4Jul/101
[en] About time
I think it's interesting how people always get nostalgic about the past. No matter how bad the times were, the human mind seems to want to always remember the good things and record them in better good light. Thinking a bit about the recent history here's how it looks in my mind:
- the 2000s were times of new technologies, new games, laptops and awe
- the 90s were a bit disoriented, simple and musical because of the walkman (yes, where I grew up the walkman was big in the 90s)
- the 80s were electronic and birth time of hip hop, they were Michael Jackson, cyberpunk and popular rebellions
- the 70s had weird glasses, weird clothing, lots of weird movies about crime, they looked simple, non technological times in a way, on the other hand space seemed just like the patch of land next door
- the 60s were confident, hippie and a continuous race to do more
- the 50s were the times of the teenager revolution, rock and roll, Beatles, Johnny Cash and Elvis
- the 40s were all about the war and ending it
- the 30s were swing, end of prohibition, end of mafia and end of jazz
- the 20s were jazz, suits, glamor of the night and prohibition
- the 1910s were the first taste of world war, disorganized and sad years
- the 1900s were the years of breakthrough discoveries: flight, restricted theory of relativity
- the 1890s seem simple, they were the times of cars
I wonder why the only people excited about the present are always marketing people. And I know that us technology people are often excited about the future, but why is it that ALL people long for the past and why is it that the past always seems simpler? Even recent times, such as last year or the year before that seem better.
How about you? How does the last century look like to you? And why do you think people tend to long for the past?
July 4th, 2010 - 12:51
I tend not to look back before my own time, when thinking about the past. What happened during the last century is history and its exciting, but it is what it is. You can learn from history, but seldom will you be faced with choises where the correct answer is served to you by historical experiance.
Im not sure, why people are so hyper about the past. One theory is, that the past has already been experienced. If it was a good one, people will tend to long for it, since in comparison the future is so full of uncertainty. Like in my own case, where I had the most fantastic time in high school. Sometimes when I go nostalgic, I tend to long for those three years, and the sence of reliving them makes me all fuzzy and warm on the inside.