Courtesy of Brian Wertheim

It’s an understatement to say that times have changed. But this is not just to say that a passage of time has taken place or that certain things have disappeared. How we take photos, how we consume the news, how we contact our loved ones and how we measure our worth as humans have all undergone a fundamental shift. We have access to everything but own nothing. Our music, our houses, and our accounts are all temporary. But the internet is forever…at least until the bombs come.

Now everything is recorded, stored, and created. Because dead internet theory suggests that the amount of AI generated content will soon overtake human-created content, we are becoming weighed down by that which is behind us. There is simply too much to hear, to see, to consume and to understand. We have become a backward-looking people.

It’s not anything new to talk about how people today are enraptured with 90s and early 2000s vibes. This doesn’t just apply to clothing styles, music, and television dramas. It also shows how young people today have a largely backward-facing mindset. Psychologically, a lot of them choose to live in the past. It’s safe. Warm. Inhabited by knowable results and doesn’t contain any uncertainty. The future, meanwhile, is largely seen negatively. There’s nothing there but likely destruction and worsening political and economic conditions.

Think about ten years in the future from a young person’s perspective? Will it be easier to buy a house? Will it be cheaper to buy a cup of coffee? Will our political leaders be of a better class? Will companies have forgone greed and made genuine efforts to live with the planet? Not very likely.........

© The Korea Times