If humans could have everything, would there still be any point in reminiscing about the past?
In the second season of the American drama "Pantheon", the future humans invented the "upload" technology, and the "new humans" abandoned the physical body and stored their consciousness in hardware. Their computing speed far exceeds that of humans, their creativity and work efficiency are infinitely amplified in the cloud, cancer and rare diseases are conquered one after another, and labor taxes increase the income of the whole people.
However, the "new humans" will still miss the experiences of the "physical humans" in the past, so they will use the "skins" created by technology to return to the real world in physical form to reunite with their families. "Physical people" will also never "upload" themselves because they are unwilling to violate the laws of nature, such as the heroine.
"Nostalgia is a stubborn disease. More lethal than any virus I've designed. The "big boss" in the play believes that this sentiment called "nostalgia" is a sign of inefficiency and hinders human progress. His attempt to use the virus to end human entities and create a digital empire ended in failure.
In human society, "nostalgia" is indeed regarded as a "disease". The term "Nostalgia" is said to have been coined by a Swiss physician and originally referred to the spiritual "homesickness". In 1833, the British Encyclopedia of Practical Medicine recorded that the disease often appeared in soldiers who went overseas to serve, and that patients were "troubled by a strong desire to return home, to their friends, to the scenes of their youth."
Nearly 200 years have passed, and the times are rolling forward, but "nostalgia" is becoming more and more contagious. When you see young girls wearing "big waves" and "hot girl makeup", "migrant workers" crying at the video of "Red Fruit Green Bubbles", and dancing "Love You" shyly for the middle-aged man of the "father", you know that the whole era is "not lightly sick".
This kind of "Internet renaissance" is sometimes regarded by the "older generation" as "not wanting to make progress". Their brows furrowed, their eyes fluttering, "This was not the case in our time......
When faced with the stress and anxiety of reality, each generation fantasizes about living in a "golden age" of the past. In the movie "Midnight in Paris", the male protagonist living in the 21st century travels to the 20s of the 20th century, which is the "golden age" in his mind. And the people there believe that 30 years ago was the real "golden age".
Svetlana Boim says in The Future of Nostalgia: "Nostalgia is a kind of loss and displacement, but it is also a romantic entanglement of the individual with his own imagination. ”
A friend of mine likes "Millennium" and loves Pu Shu and his "I Go to the Year 2000" because she thinks that "literary youth are more popular in those days". And I look forward to the revolutionary era after the May Fourth Movement, because I believe that the troubled times are full of opportunities, and if I can get some revolutionary light, even if I die nameless in the chaos of guns, I will be remembered by future generations.
But assuming that we really return to that yearning era, all kinds of unsatisfactory will become new shackles. Looking at it this way, the Romanticism gene does make human beings indulge in the illusion of "perfection" and unwilling to face the "imperfect" world in front of them.
Living in an era, humanity cannot get the full picture of that era. We can only understand the present by knowing the past, and as the Canadian literary critic McLuhan put it, "we stare in the rearview mirror and go backwards into the future".
This cannot be blamed for the fragility of the spirit of modern people. Technology is evolving so fast that when we realize it, we find that the sense of control over our lives is gradually disappearing. No one can endure a summer without air conditioning and survive a cold and fever without ibuprofen. We don't dare to go out without looking at the mobile phone navigation, we can't eat without the "electronic mustard", we rely on the recommendation algorithm of social software to find love, and we rely on the circle of friends and electronic albums to maintain memory.
So we try to regain a sense of security by being nostalgic for the past. Sociological theories mention that in times of major life transitions, people need to use "nostalgia" to recognize and define themselves. Li Ziqi's video is popular, and behind it is people's yearning for self-sufficient "slow life". The collective nostalgia triggered by old songs and childhood snacks reflects the loss of group belonging behind the rapid iteration of online "hot memes".
Regaining the way you lived in the past can help you better understand the present. In Douban's "anti-technology dependence" group, people keep posting to record how they quit their mobile phones and pick up books. More and more young people are trying to see the "neighborhood", rebuild the "community", find a "partner", visit the vegetable market and the park together, and reunite the isolated individuals in the city.
From this point of view, "nostalgia" is the brake pad of society. While "nostalgia", we reaffirm the human need for emotions, the perception of the fragility of life, and the diversity of values, which can help us foresee the risks brought about by technological development and avoid human society falling into chaos and tearing.
In Da Liu's novel "The Three-Body Problem", in order to survive in an extremely harsh environment, the alien life "Three-Body Man" has formed a metal-like will and created advanced technology far beyond human beings. They have abandoned the pursuit of love and beauty, and they have abandoned respect for the individual. In contrast, human society, which is rich in history and culture, is beautiful and delicate, and seems to be vulnerable in the "dark forest" of the universe. But the persistence of love and humanity allows human civilization to always have a glimmer of life in the face of external attacks.
As we continue to say goodbye to the old era, the beauty in the depths of our memories inspires us to continue to look for the beauty of the future. The beautification of memory is also a kind of self-preservation, as written in "Love in the Time of Cholera", memories will erase the bad and exaggerate the good, only then can we bear the weight of the past.
The heroine of "Pantheon" decides not to "upload" because of an encounter with an iron meteorite. When she put her hand on it, felt the history of the past billions of years, and recalled her short life, regret and pain became less heavy, and the moment of happiness shone brightly.
"Nostalgia" can help us temporarily resist the cruelty of time, but it also reminds us that "those who come can still be chased". In the busy daily life, it is inevitable to get lost at a certain intersection. It is better to rest for a while in the "nostalgic" dream and regain the courage to move forward again.
Source: "China Youth Daily", "Reading Times" Issue 04, 2024
Author: Jiao Jingxian
Editor: Pan Xi
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