4 ms·

Harry Potter will last. I have not read it but god it is everywhere. I cannot escape it, maybe it's less referenced in Asian cultures. Videogames: I don't play

Harry Potter will last. I have not read it but god it is everywhere. I cannot escape it, maybe it's less referenced in Asian cultures. Videogames: I don't play much. But Mario seems likely. Minecraft and Fortnite are very big right now, but they lack memorable main characters so I doubt they survive 25+ years. Music: None of my favorites but Kanye might have 1 song remembered in 50 years. I know friends who got into music creation all commend Kanye's 'ear'. His music does feel 'grand' more than any other artist I've heard but it's not my thing personally.

jrochkind1 2y ago
Yeah, it's more than a book now. Maybe nobody remembers the best-selling novels or authors from 1928 anymore, but who doesn't know 1928-debuting Mickey Mouse?
tomjen3 2y ago
I don't think Harry Potter will stand the test of time that well. In the world of Harry Potter, there are no cell phones, no internet, no Google and no AI. For my generation that was no issue at all when we got into the books, because the Internet were fairly obscure in 1997 (as in, not something you would use on a daily basis), Google was just a postdoc project and of course kids didn't have cellphones. 7 books later, it seemed fairly strange that the characters in this magical place didn't have access to the things we used every day. For kids born today? They will grow in the world where it is perfectly normal to talk with a computer that is smarter than they are. That will not be a wow experience like the first time you talked with an AI. It will be completely normal, entirely unsurprising, just like you expect there to be light when you push the light switch. Their world will be far more magical than the one we grew up in. But Harry Potter is stuck in time, forever suspended in the late 1990's as some fly in amber. Now imagine you pick up a book supposedly full of magic and many wonders. And then the characters have to search through books by reading them until they happen to find the piece of information they want. Thats already laughable to me. How much more so to kids who grew up with talking computers and touch screen phones? Where, of course, the pictures move and you can talk to them. I could be entirely of base here, but one of the great things about the Harry Potter series was the feeling of Magic. Is the Magic going to be there for future generations?
- telotortium 2y ago
  > And then the characters have to search through books by reading them until they happen to find the piece of information they want. Thats already laughable to me. If Google keeps on declining, that experience will become even more relevant in the future. Most of the information the kids need is in a book somewhere, but often in the restricted section or perhaps not in the library at all, which is quite analogous to the dark web or even just obscure websites that are either unindexed or downranked enough that they might as well be.
  - tomjen3 2y ago
    Kids will use perplexity instead if Google does not surface enough good results.
  - flyinghamster 2y ago
    > Most of the information the kids need is in a book somewhere, but often in the restricted section or perhaps not in the library at all A problem that is getting worse with politically-motivated "protect the children" witch hunts bringing book bans to the Land of the Free. Nobody shooed me away from the grown-up side of the library when I was a kid.
    - lelanthran 2y ago
      > Nobody shooed me away from the grown-up side of the library when I was a kid. Me neither, but the grown-up side of the library back then did not have instructional books for teenagers on how to have homosexual intercourse. In fact, instructions on having intercourse of any sort weren't in the grown-up side of any library I went to in the 80s. I'd be very surprised if you went to a library that did direct teens and younger to instructions on having intercourse.
      - solumunus 2y ago
        Why is it a problem for teenagers to learn about sex? A thing that almost every human on earth engages in, with the desire to do so emerging in their teenage years… It seems completely obvious and normal.
loughnane 2y ago
Tough to say. I can’t remember the name right now but I was reading an essay from whitehead written about a hundred years ago and he was lamenting how popular some writer was the he considered awful. It struck me because I hadn’t heard the name before, and I’m pretty well-read. There are oceans of forgotten works out there, we just——by definition——have forgot about them. Yes Harry Potter has sold lots of books, but how do you compare that to black beauty? It sold maybe a 10th but in a time of smaller markets. People still know of black beauty but it isn’t a cultural force——more a peculiarity of the time. For sure some things written this century will be around in the year 3000, it’s just impossible to say what.
- PaulHoule 2y ago
  My wife is a big fan but she was a horse crazy little girl who grew up to run a riding academy.
jowea 2y ago
I think the multimedia empire franchise explanation is more likely to explain which of those survive than pure popularity. Minecraft seems like it could be replaced by something else in the same genre, but MS is still actively developing it so maybe it will just evolve. But it seems likely to me new generations will want something for that niche. Something like Harry Potter seems more like the sort of thing that will last while the people who enjoy it live, but at the same time things like James Bond or Star Trek are outlasting their original fans so who knows.
- Ekaros 2y ago
  With things like James Bond and Star Trek. Is what is popular their original iterations or later ones? With Star Trek Movies yes, but the original series? Or something reasonably modern like TNG and DS9. Same could be asked with James Bond, how well do all of the movies do? Or is it some specific pieces that still somewhat resonate.
oceanplexian 2y ago
Minecraft is over 13 years old and still the most popular PC game in the world by monthly active users. Not sure if there are many games that can beat that record.

jrochkind1 2y ago

Yeah, it's more than a book now. Maybe nobody remembers the best-selling novels or authors from 1928 anymore, but who doesn't know 1928-debuting Mickey Mouse?

tomjen3 2y ago

I don't think Harry Potter will stand the test of time that well. In the world of Harry Potter, there are no cell phones, no internet, no Google and no AI. For my generation that was no issue at all when we got into the books, because the Internet were fairly obscure in 1997 (as in, not something you would use on a daily basis), Google was just a postdoc project and of course kids didn't have cellphones. 7 books later, it seemed fairly strange that the characters in this magical place didn't have access to the things we used every day. For kids born today? They will grow in the world where it is perfectly normal to talk with a computer that is smarter than they are. That will not be a wow experience like the first time you talked with an AI. It will be completely normal, entirely unsurprising, just like you expect there to be light when you push the light switch. Their world will be far more magical than the one we grew up in. But Harry Potter is stuck in time, forever suspended in the late 1990's as some fly in amber. Now imagine you pick up a book supposedly full of magic and many wonders. And then the characters have to search through books by reading them until they happen to find the piece of information they want. Thats already laughable to me. How much more so to kids who grew up with talking computers and touch screen phones? Where, of course, the pictures move and you can talk to them. I could be entirely of base here, but one of the great things about the Harry Potter series was the feeling of Magic. Is the Magic going to be there for future generations?

telotortium 2y ago
> And then the characters have to search through books by reading them until they happen to find the piece of information they want. Thats already laughable to me. If Google keeps on declining, that experience will become even more relevant in the future. Most of the information the kids need is in a book somewhere, but often in the restricted section or perhaps not in the library at all, which is quite analogous to the dark web or even just obscure websites that are either unindexed or downranked enough that they might as well be.
- tomjen3 2y ago
  Kids will use perplexity instead if Google does not surface enough good results.
- flyinghamster 2y ago
  > Most of the information the kids need is in a book somewhere, but often in the restricted section or perhaps not in the library at all A problem that is getting worse with politically-motivated "protect the children" witch hunts bringing book bans to the Land of the Free. Nobody shooed me away from the grown-up side of the library when I was a kid.
  - lelanthran 2y ago
    > Nobody shooed me away from the grown-up side of the library when I was a kid. Me neither, but the grown-up side of the library back then did not have instructional books for teenagers on how to have homosexual intercourse. In fact, instructions on having intercourse of any sort weren't in the grown-up side of any library I went to in the 80s. I'd be very surprised if you went to a library that did direct teens and younger to instructions on having intercourse.
    - solumunus 2y ago
      Why is it a problem for teenagers to learn about sex? A thing that almost every human on earth engages in, with the desire to do so emerging in their teenage years… It seems completely obvious and normal.

loughnane 2y ago

Tough to say. I can’t remember the name right now but I was reading an essay from whitehead written about a hundred years ago and he was lamenting how popular some writer was the he considered awful. It struck me because I hadn’t heard the name before, and I’m pretty well-read. There are oceans of forgotten works out there, we just——by definition——have forgot about them. Yes Harry Potter has sold lots of books, but how do you compare that to black beauty? It sold maybe a 10th but in a time of smaller markets. People still know of black beauty but it isn’t a cultural force——more a peculiarity of the time. For sure some things written this century will be around in the year 3000, it’s just impossible to say what.

PaulHoule 2y ago
My wife is a big fan but she was a horse crazy little girl who grew up to run a riding academy.

jowea 2y ago

I think the multimedia empire franchise explanation is more likely to explain which of those survive than pure popularity. Minecraft seems like it could be replaced by something else in the same genre, but MS is still actively developing it so maybe it will just evolve. But it seems likely to me new generations will want something for that niche. Something like Harry Potter seems more like the sort of thing that will last while the people who enjoy it live, but at the same time things like James Bond or Star Trek are outlasting their original fans so who knows.

Ekaros 2y ago
With things like James Bond and Star Trek. Is what is popular their original iterations or later ones? With Star Trek Movies yes, but the original series? Or something reasonably modern like TNG and DS9. Same could be asked with James Bond, how well do all of the movies do? Or is it some specific pieces that still somewhat resonate.

oceanplexian 2y ago

Minecraft is over 13 years old and still the most popular PC game in the world by monthly active users. Not sure if there are many games that can beat that record.