Gen-Z Students: Thoughts On the Future - THE STUDENT COMPASS

THE STUDENT COMPASS

The Question posed to Gen-Z College Students:

"what concerns and issues do you believe will be
paramount in the near and distant future"

Katie
I think that climate change will be the biggest issue.
I believe changing the relationship between humans,
animals, and the environment will be critical problems for our
generation and future ones to solve.

John
AGI (artificial general intelligence) - Easily the
biggest threat to humanity in the next century (in
my view) is runaway/uncontrollable artificial
intelligence. Right now, we are building a car with a
500-horsepower engine and no brake pedal-
artificial intelligence is getting exponentially
smarter, but we don't understand why it is getting
smarter. What this means is Al is, right now, mostly
achieving what we want it to do, but it could be
doing it for the wrong reasons (for example, we've
already seen discrimination in Als and sentencing
algorithms that don't know into consideration the
human value of nondiscrimination).

Crisis of Meaning - This is certainly a more
Western issue, since it correlates with the downfall
of Christianity, but I think you can attribute a lot of
modern political polarization to a teleological
society not having a telos, and so searching for one
in politics. From that comes radical political
movements putting aside simple material
prosperity (which is really all government can work
for) for a grand mission, and, in the process, losing
out on both.

Climate Change - There's not much for me to say
here, but it's so far down on the list because very
few people think climate change will actually end
humanity, whereas the fanaticism that comes from
the crisis of meaning (which could lead to rash
decisions with the strongest weapons in history--
like bioweapons, nukes, and nanotechnology--and
just a generally more violent world) and the soon-
to-be unfettered power of Al might (in that order)
(Re: significance of Climate Change in the psyche of
Gen-Z Cohort)- I would say it's a presence, but not
necessarily a deep presence.

Cael
the first few ideas that pop into my head include climate
change, income inequality in the U.S. and the world,
and the negative effects social media will have on
our societv.

As the earth's global temperature continues to rise,
I not only worry about the effect this will have on
nature and it's natural disasters, but also how
people will respond to having to make changes to
their daily lives to curb this rising temperature. For
instance, society as a whole may have to cut back
on how much meat we consume as the process of
raising cattle and other animals releases large
amounts of methane, contributing to the warming
of the earth. I think it will be hard to convince a large
portion of society to make sacrifices when many
have been led to believe climate change is a hoax,
and that could be a problem for the world.

Next, I believe income inequality in both the United
States and world will continue to increase and
become an even bigger problem. The 2020 COVID
pandemic increased the wealth gap, and now
"roughly 10 percent of the world owns 76 percent
of all wealth". In addition, while costs continue to
increase due to inflation and other inputs, the
minimum wage and average salary of working class
individuals has not risen at the same rate, creating a
falling out of the middle class. If the wealth gap
continues to widen, I believe the United States and
world will see an increase in poverty and crime.

Finally, I think over the last few years our country
specifically has seen the drastic effect social media
can have on individuals and their beliefs. Through
powerful algorithms, these platforms have created
strong echo chambers causing user's beliefs to be
constantly confirmed and strengthened. This has
led to extreme beliefs and actions by both ends of
the political spectrum. In 10 years, social media
may have an even bigger negative influence on the
world. In addition, apps like TikTok, with a strong
algorithm created to keep users on the app, is
destroying users attention span and neurons
because it provides them with an endless amount
of content. I think in 10 years this will have a large
negative affect on young children and their ability to
pay attention for large amounts of time and delay
gratification.
These are just some of my thoughts on the issues I
see to be destructive to society in the near and
distant future.

Adam
Regarding what issues I believe will be paramount, I
think the climate change and overpopulation, as
well as the issues associated with these problems.
Some subsequent issues include shortages of
resources such as water, food, land and energy.
Overpopulation leads to an over-exhaustion of
resources such as water, food, and land. More
energy is needed to support more people with
production and development, and it takes a toll on
the environment, creating a positive feedback loop.
Since energy production uses primarily fossil fuels
and natural gas, this speeds up climate change,
worsening problems with food and water
shortages, making livable and farmable areas more
scarce.

Shiloh
I believe that climate change, economic
inequality, and geopolitical stability would be
among the most pressing challenges.

Xuanthe
I believe that the problem we should be prioritising
for the future is achieving world harmony. Many
global issues we have right now (climate change,
homelessness, poverty) could be closer to being
resolved if the influential people in those positions,
like government, acted with people's best interests
- not their own. It's laughable how some of the elite
could own multiple, vacant homes while people
sleep on their streets.
But until people realise that maximising personal
gain could be detrimental in the long-run, we will be
plagued with issues in the future to come.

Justin
I am well aware of the uncertainties in the future, and I
would be delighted and honored to provide my own insights.
The most imminent threat to the general population
is global warming, in my opinion. I have read
multiple scientific articles about this, but the
majority of the population are ignoring scientists'
please, which is very concerning.

Another threat that is very prominent is political
tensions. especially with Russia and China. If
tensions were to exacerbate, then the
consequences would be catastrophic, as both
Russia and China have strong militaries with
advanced technologies. I hope that tensions would
cease and we would be closer to achieving world
peace.

Charlie
These days it does seem like anything and
everything is the next great problem that our
society will face. I am personally most interested in
combatting grid development specifically in terms
of renewable energy storage moving forward. I
hope to go into this field both because it interests
me and because I think it is the single greatest
obstacle that we will face as a nation and eventually
that we will face as an individual.

Jordan
The issues that I feel are most paramount in the near
future include an overconsumption of resources, inequality
in education access at all grade levels, and the strain of chronic
illnesses on healthcare systems. These are the challenges that
students for the next few years will have to address in order to
maintain a relatively good quality of life and limit internal strife.

I believe the biggest challenges that humans will face in the
distant future involve overpopulation, the continued effects
of climate change, and disagreements about the ethical implications
of advancements in genetic engineering and space travel. The sooner
that we begin to address these problems, the smaller the "mess"
our descendants will be left to deal with.

Kristan
Interestingly enough, I am actually currently
reading a book about the world issues called 21
lessons for the 21st century by Yuval Noah Harari
which has helped me be aware and to pay attention
to world problems. I would definitely recommend to
everyone to read that book

Some of the concerns I have for the future are
briefly:
1. How will the climate develop.
2. Political powers increasingly failing to view the
world as a whole and to focus only on national
interests. Which becomes bad for everyone in the
long run.
3. Especially in the US, political powers failure to
make critical decisions due to the base of fear of
bad publicity or unwillingness to make a long term
benefit to protect short term gains.
4. Will we fail to keep technological advancements
under control to prevent creating a worse version of
society.
5. The increasing difficulty of establishing what's
right and true.

Leticia
Our modern society has a plethora of issues, but I believe that it is founded upon first-world countries' overconsumption of amenities, which has led 'ruling' systems to exploit the most vulnerable in order to enrich and empower themselves. Specifically, some issues that are pertinent in our generation include climate change, the slow (or even non-existent) process of gun control, income and wage disparities, and ongoing systemic discrimination that plagues every facet of society. While many of these issues seem daunting, I believe that education is one of the greatest steps towards reform (by educating ourselves and future generations to love one another while remaining informed about the world we live in so as not to become ignorant of pressing issues).

Jadyn
Personally, I think the long-term effects of the pandemic will
present a challenge to my generation. Whether it be
the toll the pandemic took on our health, both
physical and mental, lack of access to activities and
socializing, as well as virtual learning, I think it is
important that all people, especially young people,
pause to reflect and take stock of how we have
grown and changed. The Covid-19 pandemic began
when I was a senior in high school, and I remember
explaining that my life felt simultaneously in pause
and in acceleration. As we go into higher education
and the professional world, I believe ti is important
that we be able to effectively communicate these
past few years and how they impacted us.
With this said, I am confident that GenZ, a very
resilient population in large, can accomplish this.

Bolu
Personally, I believe that that the paramount issues
that GenZ will be dealing with are the racial issues that
still plagueour society, with us navigating and trying to
dismantle systemic racism in many different
sectors in our society. Additionally, I believe that we
will also be working towards implementing potential
solutions for climate change since this issue will
greatly affect our generation.

Grant
Probably just a decaying democracy and
huge polarization.

Amber
I would definitely say that most of my friends and I
are interested in concerns related to climate change
(divestment from oil specifically), labor laws, and,
more recently, abortion rights.

Olivia
I would say that the most pressing issues that our
generation is facing would include climate change,
increasing costs of higher education, and rising global
competition in the job market across various
sectors. Specifically for high school students
applying to college, I would say that a trend I've
noticed in recent years (and one that I've
experienced myself) would be the growing
competition in the college admissions process,
particularly for elite schools. Many colleges have
seen a vast increase in the number of applications,
making it difficult to distinguish between the
nuances of the many qualified applicants.

I think another big thing that could happen
within the next decade or so would be the rise of
technology and automated systems in many
different occupational sectors. For example, in
healthcare, I am aware that Al is being incorporated
into radiology, surgery, etc. I think that industries
that don't integrate technology will eventually be
"left behind", so to speak, and I'm interested in
seeing how virtual spaces such as the Metaverse
could impact our daily lives.

Rachel
The issues most concerning me right now
are climate change and what sustainability looks
like for the future. I am also concerned about the
economy driving up prices too much so that wealth
gaps will continue to grow so that there will not be a
middle class in the US anymore. Food sustainability
is also at the top of my list, given that I am a food
studies major. I really hope that more companies
convert to sustainable and organic agriculture.

Sarah
I'm most concerned about the climate and the
corporate oligarchy that is the United States.

Dylan
Interesting. I'm 24, born in 1998 to lower middle
class Catholic Irish conservative parents in Long
Island NY. I have no college degree, although my
father is a life long salesman and I inherited his "gift
of gab", I then used this to network my way into the
career I have now. I'm extremely pessimistic about
the future of the west entirely. I think it's going to
get much, much worse before it gets better. This
nation sold its soul in the 80's to corporate America
and the banking class. Unions were destroyed and
manufacturing was shipped to China. This country
is a corpse being eaten by maggots and I find that
half the country is rooting for the corpse and the
other half is rooting for the maggots.

If all goes south and I get laid off I'm packing my jeep,
strapping on my surfboard, and driving from Long Island
to Venice beach CA and just becoming a homeless beach
bum who lives outside and does whatever odd jobs to make
enough money to eat. I truly, Unironically believe we are
on the brink of western society collapsing.