6 ms·

Probably an age-old theme, but as a guy now in my 40s, it's humbling and a little sad to see how many things that were so vital, alive, and relevant in my child

Probably an age-old theme, but as a guy now in my 40s, it's humbling and a little sad to see how many things that were so vital, alive, and relevant in my childhood (and past eras) that are now dead and almost gone from the collective memory. As the Buddha said, all is impermanent.

throwanem 2y ago
Right there with you. But hey, it's not all bad. We might be the last generation in living memory, for a while at least, who could ever say "you had to be there" and mean it. And for all it pangs our hearts to see our ephemera tend to dust, we also I think are, of any human generation to date, probably best able to hope that the things we really love from our time will be preserved. (I hope that's a distinction we don't end up holding on to...) In just the last little while I've been getting to see that peculiarly ingenuous sort of joy again, as someone half my age discovers a show I first binged 25 years ago from a friend's handmade VHS dubs. That's a show that makes a habit of trying to tell the audience things they'll hope never to forget. It does so wonderfully. It's a story I cherish, and if someone half my age will perforce love it at least somewhat differently from how I do - so what? That the story remain loved is enough. I dunno if any of that's any use to you, but share it in the hope it'll do you the same small good it did me, thinking on this of a quiet evening.
- aspenmayer 2y ago
  > as someone half my age discovers a show I first binged 25 years ago from a friend's handmade VHS dubs What show are you referring to? Consider my curiosity piqued!
  - throwanem 2y ago
    Babylon 5, but go in unspoiled. It's a sf TV show from the mid-90s made on a smallish budget even in its day; it needs a certain way of seeing to be read well in 2024. But it's also a show that broke a lot of ground for televisual science fiction, and it has been a small touchstone for many creators and showrunners working now. (If you do watch the show, expect to catch some references from the other side! B5 fans do love in-jokes, it seems sometimes even when writing their own scripts...) That makes it an ur-text. What makes it a text worth visiting in 2024 is the marvelous character drama on which the entire epic space-opera story is built. Watching spaceships quickly palls, though those here are extremely impressive for their day. Watching people grow and change and learn and err and suffer and find joy, in a universe where drearily comprehensible manmade horrors and covert acts of grace live cheek by jowl with wonders and terrors beyond imagination, though - that never gets old, and I don't know many better places to do so than here.
- void-star 2y ago
  > We might be the last generation in living memory, for a while at least, who could ever say "you had to be there" and mean it. Can you explain what causes you to say that we will be the last generation to say this? Not rhetorical, although this caused me to question it because I think that this is probably a constant wrt generations passing onto the next and unlikely to change.
  - staplers 2y ago
    He means after the advent of the phone camera. Practically anything anywhere is available to view on video or image of some kind. Used to be reserved for important planned events. We now face a kind of reverse problem though where we're drowning in so much content that some interesting things can be missed or lost.
idiotsecant 2y ago
It's a new world by inches every moment and one day we all wake up to find that the world has passed us by. To a greater or lesser degree we're all relics of an age that no longer exists and probably didn't exist in the first place, at least how we remember it. It's bittersweet but probably a good thing.
uptown 2y ago
“Eventually, all our graves go unattended.” — Conan O'Brien
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- pfdietz 2y ago
  Eventually, all our graves disappear.
  - etrautmann 2y ago
    But for some reason most of NYC’s green spaces are still graveyards…
    - pfdietz 2y ago
      Many graveyards in NYC are forgotten or have been removed. https://www.6sqft.com/what-lies-below-nycs-forgotten-and-hidden-graveyards/ https://www.6sqft.com/what-lies-below-nycs-forgotten-and-hid... Eventually, most graveyards will simply erode away. The average erosion rate is 0.2 mm/year, so 2 meters down will be exposed in about 10,000 years. YMMV
- YesBox 2y ago
  A similar quote, paraphrased, is "Every one dies twice. The first time is when they stop breathing, and the second is when their name is spoken for the last time".
  - readyplayernull 2y ago
    What if someone is born with the same name?
    - MonkeyClub 2y ago
      Different entity altogether.

throwanem 2y ago

Right there with you. But hey, it's not all bad. We might be the last generation in living memory, for a while at least, who could ever say "you had to be there" and mean it. And for all it pangs our hearts to see our ephemera tend to dust, we also I think are, of any human generation to date, probably best able to hope that the things we really love from our time will be preserved. (I hope that's a distinction we don't end up holding on to...) In just the last little while I've been getting to see that peculiarly ingenuous sort of joy again, as someone half my age discovers a show I first binged 25 years ago from a friend's handmade VHS dubs. That's a show that makes a habit of trying to tell the audience things they'll hope never to forget. It does so wonderfully. It's a story I cherish, and if someone half my age will perforce love it at least somewhat differently from how I do - so what? That the story remain loved is enough. I dunno if any of that's any use to you, but share it in the hope it'll do you the same small good it did me, thinking on this of a quiet evening.

aspenmayer 2y ago
> as someone half my age discovers a show I first binged 25 years ago from a friend's handmade VHS dubs What show are you referring to? Consider my curiosity piqued!
- throwanem 2y ago
  Babylon 5, but go in unspoiled. It's a sf TV show from the mid-90s made on a smallish budget even in its day; it needs a certain way of seeing to be read well in 2024. But it's also a show that broke a lot of ground for televisual science fiction, and it has been a small touchstone for many creators and showrunners working now. (If you do watch the show, expect to catch some references from the other side! B5 fans do love in-jokes, it seems sometimes even when writing their own scripts...) That makes it an ur-text. What makes it a text worth visiting in 2024 is the marvelous character drama on which the entire epic space-opera story is built. Watching spaceships quickly palls, though those here are extremely impressive for their day. Watching people grow and change and learn and err and suffer and find joy, in a universe where drearily comprehensible manmade horrors and covert acts of grace live cheek by jowl with wonders and terrors beyond imagination, though - that never gets old, and I don't know many better places to do so than here.
void-star 2y ago
> We might be the last generation in living memory, for a while at least, who could ever say "you had to be there" and mean it. Can you explain what causes you to say that we will be the last generation to say this? Not rhetorical, although this caused me to question it because I think that this is probably a constant wrt generations passing onto the next and unlikely to change.
- staplers 2y ago
  He means after the advent of the phone camera. Practically anything anywhere is available to view on video or image of some kind. Used to be reserved for important planned events. We now face a kind of reverse problem though where we're drowning in so much content that some interesting things can be missed or lost.

idiotsecant 2y ago

It's a new world by inches every moment and one day we all wake up to find that the world has passed us by. To a greater or lesser degree we're all relics of an age that no longer exists and probably didn't exist in the first place, at least how we remember it. It's bittersweet but probably a good thing.

uptown 2y ago

“Eventually, all our graves go unattended.” — Conan O'Brien

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
pfdietz 2y ago
Eventually, all our graves disappear.
- etrautmann 2y ago
  But for some reason most of NYC’s green spaces are still graveyards…
  - pfdietz 2y ago
    Many graveyards in NYC are forgotten or have been removed. https://www.6sqft.com/what-lies-below-nycs-forgotten-and-hidden-graveyards/ https://www.6sqft.com/what-lies-below-nycs-forgotten-and-hid... Eventually, most graveyards will simply erode away. The average erosion rate is 0.2 mm/year, so 2 meters down will be exposed in about 10,000 years. YMMV
YesBox 2y ago
A similar quote, paraphrased, is "Every one dies twice. The first time is when they stop breathing, and the second is when their name is spoken for the last time".
- readyplayernull 2y ago
  What if someone is born with the same name?
  - MonkeyClub 2y ago
    Different entity altogether.