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The persistent retro mimicry across decades is just an exercise in stereotyping, not born out of any appreciation for history. A Casio in the 80s was cutting ed

The persistent retro mimicry across decades is just an exercise in stereotyping, not born out of any appreciation for history. A Casio in the 80s was cutting edge consumer tech in a sense. A Casio watch today has a totally different vibe.

TheOtherHobbes 4y ago
It's like Synthwave, which was never a thing in the 80s. It's a modern reinvention of how people assume the 80s felt, filtered through a gauzy haze of nostalgia for an imaginary pop culture that never existed in that form. Which is similar to computing and other tech nostalgia. An Amiga was out there on the edge in the 80s, now it's a source of fond reminiscence. Likewise 1980s music equipment, especially synthesizers. The modern anti-pop-culture equivalent would be asking what's out on the edge today. And there isn't much, because the vibe of computing - actually the vibe of everything - has changed from excited exploration and boundary breaking with constant invention and surprises, to backward-looking and derivative commoditised corporate consumption and collectorism, and the generation of content and items for same. The most innovative thing at the moment - AI - is an evolving set of automated systems for summarising what has already been generated, rather than for generating something completely new from out of left field.
- ben7799 4y ago
  The Amiga is such a perfect example. I grew up in the 80s in a software engineering household and all my parents friends were likewise engineers in the computer industry. So I grew up and ended up in the industry too. I was around lots and lots of different computers that were not common in the 80s due to being a "tailgate" kid into facilities. And yet I've still never seen an Amiga in person I think, and I have never had a "IRL" friend who ever had one either. And yet you'd think from nostalgia that we all had them in the 80s.
  - googlryas 4y ago
    (in the style of manya, Seinfeld's elderly relation): I had an Amiga!
- thewebcount 4y ago
  > It's like Synthwave, which was never a thing in the 80s. > It's a modern reinvention of how people assume the 80s felt, filtered through a gauzy haze of nostalgia for an imaginary pop culture that never existed in that form. Not really. I write Synthwave music, and I was alive in the 80s and writing similar music back then. I have a deep respect for the bands that pioneered the way via New Wave and Industrial music at the time. I really enjoyed at the time and still enjoy things like the incidental music in Miami Vice, for example. (And Jan Hammer, who wrote much of it, has an interesting history going back to Mahavishnu Orchestra, for example.) It sounds like your own experience is different than that, but don't assume everyone who's into something are into it for naive reasons.
agumonkey 4y ago
Beside the mimicry there's also a lack of "cultural tension" (as in physical force). A simple thing in the 80s was a magical item from a lot of new ideas and new efforts. Today there's such a gluttony of capabilities that you're drowning and can't feel anything. It's like x-ray.. new improvements happen so fast, they go through you.. with either extremely high emotional response (iphone waiting lines) or very mild one (renew your flagship from 2 years ago). Same goes for music IMO.. people are looking at the past because today's culture is lacking. Some of it is from my generation nostalgia, but a lot of it isn't, I was very surprised to see new filters to imitate VHS tapes or CRT screens being used in new youtube videos, even though everything sold is about 4K, 120fps and whatever. There's also an anthropological aspect about this.. watching 70s videos, with lots of glare, or halos, probably limitations of optics/film .. but giving some pretty aesthetics. Having more physically correct capture of an event doesn't improve that aspect. People are romantics.

TheOtherHobbes 4y ago

It's like Synthwave, which was never a thing in the 80s. It's a modern reinvention of how people assume the 80s felt, filtered through a gauzy haze of nostalgia for an imaginary pop culture that never existed in that form. Which is similar to computing and other tech nostalgia. An Amiga was out there on the edge in the 80s, now it's a source of fond reminiscence. Likewise 1980s music equipment, especially synthesizers. The modern anti-pop-culture equivalent would be asking what's out on the edge today. And there isn't much, because the vibe of computing - actually the vibe of everything - has changed from excited exploration and boundary breaking with constant invention and surprises, to backward-looking and derivative commoditised corporate consumption and collectorism, and the generation of content and items for same. The most innovative thing at the moment - AI - is an evolving set of automated systems for summarising what has already been generated, rather than for generating something completely new from out of left field.

ben7799 4y ago
The Amiga is such a perfect example. I grew up in the 80s in a software engineering household and all my parents friends were likewise engineers in the computer industry. So I grew up and ended up in the industry too. I was around lots and lots of different computers that were not common in the 80s due to being a "tailgate" kid into facilities. And yet I've still never seen an Amiga in person I think, and I have never had a "IRL" friend who ever had one either. And yet you'd think from nostalgia that we all had them in the 80s.
- googlryas 4y ago
  (in the style of manya, Seinfeld's elderly relation): I had an Amiga!
thewebcount 4y ago
> It's like Synthwave, which was never a thing in the 80s. > It's a modern reinvention of how people assume the 80s felt, filtered through a gauzy haze of nostalgia for an imaginary pop culture that never existed in that form. Not really. I write Synthwave music, and I was alive in the 80s and writing similar music back then. I have a deep respect for the bands that pioneered the way via New Wave and Industrial music at the time. I really enjoyed at the time and still enjoy things like the incidental music in Miami Vice, for example. (And Jan Hammer, who wrote much of it, has an interesting history going back to Mahavishnu Orchestra, for example.) It sounds like your own experience is different than that, but don't assume everyone who's into something are into it for naive reasons.

agumonkey 4y ago

Beside the mimicry there's also a lack of "cultural tension" (as in physical force). A simple thing in the 80s was a magical item from a lot of new ideas and new efforts. Today there's such a gluttony of capabilities that you're drowning and can't feel anything. It's like x-ray.. new improvements happen so fast, they go through you.. with either extremely high emotional response (iphone waiting lines) or very mild one (renew your flagship from 2 years ago). Same goes for music IMO.. people are looking at the past because today's culture is lacking. Some of it is from my generation nostalgia, but a lot of it isn't, I was very surprised to see new filters to imitate VHS tapes or CRT screens being used in new youtube videos, even though everything sold is about 4K, 120fps and whatever. There's also an anthropological aspect about this.. watching 70s videos, with lots of glare, or halos, probably limitations of optics/film .. but giving some pretty aesthetics. Having more physically correct capture of an event doesn't improve that aspect. People are romantics.