as those skills would be used in face-to-face contact.
People can't handle others freedom of speech as it is. And with how many speaking mistakes we all make in a lifetime - there is no cost to speech that is affordable for anyone. They'd lose their sanity attempting to share free thought. Don't let totalitarianism take away the only things you actually own - choices, like what you share with the world, and what ideas shooting about your head are worth indulging - because everyone gets screwy thoughts, its how your personal identity filters them and ranks their validity and importance that matters - and that is entirely for the individual to weigh and decide. Because you can't learn otherwise, and nobody starts at the finish with no learning. All these modern movements are nothing but thoughtless emotional knee jerks free of any kind of logical assessment of whether we can even actually live that way. Modernists believe we haven't figured life out a LONG long time ago, they think this "age of technology" changes things - it doesn't change anything at all in the base make-up of the animal we are. Evolution is physiological - not behavioural. And you can't just turn a switch and say "know our minds will work like this" - its just braindead nonsense purported by fools and the control class to keep the sheep asleep at the trough.
Its incredible how well this story is written. Everything that is being said, is being said with a purpose and makes you reflect on our current time and just how much it makes sense. Tom Scott you are a freaking legend.
Seven years later and all his predictions are wrong. The change has arrived, we do live in a dystopia, the revelation that everyone is a criminal increased crime because it exonerates everyone. Everyone has accepted that our lives are not going to get better which is a paradox in that its a self fulfilling prophecy of society as a whole as we have duped ourselves into thinking we have to accept it. The only possible next big change that can make things better at this point is a solar flare that wipes it all out and forces us to once again interact as human beings.
"Teenagers are becoming telepathic" & people laugh. Yet, 4 years later, we have inventors and financers, like Elon Musk, talking about neural interfaces.
Almost 7 years have passed since this video was posted --- just a little algorithm bump here. Tom Scott, I've only discovered you in the last week and am amazed at the vast majority of your videos. This one is going in my Favorites folder.
@@depression_isnt_real It changed. Mobile apps for open market - mostly gone, less and less wants them. Apps ordered by clients for their internal needs only - booming. Apps are now easier then ever to make, therefore they went through super customization.
But I use the GNU engine, the engine that respects my freedom and privacy, it uses a federated decentralized data set, the only downside is that it never has the data I need and can't communicate to other engines' users, but who needs that anyway?
@@taliakellegg5978 It won't, because user adoption would be minimal compared to the mainstream engines. Much in the way of how Linux has a very very small % of marketshare in PCs, adopting the decentralized engine will prive you from many features the mainstream ones (windows in Linux's case) can offer, which in turn will be it's downfall since the average user simply won't give those up or know better. Much like how Tom says on the video, the mainstream engines share data amongst themselves so decentralization in terms of competition won't do much because if there are additional engines they'll be either sharing data and be mostly the same thing or be irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
15:01 Tom, I would like to inform you that Wellerman by the The Longest Johns is currently #37 on the UK’s top 40, and that I hope your predictions on privacy go as well as your insight in sea shanties
I used to work in IT and I can say for certain I’m going to retire somewhere in the middle of nowhere on a farm. Most people won’t be able to survive this when the engine turns evil.
the only "private connection" is one that uses protocols that are completely new and only known to you and whoever you connect to. So either you start coding your own encryption algorithm, or you'll never have that.
+starilie It's rational, that's true, but I think it's more about the details Tom provided. He's always been a master of presenting "fake" material of hard-to-imagine scales and making it sound believable (like his "the day google stopped checking for password" or something video). And while that doesn't say anything about the probability of any such scenario happening, I believe it comes down to a believable presentation, not necessarily the content itself.
At the sponsored lives section, I was about to scoff but then... snapchat. Instagram influencers. We didn't have to wait for 2030 for this one. It's here right now in 2020.
Wow! This got me so immersed into the year 2030 that I really had trouble bringing myself back to 2014 at the end… I had to rewind the video several times to catch the point where Tom shifted back to the present day.
I have for a while. Have you seen CPG greys videos on humans need not apply and digital Aristotle? Combined with this its all pretty terrifying at least for me. I know change inevitable but I think we have a decent thing going as it is and this will completely change what it means to be human. It doesn't seem worth the sacrifice to me.
The future is somewhat here already, but only for the Western (Russia+Some Asia). Try it in other large states Africa and Rural Asia, not that the technology wont catch up, but the death by starvation, famine, natural catestropy, how will that be avertered , does anyone care, do they want to care ?
Great talk, but disagree about the keyboard becoming niche. My prediction: until a reliable BCI (brain-computer interface) is made, keyboards will remain pretty much exactly like they are right now. Typing is the most comfortable way to get precise data from your brain into a regular PC. Think about it: would you write a novel, blog, or computer program using your voice? No. Even if it is "faster" to speak than type, it just doesn't feel as natural or comfortable when you're trying to choose your words carefully.
can you please tell my brother that? he uses the voice to text feature on his phone for practically everything, even in the middle of other people having a conversation or watching TV
its the future, we now have throat mic's that listen to your humming and translate that into text. loads quicker than using your hands and leaves your hands free for other tasks. until we get BCI :)
I made that reply as joke, but if you keep your mouth closed and hum the sentence (or anything you can read) it works. I can tell the diffrrence in the hum's so I computer would be able to too. why is this not a thing!
people probably said the same thing about using smartphones. Although I do agree that talking won't replace keyboards. In things like school or work you often spend several hours typing at a time, imagine talking for that long everyday.
Benjamin Hershey Sorry no. My 15 year old dictates anything more than a line or two into the Chromebook we bought that is required at her public high school. She's trained herself to how it works and it to how she works so that now together they are amazingly effective. Quite something to watch really.
This is not what will happen, but something like this must. Someone someday will figure out how to use all of your data, and that will be the end of privacy
God, the memes will be wild 10 years later, won't they be? ^ That phrase is gonna sound more dated than "Wow, everyone will be using the same BBS System won't they?"
main problems: - complete filter bubble: inability for the engines to display content you would dislike, but that would be helpful to you and create novel viewpoints/makes you grow - manipulation of political positions and enforcement of the companies views /gouverment views - locking out of "undesireable" people - loosing the ability for manual problem solving and data analysis, making the people dependant on assistents The death of independant thought, and therby freedom. I would use all my influence to prevent such a brain network. The only thing i would endorse would be a completely decentralized system with a weak proposal system that lets trough unfiltered input, a social obligation to still teach independant thinking basics and strict encryption, no involuntary position tracking and anonymous ad profiles.
Even if Tom retires from content creation in this decade... I would wait with great interest for his retelling of this entire talk, in 2030, seeing just how much of it is true then.
@@corbinbarron8772 false. i'm not even going to entertain the dumb argument that every information about yourself is rewarded with information about everyone else.
@@corbinbarron8772 taking back what i posted, chances for a future where your lack of privacy awareness is rewarded with information is reasonably believable. but to assume that you can get every information about everyone else by sharing your own sounds ludicrous. You won't be able to obtain information about everyone, especially for people in power. You won't obtain government secrets, trade secrets, military confidentials, etc. police becomes even more secretive than today, maybe going as far as government sponsored identity forgery. information will be tightly controlled & moderated, inching closer to China's surveillance technologies. corporations becomes even more paranoid of guarding their own secrets. the most information that you would probably obtain are the normal, average civilians who can't protect their privacy because it has become an essential need to live. hell, that information is probably accesable depending on your social score. my point being that you give up every bit of information about yourself, but only to gain little about everyone else's. only the few people with special privileges will be able to lookup everything about everyone, almost like a real panopticon.
It is stunning to think how similar the current AI boom is to what Tom said, and it is less a reflection of Tom's genius than it is a stunning indictment of tech's utter predictability.
even a year ago this would’ve been seen as largely fictional, though certainly possible in some not so near future. now in may 2023 i say it proved to be extremely prescient.
One development in the predicted direction is that we don't own the files and programs anymore. We pay subscription fee to use software, to stream music and film, while the tech companies own them and have every access to our data.
"The Internet give us access to everything; but it also gave everything access to us" -James Veitch, from his TED talk "The agony of trying to unsubscribe"
+Jacob Thomas read "Ready Player One", its not exactly like this but it has a similar idea of everyone being connected to an engine (or as its called in the book "the Oasis")
One thing I recommend to check out is Shadowrun. Its not a traditional book, but instead a Role playing game. A traditional one, played with pee and paper. But the concept of the world is that its 2075, and magic is back in the world, and coexists with technology, world is ran by megacorps, and privacy is dead in another way. Its an very interesting concept, and if you forget the magic on it, it doesnt seem too impossible.
While plenty of people listen to podcasts and audio books, and there are plenty of benefits of audio media, I believe books will never die, books just have something special about them that demands to be loved.
Honestly? Podcasts have plateaued. Meanwhile, the audiobook market has **exploded** in recent years. The big 4 publishers (Penguin, Macmillian, Hatchette, and Harper Collins) are investing millions into audio books and it's only growing.
That only happens in 3 situations: 1. Utopia. Exactly what it sounds like. 2. Drugs. The chemicals of disappointment are interrupted. 3. Distopia. No one dare admit to disappointment.
@@gg1k No, they can't send me a personal message based on my data. They select some things about their target demographic then Google, Unity and other advertising companies show their ads to me. They don't actually know who I am, and they don't have my data.
@@wheezel55 ok but it doesn't matter if they can see your data personally they know you're in a demographic that they sent their ads to and that's the same thing
Watching in 2022. We’re about halfway there, both in terms of time, and technological advancements. You can’t convince me that Tom doesn’t have a crystal ball.
Doesn't stop more leaderless movements though. In those events, governments just resort to shutting off entire sections of the internet. China is the only one who has (mostly) mastered this, but no other government has been able to replicate their success in the same way other developing nations couldn't replicate China's state-controlled economic growth.
plus the privacy we have (or had) was an experiment that worked, would you say "Great we found the cure to all diseases" and then put it in the bin and go home?
Not exactly. He says it in the conclusion of his talk. It's not gonna be a utopia, it won't solve all the problems we face, hell it'll also create new ones, but it's also not gonna be a dystopia, it won't destroy our lives and end humanity or anything close to that dramatic, it'll be something in the middle.
(6:25) I've disabled cookies, and only enable them per-site basis. It works fine. Facebook can no longer save cookies. I also have disabled third party requests, and enable them per-site basis. For example on UA-cam, I need to allow google, googlevideo and gstatic for streaming and logging in. But this prevents third party things to load and do whatever they want. No more Facebook plugins on websites to track me. It's better this way.
What I find most interesting about this is brutal truth in "Privacy was already dead in 2014, we just hadn't realized it yet".
Yep. In hindsight in 2020 it was kinda obvious. But we still missed it.
It died when the telephone was invented. Stop with the recency bias.
@@TheAlison1456 how did the telephone kill privacy?
@@yotokil2914 Because you can be contacted at any point, u can’t just “lay low” anymore.
@@Alex-02 Telephones couldn't always be carried with you.
Tom, your talks terrify me sometimes.
Breakfast221 More like the future and life scares you
That's sorta the point
@@Ry-vh3js More like a dystopian version of the future scares them. Like Tom said in the video, it's not *THE* future,just *A* future out of the infinite possibilities there are. Who knows,maybe,just maybe, humanity will not screw up as predicted by almost every sci-fi work ever and instead create a _good_ future for once?
@@inanjarif1388 This isn't the future. This is NOW. We have surrendered too much of our privacy to the Internet for convenience.
@@inanjarif1388 that would be great mate, also I forgot that i ever made that comment haha
"This Sea Shanty band won't ever reach number 1."
2021 says hi.
Yes! Say that to Nathan Evans!
It's not a *band*, it's a song from a game.
@@therealdoc Wellerman? It's an actual whaler song, it's not from any games. Even if it is present in a game.
hi
this *folk rock* sea shantie band won’t ever reach number 1
"Yes, knowing the identity of every face in the mob is devastating knowledge, but that won't stop them from storming the gates of your palace if they're already there."
*Damn* now there's a good line.
only IF they are already there and not imprisoned yet (or worse)
Johnann Alvarsson
The fact that tyrannies don't care about privacy does not mean that a lack of privacy creates tyranny.
Actually, it might. You can call out to each person and address their concerns, then remind them why this isn't the answer they need. It's not a sure thing, but a whole building being able to pick apart a crowd and personalize the action, saying "I've already called your mum. What do you want me to tell her?" can have a lot of weight.
@@johnfouse6847 The lack of privacy is tyranny.
@@jwadaow Just repeating what someone just said after reversing it does not constitute an argument. Would you care to support your claim?
Many of the teenagers of 2030 are ALREADY ALIVE!
Update: Now that it is 2018, we are less than 12 years away from 2030. Anyone born after 31 December 2017 will not be 13 until 2031.
Holy sh*t that's a terrifying thought.
LordFennel
2030 is now less than 14 years away. In fact the last teenagers of 2030 will be born next year (2017). babies born in 2017 will turn 13 in 2030.
I heard one that made me feel old. High school freshmen of this year were not alive in any part of the 20th Century.
"Time keeps on slipping slipping slipping into the future...."
My daughter will be 17 in 2030. I can't even.
PassionPopsicle
Just remember. Teenage daughters are God's punishment for men for being teenage boys.
+Eric Taylor im going to be old that will suck
Tom Scott is like a social media Stephan Hawking. I adore his way of storytelling opinions that are needed to be discussed.
can you imagine stephen hawking coming up with anything as batshit insane as the idea of people communicating through what seems to be telepathy via mumbling quietly into a 'throat microphone'? comparing this absolutely nuts ted talk to one of the smartest men of our generation makes you sound almost as crazy as tom does.
@@MultiCheeseLouise the whole point of this is to see what the future might resemble and give commentary on the present, not to actually be accurate lmfao
@@MultiCheeseLouise imagine being this two dimensional
I'm sure Tom Scott isn't visiting Epstein's Island though!
2030: "We've updated our privacy policy."
"No"
"No"
"No"
"No"
Ah yes. The new policy.
*No privacy, and you can't deny it.*
Can't wait to see the "Like if you're watching in 2030" comment.
14 years to go...
+Micky Like if you're watching in 1998
Good luck with that. UA-cam comment section was deleted in 2025 when telepathic communication to the google super hub was installed in all Brain chips. Anyway am wasting time on youtube comment section, time is short, i must stop Hillery Clinton the future is at risk.
Nostalgia...
11 years to go!!
"everyone knows that a folk rock sea shanty band isn't going to make to the top of the Radio 1 playlist"
*_welcome to late 2020_*
"Yes, knowing the identity of every face in the mob is devastating knowledge, but that won't stop them from storming the gates of your palace if they're already there."
*welcome to 2021*
@@fancyacuppa7857 January 6th to be exact
Ah, I love that song.
@@purpledevilr7463 ai want to be neenja
@@wheezel55 ?
2030: Privacy's Dead. What happens next?
But everytime Tom sighs it gets faster
yES
@@TNTzx77 -2 hours
I miss this meme
@Wardhouse AND it gets faster
Tom exemplifies the highly British talent of always seeming exhausted
tom scott: “a magical currency based on a credit score of reputation”
china: yes, i’m listening.
this is from 2014, and china started their credit score program in 2015 hmm
You spelt america wrong
qwerty keyboard China is actually implementing this
China: write that down! WRITE THAT DOWN!!!
Dude no, it's just one Chinese company trying to determine their users' trustworthiness on a second hand selling platform, and no it doesn't spy on people's social media, only their selling records and qualifications are taken into account. I'm shocked on how twisted this news had became.
Legends say that Tom has been wearing that same red shirt for more than 20 years
*30
I mean, at the very least he’s been wearing red shirts for 12, possibly 14.
it could just be an app
And the gray sweater with a slight tinge of blue
2030: "we've deleted our privacy policy"
"Wait, there's no privacy policy?"
"Never has been."
Seriously, people need to read those things more carefully because it's usually just companies admitting that they sell your data to advertisers and you must accept that to use their product
@@salj.5459 It isn't really possible for the average person to read the entire TOS and Privacy Policy and comprehend it....
@@WillWood282 nobody likes you
@@WillWood282 idiot, you don't understand humans hate doing what there told
could you like not be assholes to will?
For anyone keeping track, modern-day Google Assistant is now quite capable of solving the "Where should we eat tonight" problem.
S T O P
answer in covid 19 pandemic: at home
And can call and order. Unless that controversial feature was removed...
@@thatpitter You mean Google Duplex?
@Jack Sibley How can it do that?
Tom Scott predicted Tiktok: “You still need an editor to package up the highlights… and put it together for consumption. Powered by measuring attention responses and constant A/B testing.
Everyone is providing a life log for their friends, and if they’re good at it, an audience beyond that as well. They’re the ones getting sponsorship and product placement.”
legend
Applies to tiktok as well as youtube and really any platform that delivers video content. Though UA-cam is the main one who will actually let you see those analytics.
13:37
I was coming to say this... Glad someone already did!
I was just thinking that
2020
Google has removed “don’t be evil” from their manifesto
I dare say that's a long overdue removal
Not 2020, like 2017. You weren't predicting the future, you just missed a headline.
@@evonsusk9731 Whats wrong with Nestle?
@@SenhorAlien Not to forget their penchant for child slavery and stealing water from drought-stricken areas
@@Magmafrost13 huh, didn't know those other two
2006, spell one word wrong and never find what I need
2016, misspell most of my search terms and google still knows what I want.
I'm afraid for what 2026 holds, let alone 2030.
Brandin Thompson 2017 put the wrong words like "virus downloed 2018" will put "anti virus downloads 2017"
Whenever Hardcore is typed Porn Hub comes up. They even know what kind of BBC I was searching for.
@@tengentopka727 funking hell, you killed me! Hahaha
@@tengentopka727 This is actually very annoying to me. I like Hardcore Punk, but guess what search term gets automatically stricken from my search history for being explicit?
Can't wait for 2027 where there is a 1% chance that more than 50% of all electronical devices stop working due to the sun of all things
I've committed to watching this video every year or so, and for the past few years it's been getting scarier and scarier every time I watch it.
How dafuk u remember that
Hey, time to watch again
rewatch time
@@todd.p2877 You see how I can remember?
2014: Everyone laughs at a comment about getting info from Twitter.
Now: Twitter is the primary way to get info from the US President
*sigh*
but is it reliable information?
@@ianprince1698 its coming from the US President, so, no.
@Deadpoppin cry libs
@@WillWood282 nobody likes you
I've taken it as a personal challenge to download this to my computer and to try and preserve this until 2030. Then I'll look back on it and see how naïve we all were (maybe).
If you still have it, make several backups. The storage deteriorates and changes too.
'n'
Do you still remember this?
It's 2020 when I'm writing this.
Anyway, have a nice day or night, or whatever.
Hello
@@UNBOUNDWR Top of the morning to ya
It is scary how complacent people have become when it comes to privacy
I feel like many have realised so much of their info has already leaked out, that the damage is done and don't care to do anything.
@@Noelciaaa they can still try to prevent new people from getting their info, and try to prevent companies from collecting more information on them
Everybody values ease, instant result and instant gratification now unfortunately.
Once you taste ease and comfort, as a human being it’s difficult to go back.
Also the deed was already done from when these apps started many people do not just care anymore.
@@kole1ful its a shame that this is the way things are
@@kole1ful well said
I love how the there's this... horrified silence in the crowd.
The silence when someone tells you that in 15-16 years the end of the world is coming and it may be good, it may be bad, but it's coming.
And about the smartphones thing? He's absolutely right. I suddenly remembered that no, I didn't always had an iPhone, before that I had the Nokia 3310 brick. Before he mentioned that specific part I never really thought about that...
Xaith89 Yu
Not the end of the world. The end of lies.
It was probably that there was no mic for the crowd tbh
@@JoshSweetvale
Wrong.
The end of consensus reality.
When I grew up, phones were attached to the wall with a cord and when we went to the cabin, there was no phone at all. We talked with each other, who were actually there sharing our experience in reality, not some imaginary “Black Mirror” meta life.
Me in 2030: "Kids these days! And their fancy Mind Reading! Back in my days, you'd get to chose which parts of your opinions you'd yell at people on the internet!"
hehe
Meanwhile back in the InfoCapital those who disliked your opinions would selectively edit and subvert your message by massaging your body language and facial expressions. With prolonged experience the recipient will learn to recognise and interpret those edited visual and audible tags, leading to the misinterpretation of telepathy as those skills would be used in face-to-face contact.
People can't handle others freedom of speech as it is. And with how many speaking mistakes we all make in a lifetime - there is no cost to speech that is affordable for anyone.
They'd lose their sanity attempting to share free thought.
Don't let totalitarianism take away the only things you actually own - choices, like what you share with the world, and what ideas shooting about your head are worth indulging - because everyone gets screwy thoughts, its how your personal identity filters them and ranks their validity and importance that matters - and that is entirely for the individual to weigh and decide.
Because you can't learn otherwise, and nobody starts at the finish with no learning.
All these modern movements are nothing but thoughtless emotional knee jerks free of any kind of logical assessment of whether we can even actually live that way.
Modernists believe we haven't figured life out a LONG long time ago, they think this "age of technology" changes things - it doesn't change anything at all in the base make-up of the animal we are.
Evolution is physiological - not behavioural. And you can't just turn a switch and say "know our minds will work like this" - its just braindead nonsense purported by fools and the control class to keep the sheep asleep at the trough.
You own nothing and be happy
Kids in 2030: “What is a internet? All I know is Auto-interning-algorithms!”
Its incredible how well this story is written.
Everything that is being said, is being said with a purpose and makes you reflect on our current time and just how much it makes sense.
Tom Scott you are a freaking legend.
I can't wait to get memes streamed to me at 800 wpm 24/7
Is it ironic that I watched this, and most videos at 1.5-2x faster?
@@Paul-sj5db I thought it was just me doing that
@@Dekeullan nope, me too. Do you find that it makes everyone sound the same? Or that they sound reaaalllyyyyy slowwwwwww at normal speed?
I wonder what 2030 memes would be like. smh.
@@ShivamSan by 2030 memes will be so devoid of any discernible meaning they'll be used as seeds for true random number generators
"Would they think we're in a dystopia or a utopia? It'd be somewhere in the middle"
What, like a neutopia?
depress-opia
a boring dystopia
@@spongejacobw123 just sounds like the world right now
Mehtopia
Zootopia
“A folk rock sea shanty band won’t make the top of the chart”
It's not a band, it's just one song.
@@therealdoc soon may the tendieman come
Yet Port Isaac's Fisherman's Friends have a movie
@@egorkhristov2467 I did not expect this but you've made my life more than my GME gains
6 years later and this title makes so much more sense.
7 years later and it makes even more sense...
@@fundamentalsofknowledge6902 it’s only gonna make more sense as time progresses
Seven years later and all his predictions are wrong. The change has arrived, we do live in a dystopia, the revelation that everyone is a criminal increased crime because it exonerates everyone. Everyone has accepted that our lives are not going to get better which is a paradox in that its a self fulfilling prophecy of society as a whole as we have duped ourselves into thinking we have to accept it. The only possible next big change that can make things better at this point is a solar flare that wipes it all out and forces us to once again interact as human beings.
@@seth7745 holy crap, Lois
"Teenagers are becoming telepathic" & people laugh.
Yet, 4 years later, we have inventors and financers, like Elon Musk, talking about neural interfaces.
Shoot
@EbonyDarknessDementiaRavenWay well this technology is what allows some people who are paralyzed to use their hands, etc again (this is already here)
AHHHHH
And 2 years after that, we have commercially available neural interfaces for $600.
@@PashaGamingYT exactly. Just incredible
Almost 7 years have passed since this video was posted --- just a little algorithm bump here. Tom Scott, I've only discovered you in the last week and am amazed at the vast majority of your videos. This one is going in my Favorites folder.
"UA-cam and it's successors" Still waiting for those successors...
Twitch, tiktok, probably some others
@@bassfight2936 The two you mentioned fill obviously different needs.
All it takes is one major problem/a better platform than youtube and it's gone
@@gatedrat6382 Nah, lookup the network effect. You'd need to somehow bring over an entire cohort of users incredibly quickly.
@@darkfuji196 But isn't that what a major problem/better platform (or maybe both actually) would do?
2014 Tom Scott: App investors will lose all their money
2019 Mobile game developers: _laughs in only 1% can beat level 5_
@@lost2116 and voodoo
Laughs in You Need 200 IQ To Beat This Game
@@rec8127 You need -200 IQ to even think about downloading them. At least -1000 for actually downloading them. And -Infinte to keep playing it.
animegeek96 some other apps like minecraft, roblox or other big well known games still hold up most of the mobile community
@@depression_isnt_real It changed. Mobile apps for open market - mostly gone, less and less wants them. Apps ordered by clients for their internal needs only - booming. Apps are now easier then ever to make, therefore they went through super customization.
from the perspective of someone in 2020 tom really did predict the future
Hello to the people this gets recommended to in 2030 from 10 years ago.
thumbs up to make it happen
DO NOT COMMENT UNTIL 2030, THE REPLY LIMIT IS 500 SO WE SHOULDN'T WASTE THE REPLY SPACE WITH US PRE-2030 PEOPLE.
Hmm, if someone sees this in the future in 2030,
K cool, so wat
@@xexpaguette This video already has over 2000 comments. I question your 500 comment limit statement.
@@HOTD108_ sorry, I meant 500 reply limit
(a comment can have a maximum of 500 replies)
weird how outdated the 2014 references already are
They are even more outdated now...
in a good or bad way?
So would sensory overload count as a major disability if being able to process 800 words a minute is necessary for day to day life?
But I use the GNU engine, the engine that respects my freedom and privacy, it uses a federated decentralized data set, the only downside is that it never has the data I need and can't communicate to other engines' users, but who needs that anyway?
wait, i'm to slow to know if this could work? i want to believe that decentralization can fix this
@@taliakellegg5978 It won't, because user adoption would be minimal compared to the mainstream engines. Much in the way of how Linux has a very very small % of marketshare in PCs, adopting the decentralized engine will prive you from many features the mainstream ones (windows in Linux's case) can offer, which in turn will be it's downfall since the average user simply won't give those up or know better. Much like how Tom says on the video, the mainstream engines share data amongst themselves so decentralization in terms of competition won't do much because if there are additional engines they'll be either sharing data and be mostly the same thing or be irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
@Deadpoppin i think they mean in the future (those who are kids now who will be teens then)
15:01 Tom, I would like to inform you that Wellerman by the The Longest Johns is currently #37 on the UK’s top 40, and that I hope your predictions on privacy go as well as your insight in sea shanties
Yes
You have to be blind to think privacy isn't dead.
@@tao8150 it's not dead. It's definitely dying though.
“Grandpa what is that Clichy-clack thing on The table?”
“It’s my mechanical keyboard :^)”
* :sad-face:
It’s funny because you’re too young to realize mechanical keyboards are older than you.
@@BiscuitFever I know that.
Oh that? That's my asmr machine, I push the buttons and it gives me the happy feelings. It can also make words!
That's it, I'm going to be a technophobic old fossil. Thanks, Tom.
how about today?
I may just buy a Chevy Citation so as to be inconspicuous and do the same thing!
@@johnw2026 So you'd say there's a... _citation needed?_ :D :D :D :D
...we have fun here.
I used to work in IT and I can say for certain I’m going to retire somewhere in the middle of nowhere on a farm. Most people won’t be able to survive this when the engine turns evil.
@@markm0000 I’m glad I live in a village
15:00 "Everyone knows that a folk-rock-sea-shanty band is not going to make the top ..." It's not Radio 1, but TikTok: Welcome to 2021 :)
Tom Scott = 12th Doctor confirmed
(you'd fit in the show quote well)
+Geron Phillips no, twelfth as smith (don't forget about the war doctor)
+Geron Phillips *is
The war doctor dosn't count because he dosn't consider himself the doctor.
+Andrew Robinson The Doctor has said how old he is a few times recently. Somewhere north of 900 I believe
When Tom Scott opens his closet:
Which red shirt should I wear today?
But in all seriousness, I love your videos! keep it up!
“Everyone knows that a folk rock sea shanty band won't make the top of the Radio 1 playlist"
There once was a ship that put to sea...
@Terry Gershman The winds blew up, her bow dipped down...
Ok did google guide me to this video because I love folk rock sea shanties? Because that is so spot on what I like.
Epcot lp I was so confused until I got to that part
I have no idea what folk rock sea shanties sound like - but the idea sounds awesome.
The future of internet have two possibilities
No one knows who you are, or everyone does.
And both terrifies today's man.
Mariano Lucas
You can always make a private connection and be entirely obscure to any outsider.
Allways walk the middle path
I pick the former
the only "private connection" is one that uses protocols that are completely new and only known to you and whoever you connect to.
So either you start coding your own encryption algorithm, or you'll never have that.
I don't see the issue with no one knowing who I am.
it's kinda funny how this is already becoming reality with still 9 years to go
8
7
6
A stark reality check that so many still refuse to acknowledge even though it's staring us right in the eye. Great talk.
I personally think this is the most probable version of the future that I have heard.
+starilie It's rational, that's true, but I think it's more about the details Tom provided. He's always been a master of presenting "fake" material of hard-to-imagine scales and making it sound believable (like his "the day google stopped checking for password" or something video). And while that doesn't say anything about the probability of any such scenario happening, I believe it comes down to a believable presentation, not necessarily the content itself.
Look at the number of views of this video.. your view is in there
Does it seem any worse now?
Tom Scott perfectly described the rise of AI language models. This man was given the gift of prophecy
So I'm not going mad seeing all the similarities!
"A magical currency based on reputation score"
Oh, you mean China?
ahhhhhh
China is a testing ground for ideas that will be implemented worldwide.
Dw, it’ll come everywhere.
Evoo i just hope not..
The occident is most likely gone, and although I hope we can keep it, I really doubt it. Modern orient is going to dominate the world :(
At the sponsored lives section, I was about to scoff but then... snapchat. Instagram influencers. We didn't have to wait for 2030 for this one. It's here right now in 2020.
Exactly.
Wow, that quote at 16:30 about knowing the identities of a mob that’s already storming the palace is a little too real...
Wow! This got me so immersed into the year 2030 that I really had trouble bringing myself back to 2014 at the end… I had to rewind the video several times to catch the point where Tom shifted back to the present day.
I understand why you had problems getting back to 2014 because you're actually stuck in 2016.
nope, 2017
Wait what do you mean shifted back to the present wasn't he always talking about the present
SansyBoy 2018
2023
This creeps me out and now I am starting to understand 35 year olds and up
I have for a while. Have you seen CPG greys videos on humans need not apply and digital Aristotle? Combined with this its all pretty terrifying at least for me. I know change inevitable but I think we have a decent thing going as it is and this will completely change what it means to be human. It doesn't seem worth the sacrifice to me.
16:28 "it will not stop that mob storming the gates of your palace" - oh boy, this didn't age well!
No, it aged perfectly.
Well it didnt stop them so this is perfect
Yes it did
Wait what happen
@@Agnt14 Um were you watching the news around January 6th? Or were you under a rock?
Soooo is it me or are you always wearing a red t-shirt? Is that a deliberate choice, coincidence or some evil plot to enslave humanity?
I'm sure that it's a plot to enslave humanity. Tom probably just likes the color.
Long as he doesn't join any landing parties...
I guess it's a branding thing, You'll always recognise him in his red t-shirts
Illumanitiii lol
i never wear anything but grey t-shirt. i don't know, maybe he's just too lazy to pick a shirt to wear everyday, just like me. hehe
What a horrifying prediction, partly because it sounds so very plausible.
+Technician72 😭
Yes, this is the same reason why Dolores Umbridge in Harry potter is so hated. We can relate to her but not to Voldemort
it's not horrifying, you just need to keep up the best you can and hope you dont end up with the normies
The future is somewhat here already, but only for the Western (Russia+Some Asia). Try it in other large states Africa and Rural Asia, not that the technology wont catch up, but the death by starvation, famine, natural catestropy, how will that be avertered , does anyone care, do they want to care ?
And now with the government trying to pass something that destroys privacy... Yep, this is happening.
Tom Scott predicted ChatGPT. Not sure how how else to interpret "take petabytes of data, analyzes it, looks for patterns."
Especially the bit around "giving it the right hints" and it being like learning typing
Great talk, but disagree about the keyboard becoming niche. My prediction: until a reliable BCI (brain-computer interface) is made, keyboards will remain pretty much exactly like they are right now. Typing is the most comfortable way to get precise data from your brain into a regular PC. Think about it: would you write a novel, blog, or computer program using your voice? No. Even if it is "faster" to speak than type, it just doesn't feel as natural or comfortable when you're trying to choose your words carefully.
can you please tell my brother that? he uses the voice to text feature on his phone for practically everything, even in the middle of other people having a conversation or watching TV
its the future, we now have throat mic's that listen to your humming and translate that into text. loads quicker than using your hands and leaves your hands free for other tasks. until we get BCI :)
I made that reply as joke, but if you keep your mouth closed and hum the sentence (or anything you can read) it works. I can tell the diffrrence in the hum's so I computer would be able to too. why is this not a thing!
people probably said the same thing about using smartphones. Although I do agree that talking won't replace keyboards. In things like school or work you often spend several hours typing at a time, imagine talking for that long everyday.
Benjamin Hershey
Sorry no. My 15 year old dictates anything more than a line or two into the Chromebook we bought that is required at her public high school. She's trained herself to how it works and it to how she works so that now together they are amazingly effective. Quite something to watch really.
This made me feel physically sick with dread. Not sure how I'll adapt to your world.
Same. I don't want this. I think I'm going to have to live in some rural area or something
JackMcJackJack offline Win98 computer or WinXP. Completely inaccessible. That's my way around it
You keep up or get lost
This is not what will happen, but something like this must. Someone someday will figure out how to use all of your data, and that will be the end of privacy
Pull a Ted K
"Earbuds in, throat mics on"
Idk, by that point we might actually have functional neurallink
holy crap, what a hell of a presentation.
What a guy.
God, the memes will be wild 10 years later, won't they be?
^ That phrase is gonna sound more dated than "Wow, everyone will be using the same BBS System won't they?"
now laugh
amogus
@@epekka sususy
@@rockcheeks sussy caca 🐱🐉😎💋😭😰😍😋🤦♂️👀💕💕🥵😘😳😰
@@xexpaguette baka
The funny thing is that he's just describing modern Large Language Models and its only 2023
Feels like a Black Mirror plotline.
Actually, I think it is.
Multiple episodes.
Just wait till it's real
Black mirror is a documentary from a time traveller
Nah this is written way better
@@BarginsGalore True that.
main problems:
- complete filter bubble: inability for the engines to display content you would dislike, but that would be helpful to you and create novel viewpoints/makes you grow
- manipulation of political positions and enforcement of the companies views /gouverment views
- locking out of "undesireable" people
- loosing the ability for manual problem solving and data analysis, making the people dependant on assistents
The death of independant thought, and therby freedom.
I would use all my influence to prevent such a brain network.
The only thing i would endorse would be a completely decentralized system with a weak proposal system that lets trough unfiltered input, a social obligation to still teach independant thinking basics and strict encryption, no involuntary position tracking and anonymous ad profiles.
Chill out doestevsky
Everything you mentioned is already happening now.
and this will be completely ignored after the '10s / '20s born kids would grow up
You say that and yet your using at least one platform that violates multiple of those things
@@BarginsGalore to spread the message on it.
It will be a strange experience to see this video in 10 years again.
Even if Tom retires from content creation in this decade... I would wait with great interest for his retelling of this entire talk, in 2030, seeing just how much of it is true then.
9:50 "they know everything about me, I know everything about them"
You must be joking, when has the government/police ever let people know about them?
sigh
The point is that when you plug in you know everything and everything knows you
@@corbinbarron8772 false. i'm not even going to entertain the dumb argument that every information about yourself is rewarded with information about everyone else.
DawnPraiser what? The scenario is a world where plugging in takes away your privacy in exchange for information. Did you even watch the video
@@corbinbarron8772
taking back what i posted, chances for a future where your lack of privacy awareness is rewarded with information is reasonably believable. but to assume that you can get every information about everyone else by sharing your own sounds ludicrous.
You won't be able to obtain information about everyone, especially for people in power. You won't obtain government secrets, trade secrets, military confidentials, etc. police becomes even more secretive than today, maybe going as far as government sponsored identity forgery. information will be tightly controlled & moderated, inching closer to China's surveillance technologies. corporations becomes even more paranoid of guarding their own secrets.
the most information that you would probably obtain are the normal, average civilians who can't protect their privacy because it has become an essential need to live. hell, that information is probably accesable depending on your social score.
my point being that you give up every bit of information about yourself, but only to gain little about everyone else's. only the few people with special privileges will be able to lookup everything about everyone, almost like a real panopticon.
It is stunning to think how similar the current AI boom is to what Tom said, and it is less a reflection of Tom's genius than it is a stunning indictment of tech's utter predictability.
You should be on TED
He was on a TED talk.
His t-shirt should be RED
Who's Ted
WE’RE JUST GONA KILLL EMMMMMMMM
This video has become even scarier after the Neuralink presentation.
Imagine having to share a Minecraft dirt hut with someone else.
...the what? (you will get it when you see this comments date of writing)
What's that?
HEEHEEHEEHEE
@@tfwthelsdkicksin6083 It's literally a chip that they put it in your brain you control it with the mobile app
here we are Tom, Ganymede is here, CHATGPT
can someone please remind me to re watch this video in 2030
Benkia09 will do
Yes
I'll be here
If his fiction comes true, you will be reminded.
Sure :
Remind.set
*I think I just went through my mid-life crisis,* and the future I'm mentally stressed about doesn't even exist yet.
same D:
You sure about that? Back then it was just a theory, but now we can already see implementations of these being put into everything already.
even a year ago this would’ve been seen as largely fictional, though certainly possible in some not so near future. now in may 2023 i say it proved to be extremely prescient.
take a shot every time tom sighs like he’s reminiscing about the good old days that haven’t happened yet
why did you point this out i can't stop hearing it
the scariest thing is that i find it difficult to tell when hes talking about the present vs the future
if the metaverse launches in 2030, this videos predictions will come true
I was thinking exactly that...
The way you took the audience into the future was almost mesmerizing to listen too. Great topic, fantastic presentation.
One development in the predicted direction is that we don't own the files and programs anymore. We pay subscription fee to use software, to stream music and film, while the tech companies own them and have every access to our data.
"The Internet give us access to everything; but it also gave everything access to us" -James Veitch, from his TED talk "The agony of trying to unsubscribe"
I cant wait, in 7 years, to look back at this video and see how right he was.
We can already see that he's right.
The UA-cam algorithm brings us together again
I wish I shared Tom's sanguine optimism about the future.
I would read a fiction on this.
+Jacob Thomas read "Ready Player One", its not exactly like this but it has a similar idea of everyone being connected to an engine (or as its called in the book "the Oasis")
Ooh, thanks!
+Jacob Thomas "Feed" is literally this video put into a book, but a bit more different
Bluescreen by Dan Wells also works on a similar idea.
One thing I recommend to check out is Shadowrun. Its not a traditional book, but instead a Role playing game. A traditional one, played with pee and paper. But the concept of the world is that its 2075, and magic is back in the world, and coexists with technology, world is ran by megacorps, and privacy is dead in another way. Its an very interesting concept, and if you forget the magic on it, it doesnt seem too impossible.
6 years later. I'm from the future, and I've come to tell you, welcome to the machine.
thanks :)
Where have you been?
It’s alright,
We know just where you’ve be-ee-een!
Love how Tom Scott accidently revealed that books will be replaced by podcasts.
Sad but true
While plenty of people listen to podcasts and audio books, and there are plenty of benefits of audio media, I believe books will never die, books just have something special about them that demands to be loved.
Honestly? Podcasts have plateaued. Meanwhile, the audiobook market has **exploded** in recent years. The big 4 publishers (Penguin, Macmillian, Hatchette, and Harper Collins) are investing millions into audio books and it's only growing.
@@marinbilic2893 it's not sad at all.
ChatGPT says hello
*Is there a invisible cat in mid air hes patting with hes right hand?*
You don't see it?
Welcome to Night Vale.
Just the simple line "no-one's disappointed anymore" gives me chills for some reason.
That only happens in 3 situations: 1. Utopia. Exactly what it sounds like. 2. Drugs. The chemicals of disappointment are interrupted. 3. Distopia. No one dare admit to disappointment.
2014 - The next big thing is around the corner
2023 - Hello Chat GPT
"2030: Privacy is dead."
Me: We're only 10 years away boizzzz!!!!!!
@Danny Gee i wouldn't say its dead, but its definitely dying...
No it isn't lmao, no PERSON has my data. An algorithm has it. No person will ever have my data unless I get hacked, which hasn't happened.
@@wheezel55 ok but consider people can pay to send you messages based on your data
@@gg1k No, they can't send me a personal message based on my data. They select some things about their target demographic then Google, Unity and other advertising companies show their ads to me. They don't actually know who I am, and they don't have my data.
@@wheezel55 ok but it doesn't matter if they can see your data personally they know you're in a demographic that they sent their ads to and that's the same thing
Surely the next big thing is Emojli.
vasko002 well, do you regret predicting that?
The Emoji Movie
Wait. Is it me or was this quite bright, in 2014? :D.
@@NGC-qm1so no, the app Emojli
Watching in 2022. We’re about halfway there, both in terms of time, and technological advancements. You can’t convince me that Tom doesn’t have a crystal ball.
He doesn't, he just comes from the future, cuz mate there's no way he doesn't and can predict so accurately what the future will be like...
In the world described, governments would know the leaders of mass movements that might threaten them, and how to discredit or subvert them.
True it will absolutely be abused by those in power.
A good example is the persecution of the Falun Gong in China.
hanelyp1 Naive to think that world isn't already here?
This aged well
It's already been happening for at least the last 3 decades.
Doesn't stop more leaderless movements though. In those events, governments just resort to shutting off entire sections of the internet. China is the only one who has (mostly) mastered this, but no other government has been able to replicate their success in the same way other developing nations couldn't replicate China's state-controlled economic growth.
When we lived in villages we had not privacy. Living with privacy in cities was a brief experiment.
This is so true
+Roedy Green Interesting point, could probably do a talk just on that
+Roedy Green I'd argue that there is one important difference though: You could move to a different village.
Do we not have a level of privacy as a product of the sheer volume of us?
plus the privacy we have (or had) was an experiment that worked, would you say "Great we found the cure to all diseases" and then put it in the bin and go home?
Every time I come back to this video it becomes more plausible, and dystopian
Not exactly. He says it in the conclusion of his talk. It's not gonna be a utopia, it won't solve all the problems we face, hell it'll also create new ones, but it's also not gonna be a dystopia, it won't destroy our lives and end humanity or anything close to that dramatic, it'll be something in the middle.
@@sanjeethmahendrakar Its always something in the middle
"teenagers are becoming telepathic."
I finished reading The Institute and I thought of that. it's terrifying to think of
(6:25) I've disabled cookies, and only enable them per-site basis. It works fine. Facebook can no longer save cookies. I also have disabled third party requests, and enable them per-site basis. For example on UA-cam, I need to allow google, googlevideo and gstatic for streaming and logging in. But this prevents third party things to load and do whatever they want. No more Facebook plugins on websites to track me. It's better this way.
He's talking about degoodled phones . Checkout rob braxman