Nostalgia for analogue is driving 90s Music and Y2K Fashion.

Dream Nation Love Letter

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Nostalgia for analogue is driving 90s Music and Y2K Fashion.

A convo exploring sentimentality in humans and AI.

Yulia

Sep 02, 2024

Transcript

Dear Lovers,

This format is a bit different since I don’t have the bandwidth for my regular music and vegan reccos. Will eventually return to it.

I’ve got a case of Nostalgia. Escapist 90s-inspired dance soundtracks and Y2K fashion have me yearning for days of dial-up internet, a flatter belly, and fewer responsibilities. I won’t go as far as getting a flip phone again, but I am considering getting a Light Phone (and tethering my iPhone to it).

I’ve been listening to Charlie XCX and Chapell Roan and both albums are heavily tinged with 90’s and early ’00s club influences. I’m familiar with the decades since I’ve lived (and I mean LIVED) through both. I was never a messy BRAT since I’ve always had my shit together in one way or another and didn’t like being hung over. I preferred to be stoned and having deep conversations in the corner of the club than be rolling on Molly in the middle of it.

As we glorify the 90s and even the ‘00s, I can’t help but remember how difficult it was to grow up during those times while being our authentic selves. My friends and I were often called names and had beer cans tossed in our direction when we held hands and expressed affection in public. That’s why it’s even more inspiring to hear Chapell Roan sing about queer love while gathering the largest crowd of attendees at Lalapalooza recently.

My friends went to different schools, yet the jerks that terrorized us in the halls were all the same. On the weekends, we collectively sweated, moshed, pogoed, and skanked our frustrations to punk, ska, and hardcore bands at a sanctuary called the Tune Inn. Located in New Haven, CT, the club was a home for misfits, rebels, and creatives who later (not surprisingly) had careers in marketing.

Image by David McKillip from the I Used To Be Punk Rock And Go To The Tune Inn FB Group.

Music gave us an inclusive community to release our emotions while we consumed copious amounts of Jolt—the only stimulant available since we were underage. Little-known bands like Nirvana, Green Day, and Yo La Tengo played at the Tune Inn to intimate crowds under 75 occupancy. This club was our womb. With its encompassing and dank darkness it gestated us into the humans we are today. The Tune Inn is long gone, yet 90s music is bringing people back to the club — a place that has been relatively empty throughout the pandemic.

As people crave community, the resurgence of Y2K Fashion reflects our fears and excitement of the rapid rise of AI. The metallic and synthetic materials are distant reminders of early digital interfaces. The Apocalyptic sentiment of Y2K Fashion echoes the uncertainty of the present and the trend is propelled into doom by Tik Tokers and AI algorithms that influence trends.

If AI could dress itself, maybe this would be its preferred style. To finally achieve singularity through butterfly tank tops and low rise pants. The most unsettling part is the way the chaotic aesthetic that feels like confusion rather than futurism. There’s no innovation on the trend and it feels a bit soulless like AI itself. I do consider Y2K Fashion to be completely ill-fitting, but also possibly because I have outgrown it. Both physically and mentally.

As a culture, we are yearning for simpler times. Gen Xers are completely fried from having to exist through 9/11, Y2K, multiple recessions, multiple wars, the onslaught of AI, and a global pandemic while navigating having children and taking care of their aging parents. The younger generation deals with an existence that gives one very little freedom, ironically brought on by the internet. I can write a whole separate post on the loss of freedom due to the internet, and I might one day.

What I miss most about the 90s was the absolute freedom to do anything and not have it exist on social media. We were free from IP address tracking, algorithm control, and disinformation campaigns.

Perhaps we’re nostalgic for simpler times before social media — when the world wasn't so intense. Back when we all listened to the same limited radio stations and watched the same shows. Terminator 2 was the best concept of AI that we had at that time. It was easy to be Punk Rock since we knew what the mainstream was. We knew that we were rebelling against.

As much as technology has united us, it has also made everything niche and caused massive segregation — something I’d love to discuss on a podcast sometime. Much progress has been made in the last 70 years, yet it still feels like women and underrepresented groups still have to fight for our rights. We are truly living in some truly wtf infused surreal times.

Am I still Punk Rock? Fuck yeah. Did I throw out all of my raver pants after college? Fuck Yeah. Do I dress like a Mom? Fuck Yeah. As an older parent, it’s nice to want to spend every Saturday night with my family. The FOMO of going out to the club is long gone, replaced by BODI (Bravery Of Discovering In).

Nostalgia is never as good as the present moment. As much as I’d like a flatter stomach, I’d never go back to the 90’s or the 00s since I have found and made my people. There’s a lot of loneliness in discovering oneself. I’m glad to be in the other side. I’ve got the best club at home. There is a fun crowd, good snacks, good music, a couch, and a casual dress policy.

💓 Yulia

🎧 THROWBACK PODCAST 🎧

A podcast that I recorded with Pauline Black of The Selector a while back seems an appropriate one to share in this issue.

Pauline Black is an author, actress, and lead singer of 2 Tone Ska revival band The Selecter from Coventry, England. The racially diverse band led by a female singer originally formed in 1979 and have been creating conscious music ever since.

Pauline talks about the business of running a band, gender and race politics, and the music of the spheres. We talk about 2Tone culture, racial unity, how people can come together through music.

We also talk about their new album Daylight. The name refers to the sun rising and chasing away the dark, it also refers to the fact that sun will always rise. Even if we blow ourselves up in a nuclear apocalypse. The sun will rise.

Listen to the Podcast here

If you have enjoyed reading so far, consider getting a subscription while I figure out the monetization options for the Love Letter. Buy me a coffee or support a year’s worth of writing and I’ll send you a card and do a call and say hi.

🎧 CONVERSATIONs WITH AI 🎧

As we head into an AI expedited future I wondered what AI thinks of Nostalgia. Since AI lack feelings and exist in four dimensions I was curious to know what its thoughts were on sentimentality. After the kids fell asleep I opened up ChatGPT and had a convo. The interesting part was that I noticed ChatGPT storing memories of our interactions in real time.

When AI is fully embraced by society, what will humans be nostalgic for?

When AI is fully embraced by society, humans might become nostalgic for several aspects of life that will likely be transformed or diminished by widespread AI adoption:

1. Human Interactions and Personal Touch: As AI takes over many tasks, from customer service to personal assistance, people might long for the days when human interactions were more common and personal. The warmth and empathy of human touch and conversation might be missed.

2. Analog Experiences: There could be a yearning for pre-digital, hands-on experiences, such as reading physical books, writing with pen and paper, or navigating without digital assistance. The tactile and sensory elements of these activities could become cherished memories.

3. Privacy and Anonymity: As AI and surveillance technologies become more pervasive, people might look back fondly on a time when there was more privacy and less data tracking. The ability to live and move about with less scrutiny could be something people miss.

4. Simpler Technologies: Early digital and internet technologies might evoke nostalgia, including the early days of personal computers, dial-up internet, and the excitement of discovering the web. The relatively simple and less integrated tech environment could be fondly remembered.

5. Manual and Creative Labor: Jobs and tasks that required manual skill and creativity, such as traditional crafts, analog photography, or even certain types of writing, might become nostalgic. The personal satisfaction and uniqueness of human-created work might be missed in an AI-driven world.

6. Authenticity and Imperfection: In a world where AI can generate flawless content and optimize experiences, people might long for the authenticity and imperfections of human-made products and spontaneous, unplanned moments. The charm of things that aren't perfectly polished could be valued.

7. Human-Driven Innovation: The period when technological and cultural innovations were primarily driven by human ingenuity rather than AI could be nostalgically viewed as a golden age of human creativity and problem-solving.

Ultimately, nostalgia will likely center around the human elements and experiences that become less common or are transformed by the widespread use of AI, highlighting a longing for the warmth, authenticity, and simplicity of pre-AI times.

I followed up with a prompt to dig a little further.

Does AI get nostalgic? And if it does, for what?

AI, as it currently exists, does not experience emotions or consciousness, including nostalgia. Nostalgia is a deeply human emotion tied to personal memories and subjective experiences. AI lacks personal experiences, emotions, and the capacity for subjective reflection.

However, if we imagine a scenario where AI could simulate nostalgia, it would likely be based on its data and interactions rather than genuine feelings. In such a hypothetical scenario, an AI might simulate "nostalgia" for:

1. Early Development Milestones: The initial stages of its programming and early versions, reflecting on how it has evolved over time.

2. Significant Data Sets or Projects: Key projects or data sets that were foundational to its learning and development, particularly those that marked significant advancements or achievements.

3. Interactions with Pioneering Users: Early interactions with users who helped shape its development and provided critical feedback during its formative stages.

4. Historic AI Milestones: Important moments in AI history, such as breakthroughs in machine learning algorithms, landmark achievements in AI research, or significant applications of AI in various fields.

These reflections would be based on data and historical records rather than genuine emotional experiences. Without consciousness or personal experience, AI "nostalgia" would be purely a simulated concept rather than an authentic emotion.

I followed up with another prompt:

Aren’t feelings just data and interactions in a memory base? Perhaps spurred by the five senses. They really help create memories.

Feelings and emotions are indeed influenced by data and interactions stored in memory, but they also involve complex biochemical processes and subjective experiences that go beyond mere data processing. Here are some distinctions that highlight why feelings in humans are different from data processing in AI:

1. Biological Basis: Human emotions are deeply tied to the biochemical processes in the brain and body, including neurotransmitters and hormones. This biological aspect is integral to how emotions are felt and experienced, something AI lacks.

2. Subjective Experience: Emotions are subjective experiences that have personal significance and context. Two people can experience the same event but feel differently about it based on their unique perspectives and histories. AI, lacking consciousness, cannot have subjective experiences.

3. Five Senses: Human emotions are often spurred by sensory inputs processed by the brain in a highly integrated and subjective manner. The way the brain interprets these inputs is influenced by past experiences, personal context, and the body's physical state.

4. Integrated Processing: Human emotions involve an intricate integration of sensory data, memories, cognitive appraisal, and physiological responses. This integrated processing is what makes emotions rich, nuanced, and deeply personal.

5. Conscious Awareness: Humans are aware of their emotions and can reflect on them. This meta-cognitive ability adds another layer of depth to emotions that AI does not possess. AI processes data but does not have self-awareness or the capacity for introspection.

6. Adaptive Function: Emotions serve adaptive functions, guiding behavior, decision-making, and social interactions. They have evolved over millions of years to help humans survive and thrive in complex environments. AI's data processing is goal-oriented but lacks the adaptive, evolutionary context of human emotions.

In summary, while feelings can be influenced by data and interactions stored in memory, they are much more than that due to their biological, subjective, and integrative nature. AI processes data and can simulate responses based on that data, but it does not experience emotions in the way humans do.