Lately I've been drawn to things from my youth. Board games I didn't have, couldn't afford, or didn't know about. Old Science Fiction, music, movies I've seen a bunch of times, though this last one isn't a recent development by any means.
Is it just that enough time has passed that they're no longer stale; familiar - but newish?
I'm playing Starweb, a Play By Mail (PBM) game that's been around since the mid 1970s. I remember seeing ads for it over the years, but didn't have the money (maybe $2.00 per turn) and later the time (one turn every two weeks) to play. I bought a book on the history of PBM recently (nostalgia again) and saw that Starweb was still being offered, so I signed up. It's been a blast so far to play a slow paced game with time for diplomacy, even with the modern concession of email instead of the USPS. I've so far resisted the urge to write a program to track the game for me. I'm totally old school, using a hand drawn map and highlighters to track the worlds of the Starweb as I explore them. Not even a spreadsheet.
Maybe it's dopamine fatigue. Maybe its just carving out something that's more or less unique in my sphere of association, but I'm thinking there's more to it. What I think really appeals is the sense of possibility that came with things that were then new and not completely understood. Now it seems as if we can see the limits of what was once wondrous, or at least we think we can project them. Now we see the algorithms twisting around to increasingly extract more attention and money while returning as little as possible. And they keep finding ways to lower the floor. Before I get sidetracked any further, I'll just refer you to "Enshittification" by Cory Doctorow.
Not that I miss being young. I didn't know squat, thought I did, and missed what I now see as some opportunities. Of course, some of those opportunities could have had consequences I'm glad to have avoided, but that's gotta be true for most everyone. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't change much. Except I wouldn't take everything so freaking seriously. And I'd work on my empathy. And keep my mouth shut some of the time.
Now, TV has definitely gotten better. Firefly, Sherlock, Star Trek Strange New Worlds, all head and shoulders above anything from before 2000. Movies on the whole are better, but my classics (The Godfather, Singing in the Rain, The Blues Brothers) are classics for a reason.
Perhaps I'm just disillusioned and returning to the things that shaped me. Maybe I'm just seeing the old with new eyes. Sixty year old Tom can cringe at the original Star Trek, but I so miss the way it felt to watch it as a kid. When Star Wars came out, it was just a movie. Not a franchise, not a lifestyle, and you didn't have to pick a side.
Maybe things are too connected for me now, and some things are better enjoyed in isolation, rather than seeing social and political implications in *everything*. Maybe young and ignorant is the way to be.
I'm halfway there.
