ITT: we are nostalgic for today

[Punp]

Post warped nostalgia from the future. What will people think about life today 20 years from now? What about 1000 years from now?

This is 50% grateful posting and 50% dystopian future comedy posting.

 

[Punp]

I wish we could go back to the days when Agora Road was good when we had quality users like @Vitnira , @VaporwaveHistorian, @McGovern '72!, and @big_ping07. Back when we had respectful discourse with people like @Ross_Я and nice users like @MySpace Tom .

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Damn remember when water actually used to taste good?

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Back then people used to have casual sex all the time. Why else would they have so many apps for casual hookups? It was just a better time for sex.

 

[Ardea]

People a generation or two below us might romanticize the 2020's as some cool era due to the "pandemic" and the apparent political unrest. They'll be too young to realize that the pandemic was a larp and too propagandized to realize that the majority of "political unrest" was state sanctioned/sponsored agitators like BLM or Antifa. It'll be hard for them to grasp because I'm currently living in this era and still can't fully come to terms with how retarded and yet somehow still boring our current state of affairs is.

However if the current trajectory goes uninterrupted, we too might romanticize the 2020's as being a time when we had far greater freedoms and privacy. A time when you didn't have to be microchipped to travel or go to the store. A time when you could own your own vehicle. A time when there were trees. I'm being deliberately dramatic but honestly the way things look now I wouldn't be surprised if that's where we end up.

 

[Some_porcupine]

remember when we were on web all the time? those kids had it good

remember when ads werent in our cortexes?

remember when radio wasnt mandatory, i heard phones werent too? blasphemy!

remember when people had pinky fingers on feet? crazy

do you remember how citypop was rejuvenilated in like 2019? i think it started with "pvc romance" do you remember!!?

can you imagine people in the past didnt had mandatory gov gfs? i heard thats when there were no kids! but we cant blame them - sure, theyd thought the same about something be will find utterly bizzare in future, we or them cant even imagine! same for so many eons...

remember chest hair?

remember people with glasses?

remember when burger was 10$? golden times... also, i heaaaaaard, it used to be $1... how!

remember when we had to remember things? i cant...

remember phones? not like now when we have ...

remember google or youtube? goofy ass abnation companies!

remember when we didnt CRISP the smelly armpits away? crazy, they sure were WET...

i heard plants used to be green and take CO2 away, not like now when they melt your hands... or i heard, they were not able to fly back then, crazy!

damn, how they could LIVE without teleports!

remember when you had to give away blood, to other, unknown people? weird feeling, brrr.... that we now have synthetic... no, bad word, i mean, synthetized one....!

have you ever saw lean person, or person under ft6?

remember when gays were persecuted? if they people then knew what we have now....

ardea said, i will add it up:
remember when they got this mini era, like year-2, when they were happier because they had it worse? i mean, corona, like... they dont give a shit nowadays as if, but maybe it was nice - not like now when WFH is like now, unbearable, could say, worse than to be at place...!? / also! remember when could buy things, ONCE? god, these XAAS... in or so 2007, you could buy PC with all set for 40k Sk, also Photoshop, with MS Office same! neat...

 

[Tech64]

I remember when people gave a crap about old electronics. Those people where CRAAZY!!

I remeber the days when humans existed. Such an interesting species, all extinguished by (insert fate of humans here)

 

[Noxy]

Amidst a starry night, Unga sits alone, until Bunga aproaches with a smile. "Do you know what the internet is?" he asks, the word stumbling out of his tongue.

Unga, puzzled, shakes his head. "No."
Bunga grabbed his arm "Let's ask Grandfather Rob, he knows many tales."

Together, they venture to their grandfather's hut, where Robby, with wrinkles mapping stories onto his face, sits by the fire.

"Grandfather," Bunga starts, "we want to know about the internet."

Rob chuckles, a sound like dry leaves being shuffled. "Ah, the internet,", his eyes twinkle. "Imagine a magic box, not one you can touch, but one that connects all minds. Through it, people could speak, share tales, and see each other without traveling."

"Like sending thoughts through the air?" Unga asks, wide-eyed.

"Yes, exactly," Rob nods. "It was a web of minds, connecting everyone, everywhere, like a vast, invisible net."

Unga leans forward. "But Grandfather, what could people do with this 'internet'?"

"Oh, many things. They could learn about far-off lands without leaving their home, talk to a friend on the other side of the world as if they were sitting right beside them, and even watch stories unfold on screens."

"Could they see the stars and the depths of the ocean too?"

"Yes, my boy, they could explore the stars and the sea, all from this magical box. It was a portal to endless knowledge and wonders." Robby explains, gesturing with his hands as if drawing the vast network in the air.

As the fire crackles, Unga and Bunga sit in awe, trying to grasp the concept of such a world. After a moment of silent wonder, they step outside, their minds racing with thoughts of this invisible magic.

With sticks in hand, they draw lines in the dirt, pretending to connect them like the intricate web Rob described. Picking up stones, they imagine sending thoughts to each other, laughing as they mimic talking into the stones.

"Look, Bunga, I'm sending you a vision of a great beast!" Unga exclaims, holding up a stone.

"And I'm telling you about the stars!" Bunga responds, his stone held high.

They could only wonder about this world, vastly different from their own.

 

[Ashman]

The wheel turns and all I can do is laugh.
And now for the play:

"Shanee you knew in da 2000s you could view image in device without dat connection shiet" Amul communicated to Shanee via the brain chip wireless communicator while both were consuming 5 videos per second
"Na man dat shiet sounds weird hella How could them use AI to make more than" Shanee responeded to Amul, both watching atleast 5 seconds of 5 videos per second.
"Wonder dat as well really strange shiet man" Amul respondes.
"Heard about da drama" Shanee immediately cuts him as the conversation was getting boring.
Amul and Shanee then go and talk about some recent drama or something like that. No point in telling the details due to it being trivial.

In order to induce a play more accurate to my vision Amul's and Shanee's speech should be more ebonic-like.
Pretty lazy assumption. Only a continuation of the current trends.

 

[Vitnira]

We're on a "NeoCord" server (most people use neuralink networks now - typing on discord is sooooo last decade) where we post slowed-down reverbed tiktok dances, the album art being AI-generated corporate memphis.

You see the way they made humans so many colors? And those proportions? Art really had SOUL back then you know??? And the MUSIC!!! Corporations made it, not just AI!!

 

[big_ping07]

i miss the good ol' days of agora when everyone always talked about the good ol' days of agora instead of being the change they want to see. the early days of the implementation of @manpaint's evil 181 rule. when all newusers were collectively called stupid idiots by even stupider idiots.

i jest, of course! i love the road as it is right now. i know i'll be looking back at this oasis with fondness. back when lurkers could read my emotional breakdowns on a thursday night. back when users i'm lowkey scared of got into shit throwing arguments in the forums while i larped in chat with @COCKPIT BLUNTSMOKER about our imaginary homunculi children while @GENOSAD, @SpheralBloom, and @llillilll made out in the corner (with @silktrader straight jorking it in the other corner). back when i got to befriend people with incredible taste: @abraKadabra sharing his collection of 60's jams, @Jodo_Fan sharing his current rotation of eclectic tunes from around the world, @Steel Woolរោមចៀមដែក debuting umsagi-chan in my dms, bluntsmoker giving me delicious hip-hop recs until i had my fill, @Punp with his good eye for literally everything visual motivating me to return to my lost hobbies, and geno (again) sharing his collection of written works for me to read on my morning commute. back when i used to scroll through everyone's cool websites to see what they were all about. eventually inspiring me enough to create my own site with the help and motivation of @shrapnelnet. back when @SomaSpice's silly, smiling pfp would greet me in my notifs every time he reacted to my comments when i wasn't in a good mood. back when @VaporwaveHistorian would post positivity in random comment threads at times i really needed to see it. all while the nightwave plaza played smooth grooves in my ears, reminding me that i'm finally home after a long day of being a part of this big big world.
i can only assume that my life will get busier from here. as responsibilities pile on, i'll be less and less able to frequent this second home.

for now, i'm nostalgic for today. thank you to all the kind (and not so kind) souls i've met on the road! if anything, every user on the road stays so true to their brand. dumping their charisma here that they may not be able to show irl. i hope this place will be around way after i've digitally retired from this space (though i doubt this will happen any time soon because i was diagnosed with chronic i love being online syndrome). the internet stopped being a major part of my life around 2015 because i didn't like the changes i was seeing. i preferred my fleshrealm far more. but i must say, it's so ridiculously nice having this be my return to the net.

i may not have @-ed you, but just know i see you and i love you.

i'm so glad i found the agora road! <3

 

[GENOSAD]

You guys remember when we used to post on forums like Agora Road instead of just going to >reddit as a one-size-fits-all discussion compound? When we had IRCs like Zalaz's, or ones embedded in the forums instead of being a part of 500 unused Discord servers? It was pretty neat back then, powering on an actual computer with a keyboard, mouse, and speakers instead of just scrolling constantly through your phone and skimming over articles that nobody could really care about.
Good days. Maybe we should try going back to them?

 

[llillilll]

You guys rember when you could just buy a domain, a vps and just... have a website? We can't have that now, i used to even have my own website. I miss just shouting my thoughts into a website, even if noone read it. You could test any network related technology ever and noone wouldn't do anything about it since encryption was still legal and you could just buy routers back then.
"ironic flirting" was a real thing that happened on IRC and chats since they were encrypted too yet it still was legal to have social interactions and intimacy.

 

[Chuffed]

Anyone here care about the 1970's? Me neither, and 2020's are shaping up to get the same treatment.

 

[big_ping07]

i'm so glad i found the agora road! <3

damn i really tagged everyone so they would reply. maybe the forum is decreasing in quality. maybe @Punp was right. jk, that would never happen ;]
i did my 50% grateful post. now for my 50% dystopic post. more like 10% because if i go any further i'll become ill.

once had a daydream i was explaining to the grandbebbies what a VHS is. not because they are too young to know what that is, but because the state burned all the VHS tapes. i had to "draw" it by memory. "| [o]=[o] |" is what i typed because my grandbebbies were text-based!

 

[silktrader]

you guys ever sit there and be so grateful for how you have water? feel it going down your throat after a long workout. press an ice cold bottle to your head after spending hours out on a hot day. i love water so much bros. sometimes ill look at old screenshots of rivers and lakes before they dried up. or gifs of rain back when they werent a yellow-green color. or how fruit juices and soda only used to be 7$ a piece. some of the older people i talked to also said that water back then didnt have that weird slightly acidic taste to it. cant really imagine it.

i just love water, man.

 

[MySpace Tom]

People used to live in divided territories called "countries" a thousand years ago. They formed somewhat naturally based on the demographics of the peoples that populated any given region of the globe. Granted, some groups held this concept of having a country more tightly than others who didn't really conceptualize it. And who could blame them? Here's how it worked:

Cartographers were hired by rulers to chart masses of land. Then the rulers would somewhat arbitrarily draw on those charts what they deemed to be their domain. This formed the first maps. The rulers expanded their military forces and formed bigger governments on these territories. As they grew, they drew wider shapes and thicker lines on their maps. It got to be so intense that people would actually fight one another and willingly die just to change how the lines were drawn

Thankfully physical warfare has been obsolete for centuries now. And of course, back then, there were fewer people. And I mean, way fewer. The planet's population was merely 11 digits! That was before the Consolidation...

 

[Punp]

[internet unga bunga]

This is worthy of the zine. Please consider posting it there. Wonderful.

[heartfelt gushing]

What a lovely post ping! It sounds like you've really settled in.

 

[VaporwaveHistorian]

Thank you @big_ping07 and @Punp for the kind words. You are nice people. People are so nice here. I appreciate you all.

When I think about today's nostalgic things, I think about politics. My motherland is in such a period that the leading dictatorish party is in its failing stage. It's like finally being able to breathe and I'm having too much fun with each "bad" news about their failing, lol. I'm keeping a diary for future me and future historians to use as a primary source. Things like "Today, x happened. We know the party is failing. I hope tomorrow is gentle for you. I hope you know that we are so delighted about this. For freer days."

As for these days, I'm already nostalgic for visiting the same museum for the 8th time and waving at the statues. I'm nostalgic for winter-spring, cool breeze and warm sun. Milk and vending machine cookies for breakfast or dinner. Getting worried about little news every now and then. Little misfortunes that seem big but die out quickly. Humans are strong beings. So resilient.

Sometimes I do things I used to do, so I can feel like I'm back in those days. I go back to the half-written stories I never got to finish, reading them again. Writing more. Reading the same authors in the metro. Eating the same things, watching the TV channels only my grandmother loves to watch, etc. etc. I have bad memory issues. I couldn't register the last half a year except for just the music I've listened to. Music helps me remember. I remember going downtown and buying lemon soda in the rain and listening to certain obscure songs about places in another continent. It felt nice. I remember going to an Eastern religious festival and meeting kind people. I remember drawing a lot, also writing random stories for Agora's e-zine. People were kind to me here.

People are still very kind. I like seeing you folks. The hardest part about being a historian is that you keep thinking about how things end. I've known very kind people who had died thousands of years before I was born. The easy thing is that they are already gone, I don't have to fear loss. It's just that I miss them. But looking at today, I look at my family and you friends, and fear loss.

I meet more of you folks. You are kind to me. It's a nice feeling. The best part about not getting involved with conflict is that you can live like a happy little mouse talking to all the flowers. There's a lot to see, lot to experience, lot to talk about. Cheers!

 

[Jodo_Fan]

Yikes. This thread is an eye opener. I'm more pessimistic than the average Agoran.

 

[LiraTirsoCaduceo]

Man, remember how back in the day people used to have jobs? You could even choose where to work at! Imagine how crazy it would've been to be able to work at Walmart or at McDonnalds, if you worked long enough you could even rent your own bedroom instead of the UN mandated ones.
Sometimes I skip my alotted rations and use the credits to buy old memorabilia.
This pin was given to people who cleaned really well at McDonnalds, crazy right? People would actually get badges depending on how good they were at their job, this was a time before distinctions were banned.
It was well worth the week long fasting!

Posted from a computer in accordance with Microsoft's statute.

 

[Sketch Relics]

Aw man, remember these short types of animation that got posted to youtube before it died?


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpSh31eE9hs


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDI3p1hIvdE


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2Yxvp96Z4g


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6VI9YCr9Iw


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FHsk_k8zgU


Good times

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There is a good chance this timeframe (2018-2027 ish if I had to take a guess) will be skipped over the nostalgia tripping train like most of the 70's seems to have been and even if it does get a revisit, it's probably going to focus on what few good things came out independently from the bulk of the period, like these silly animation stuff.