Dystopia is a world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, and fearful lives.

If you need a more vivid example, think of the novel The Children of Men (1992), by P.D. James where the human population has become infertile and lost all interest in politics, allowing the authorities to install various regulations such as mass “voluntary” suicides by the elderly, rampant cruel treatment toward prisoners of the state, and mandatory sperm testing and female inspections. Fatalism, boredom, crime, and religious hysteria are abundant, and it’s not that pretty.

While such an environment might seem possible only in fiction, there is a subreddit whose members think we’re actually on our way to making it a reality. It’s called ‘A Boring Dystopia’ and these folks regularly share real-life examples of what they believe to be societal decay. Here are some of them.

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#1 One Of The Two Remaining Northern White Rhinos In The World, Guarded 24 Hours A Day To Guard Against Poachers

#2 A Gallery Owner Was Arrested After Leaving A 10-Foot Heroin Spoon Sculpture Outside Oxycontin Maker Purdue Pharma

Nowadays, artificial intelligence (AI) is widely considered to be one of the primary suspects that can send us humans into doom and gloom. And for good reason: this technology has brought many good and bad things into our lives, and it will have an even greater impact in the coming decades.

Naveen Joshi, who is the founder and CEO of Allerin, a company that develops engineering and technology solutions focused on optimal customer experiences, and has extensive experience in AI, big data, IoT, and blockchain, thinks that there are legitimate reasons to be concerned.

“Current AI research is overly focused on making advances in a narrow set of domains and pays insufficient attention to the disruptive effects on society’s fabric,” Joshi wrote in Forbes.

#3 Three Socioeconomic Classes In The Philippines

#4 Cheerfully Snipping Some Plastic Soda Packaging To ~save The Turtles~ And Realizing I Fully Expect This To End Up In The Ocean

#5 Imagine getting hit by a freakin’ UwU shell

According to Joshi, if AI technology continues on its current path, it will likely cause social upheaval for at least two reasons.

“Firstly, AI will have an impact on the future of work. Our current trajectory over-automates work while refusing to invest in human productivity. Further advances will displace workers while failing to create new opportunities and, as a result, miss out on AI’s full potential to boost productivity.”

“Also, AI has the potential to undermine democracy and individual liberties.”

#6 The Wheel Of Fugitives

#7 Nike Sending Plastic They’ve Taken From The Environment To Show They Care About The Planet. Wrapped In Plastic

#8 The System Is Broken

#9 Passenger Photo While Plane Flew Near East Palestine, Ohio … Chemical Fire After Train Derailed

If things do not change, Joshi predicts that we will see massive unemployment, as many jobs will be replaced by machinery.

“Wealth inequality will be created as AI investors take the lion’s share of the earnings. The gap between rich and poor will grow wider. The so-called ‘M’ shape of wealth distribution will become more apparent,” he continued.

#10 U.S. Wealth Inequality

#11 A Beer Bottle Discovered At Challenger Deep, The Deepest Point On Earth At -35,000ft

#12 Ah The Good Old Times

#13 Words Fail Me

“Issues emerge not only in the social sense but also in AI itself, as the AI that is trained and taught how to operate the given task can eventually take off to the point where human control is lost, resulting in unanticipated problems and consequences.”

“It refers to AI’s ability to function autonomously after being loaded with all necessary algorithms, ignoring the command given by the human controller,” Joshi said.

#14 Huangjuewan Interchange

#15 McDonald’s In The 1980s Compared To Today

#16 Won This At The Xmas Bingo At Work

#17 Malthus Would’ve Blushed Looking At This

Many AI experts have openly spoken out about the negative effects of AI going rogue on human society, asking researchers to investigate these scenarios. The rapid advancement of AI technology necessitates constant regulation and monitoring before the negative consequences become too severe.

#18 Feel Like This Fits Too Well. The Rich Stay Rich/Get Richer

#19 Mumbai, India. The Divide Between The Richest People In India vs. One Of The Poorest. Extreme Wealth Inequality On Display

#20 My Wage Cage. Nature Is Begging Me To Leave!

#21 Silicon Valley Everyone

“AI takeover will be limited to the entertaining plots of dystopian movies and fictional worlds if proper laws protect the users,” Joshi said. “The omniscient and nearly omnipotent power of AI has been called into question. There may be no definitive answer to the question of AI replacing humans in various industries. Only predictions and observations are available.”

The future of AI remains hazy, but if you would like to explore the current state of our society a bit deeper, check out Bored Panda’s earlier publications 45 Pics That Show That We’re Already Living In A Dystopic Nightmare and This Online Group Is “Showcasing The Idea That We Live In A Dystopia That Is Boring” One Post At A Time.