4 ms·

Why the Nineties Rocked

18 points by jseliger 5y ago

DoItToMe81 5y ago
The 90s fucking sucked. Social security safety nets were in the first steps of being dismantled here, and Europe had its first genocides since WW2. The Telecommunications Act of '96 had far reaching negative effects on diversity of music on the radio, well outside of the US. I understand the points about cultural stagnation, but many of the things put in place in the 90s are partially responsible.
- Apocryphon 5y ago
  They set up the present to fail, but they were a comfortable time for many to grow up during. The youth of today have far less luxury of optimism.
- spc476 5y ago
  Yeah, and the 80's weren't much better, what with the Computer and Fraud Act of 1986 making unauthorized access of computers a Federal crome, Reaganomics and the existential threat of imminent nuclear annihilation. The 90's were a calm decade compared to that.
smackeyacky 5y ago
Like any age it depends a bit on your circumstances whether you enjoyed the 1990s. I miss the tech squabbling of windows vs everybody else. It was interesting in a way the boring tech stack stuff now never can be, because you had companies setting out to destroy each other. I had a fat Sun workstation on my desk, a crisp white shirt, a decent suit, an expense account and the freedom to have a long friday lunch (as long as you took the support microtac and a beeper with you): it was bliss. A boozy long lunch outside at a restaurant in the Sydney sun with a tight bunch of colleagues is mighty hard to beat. Of course it helps that none of us had family responsibilities, were getting paid bonkers money and had an understanding boss (Hi Uncle Pete, still the best boss I ever had).
Apocryphon 5y ago
> Marshall McLuhan said that when one medium makes another obsolete, it frees up that previous medium to become an art form — which is what happened with the internet eclipsing TV. Around the early 2000s you had the Sopranos and other long-form TV programming emerge, shows which could genuinely be considered art. Recently there’s a new Soprano’s show based on Tony Soprano’s early life, The Many Saints of Newark. If they announced that next month the Muppets were doing a Soprano’s variant, I wouldn’t be surprised. As I said, everything goes on forever these days, sprawling out into seasons of episodes and spawning relentless new iterations. Kurt knew how to make an exit. This year's Super Bowl featured an updated Soprano's intro with Meadow and A.J. in order to sell a truck. Other ads also brought back Dr. Evil and the villains of Austin Powers, an aged Jim Carrey reprising his role as Cable Guy, Guy Fieri, and Lindsay Lohan. Coupland's onto something.
martindbp 5y ago
I've decided that I'm an optimist, and a techno-optimist at that. People's lives are better than ever, the pace of technological innovation is breathtaking between mRNA vaccines, self-driving cars, VR that actually works (as opposed to the 90s), rockets capable of getting us to the moon and Mars, cars transitioning to EVs at an incredible pace, robotics, deep learning really starting to become useful and so on. What's really changed though is that, perhaps due to Black Mirror and the ever-more gritty Hollywood and bad journalism, it is now considered "smart", and the default, to be a techno-pessimist. As Louie CK once said, everything's amazing and nobody is happy.
- southerntofu 5y ago
  > People's lives are better than ever In the big cities of the western world, sure. Now tell that to the billions of people who don't have sanitation, and can't find clean food/water due to the industries you listed after polluting everything. But sure they can salvage through hazardous electronics parts and dismember them with powerful chemicals to make a living. But hey at least that's not gonna last, soon they'll be climate refugees, everything's amazing! I'm definitely not a techno-pessimist, but oh boy have we fucked everything up for everyone (and we keep going).
  - TheCoelacanth 5y ago
    Standards of living are rising across the non-western world much faster than in the western world. There are still tons of people who struggle to get food, water and sanitation, but it's less than ever before.
- hotpotamus 5y ago
  Perhaps people who have a hard time paying rent every month aren't so concerned with playing around in VR or rockets going to the moon. Perhaps the millions of people who's profession is driving a vehicle are wary of their paycheck once the self-driving car arrives. Maybe you should look at other statistics to see that Gen X an Millennials are less healthy and less wealthy than their predecessors were at the same ages. Look at the decreasing life expectancy of the US (even before Covid). Read about the effects of inequality in primate societies. Perhaps the advancements in technology have not served to increase human happiness?

18 points by jseliger 5y ago

The 90s fucking sucked. Social security safety nets were in the first steps of being dismantled here, and Europe had its first genocides since WW2. The Telecommunications Act of '96 had far reaching negative effects on diversity of music on the radio, well outside of the US. I understand the points about cultural stagnation, but many of the things put in place in the 90s are partially responsible.

Apocryphon 5y ago
They set up the present to fail, but they were a comfortable time for many to grow up during. The youth of today have far less luxury of optimism.
spc476 5y ago
Yeah, and the 80's weren't much better, what with the Computer and Fraud Act of 1986 making unauthorized access of computers a Federal crome, Reaganomics and the existential threat of imminent nuclear annihilation. The 90's were a calm decade compared to that.

smackeyacky 5y ago

Like any age it depends a bit on your circumstances whether you enjoyed the 1990s. I miss the tech squabbling of windows vs everybody else. It was interesting in a way the boring tech stack stuff now never can be, because you had companies setting out to destroy each other. I had a fat Sun workstation on my desk, a crisp white shirt, a decent suit, an expense account and the freedom to have a long friday lunch (as long as you took the support microtac and a beeper with you): it was bliss. A boozy long lunch outside at a restaurant in the Sydney sun with a tight bunch of colleagues is mighty hard to beat. Of course it helps that none of us had family responsibilities, were getting paid bonkers money and had an understanding boss (Hi Uncle Pete, still the best boss I ever had).

Apocryphon 5y ago

> Marshall McLuhan said that when one medium makes another obsolete, it frees up that previous medium to become an art form — which is what happened with the internet eclipsing TV. Around the early 2000s you had the Sopranos and other long-form TV programming emerge, shows which could genuinely be considered art. Recently there’s a new Soprano’s show based on Tony Soprano’s early life, The Many Saints of Newark. If they announced that next month the Muppets were doing a Soprano’s variant, I wouldn’t be surprised. As I said, everything goes on forever these days, sprawling out into seasons of episodes and spawning relentless new iterations. Kurt knew how to make an exit. This year's Super Bowl featured an updated Soprano's intro with Meadow and A.J. in order to sell a truck. Other ads also brought back Dr. Evil and the villains of Austin Powers, an aged Jim Carrey reprising his role as Cable Guy, Guy Fieri, and Lindsay Lohan. Coupland's onto something.

martindbp 5y ago

I've decided that I'm an optimist, and a techno-optimist at that. People's lives are better than ever, the pace of technological innovation is breathtaking between mRNA vaccines, self-driving cars, VR that actually works (as opposed to the 90s), rockets capable of getting us to the moon and Mars, cars transitioning to EVs at an incredible pace, robotics, deep learning really starting to become useful and so on. What's really changed though is that, perhaps due to Black Mirror and the ever-more gritty Hollywood and bad journalism, it is now considered "smart", and the default, to be a techno-pessimist. As Louie CK once said, everything's amazing and nobody is happy.

southerntofu 5y ago
> People's lives are better than ever In the big cities of the western world, sure. Now tell that to the billions of people who don't have sanitation, and can't find clean food/water due to the industries you listed after polluting everything. But sure they can salvage through hazardous electronics parts and dismember them with powerful chemicals to make a living. But hey at least that's not gonna last, soon they'll be climate refugees, everything's amazing! I'm definitely not a techno-pessimist, but oh boy have we fucked everything up for everyone (and we keep going).
- TheCoelacanth 5y ago
  Standards of living are rising across the non-western world much faster than in the western world. There are still tons of people who struggle to get food, water and sanitation, but it's less than ever before.
hotpotamus 5y ago
Perhaps people who have a hard time paying rent every month aren't so concerned with playing around in VR or rockets going to the moon. Perhaps the millions of people who's profession is driving a vehicle are wary of their paycheck once the self-driving car arrives. Maybe you should look at other statistics to see that Gen X an Millennials are less healthy and less wealthy than their predecessors were at the same ages. Look at the decreasing life expectancy of the US (even before Covid). Read about the effects of inequality in primate societies. Perhaps the advancements in technology have not served to increase human happiness?