"A lot of them semi-religiously believe they’ll get to live forever in some abstract super-world where they never pay the cost of being weird at parties." These words <3
I was having these same thoughts about the decline of interest in new videogames. Like you, I was nearly obsessed with the the Gameboy Color, Gamecube, and all the rest of it--though my family wisely discouraged me from spending too much time on these things. Even now, more than two decades later, I can't really feel that bad about it. I felt genuine excitement and satisfaction with these past-times. Good times! This feeling is a lot more muted now, and it's for things that are relatively boring like reading a good essay (like this one) or winning a game of Sushi Go.
I agree that AI seems to be following the same trajectory. I never had fears that it would overtake humanity and transform the world beyond recognition. I do worry that may devastate Gen Z who are coming to rely on it to complete their education, but this is probably because I'm a teacher who cares about this kind of thing.
And yes, us Millennial parents are far less trusting of incorporating so many "smart" products and screens into our households. My kids have none of those things and are growing up far more traditionally that I did. They're innocent, curious, and creative. I recommend this for any parent even it it requires more involvement than they may be comfortable with.
Thought there will be this C.S Lewis quote at the end, fits perfectly:
"If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds."
I think the most disorienting thing about the millennial generation growing up is that we're not nostalgic for a bygone age, or some idyllic social structure. We're nostalgic for the future. We experienced the turn of the millennium, the birth of the Internet, the advent of the personal computer - and before we really became adults, it was shrunk to fit in our pockets. Everything was moving forward, getting better.
And now most of that feeling is gone. There are still some areas where there's real progress (medicine, in particular), but much the progress that was so exciting has not only stalled but feels *worse*.
I wonder if, when we finally take the reigns, we'll try and take actions to rebuild that feeling. Or if we're so disheartened by the last 10 years that we see it as a lost cause.
I wholeheartedly agree, but there are social institutions still caught in "the complex" like universities and governments and if you aren't someone who once "worked in tech" or otherwise then you might not be so lucky to have the house or the things to make beautiful, and that's still a lot of people.
The law of diminishing returns has not yet been repealed.
"A lot of them semi-religiously believe they’ll get to live forever in some abstract super-world where they never pay the cost of being weird at parties." These words <3
As a former believer, I can vouch for that characterization
I was having these same thoughts about the decline of interest in new videogames. Like you, I was nearly obsessed with the the Gameboy Color, Gamecube, and all the rest of it--though my family wisely discouraged me from spending too much time on these things. Even now, more than two decades later, I can't really feel that bad about it. I felt genuine excitement and satisfaction with these past-times. Good times! This feeling is a lot more muted now, and it's for things that are relatively boring like reading a good essay (like this one) or winning a game of Sushi Go.
I agree that AI seems to be following the same trajectory. I never had fears that it would overtake humanity and transform the world beyond recognition. I do worry that may devastate Gen Z who are coming to rely on it to complete their education, but this is probably because I'm a teacher who cares about this kind of thing.
And yes, us Millennial parents are far less trusting of incorporating so many "smart" products and screens into our households. My kids have none of those things and are growing up far more traditionally that I did. They're innocent, curious, and creative. I recommend this for any parent even it it requires more involvement than they may be comfortable with.
Thought there will be this C.S Lewis quote at the end, fits perfectly:
"If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb when it comes find us doing sensible and human things praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts—not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds."
I think the most disorienting thing about the millennial generation growing up is that we're not nostalgic for a bygone age, or some idyllic social structure. We're nostalgic for the future. We experienced the turn of the millennium, the birth of the Internet, the advent of the personal computer - and before we really became adults, it was shrunk to fit in our pockets. Everything was moving forward, getting better.
And now most of that feeling is gone. There are still some areas where there's real progress (medicine, in particular), but much the progress that was so exciting has not only stalled but feels *worse*.
I wonder if, when we finally take the reigns, we'll try and take actions to rebuild that feeling. Or if we're so disheartened by the last 10 years that we see it as a lost cause.
I wholeheartedly agree, but there are social institutions still caught in "the complex" like universities and governments and if you aren't someone who once "worked in tech" or otherwise then you might not be so lucky to have the house or the things to make beautiful, and that's still a lot of people.