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by RickJWagner 181 days ago
End of the Russian/Ukranian war.

US improves relations with China.

Climate problems are shown to be less serious than previously thought.

The rich get richer, but nobody cares because quality of life is improved for everybody.

AI brings additional leisure time, which results in a worldwide resurgence in bluegrass music as millions take up the guitar, mandolin and violin. The biggest surge is in banjo, though. Billy Strings leaps ahead of Taylor Swift in concert sales.

2026 is really looking up! Happy New year, Hacker News!
3 comments
fooblaster 181 days ago
what he said, but literally the exact opposite of every prediction for me.
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johnwheeler 181 days ago
It's like Penn and Teller say: "Everyone thinks the world is getting worse, but it's always getting better." I hope you're right. Maybe it's just my age creeping up on me and turning me into a cynic. Anyway, good to know there's still people who think positively.
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Imustaskforhelp 181 days ago
I think I am young but I do feel like we base our expectations of 2026 from 2025 which lets admit, was not good. I do not think that there would be sudden change from 2025 -> 2026 that could fundamentally change reality if the fundamentals stay the same which in my opinion they kinda would.

I do feel like 2026 would be like 2025 but just a little better maybe or little worse.

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johnwheeler 181 days ago
Yes, I agree with this sentiment. A little better or a little worse, hopefully not too bad. But I think the same feeling of dread will persist, especially going into 2027, particularly around artificial intelligence for tech workers. My concern is that the switch won't be gradual. One day someone will come out with a model that can do everything valuable this software engineer can do. Claude code 4.5 almost hits that mark for me. In a year, I can't imagine…

It might not be AGI, it might not be able to do everything everyone could do, but it'll be enough that you can fire most of the people on your team and just use a few to guide the AI. And I think that's gonna tighten things up in the job market even more. Hopefully it leads to more job creation and it empowers people to compete with one another based on taste and individuals to compete with organizations. That's the best-case scenario I see.

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sosodev 181 days ago
It’s refreshing to a see single optimistic take in this thread
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