What tends to happen is that theories run amok and hundreds are thrown out there at once, as people get carried away with their dystopian projections. Then, if one or two look vaguely like coming true, then out come the self-congratulations and I told you sos.
But banal or not, whatever form these 'changes' take will never be in a Armageddon-esque, overnight, fireworks sort of way. Changes are subtle so that people can acclimatize to them, whether good or bad.
One doesn't have to believe in lizard people to see that institutions are opting to go down the 'cashless' route, so that's one. By the same token, using cash is a rarely-done thing now anyway. So is it by design, or just a natural progression? Who pines for the days of trundling down to an ATM in the hope of withdrawing their last £10, only to see the onscreen balance mock you with £8.57? I know I don't!
Food shortages, yep. Resources shortages, yep. But how much is by design, and how much is something a 4-year-old could have predicted years ago? Wasn't that long ago we had loo roll-gate, and before you knew it, it was over. Recently, people pilfering water in shops, that is to be expected, and so forth.
Most of these things have happened countless times throughout history, and you can bet the people of that time feared the same outcomes, and yet things by and large, tend to recover.
It all boils down to picking and choosing which Doomsday predictions to believe, as opposed to people's penchant to go all-in with one extreme view or the other, as is the case today. Do I think the ramblings of an 80- year-old eugenicist warrant concern, or is he simply piping up with his idealistic vision? Will populations have been reduced drastically by 2030 in some orchestrated mega-culling? Last I checked, populations were set to hit 10 billion before plateauing! Will I get to have that threesome with Sienna Miller and Charlize Theron before 2030? Dunno, but I could always put it out there and cross my fingers...
ya never know!*