The Nostalgia Machine (or; Grow Up, America)
DISCLAIMER: I loathe hasty generalizations about my generation, so by no means do I aim to do the same thing here to another. It would be unfair and against my principles. I am well aware that it is simply impossible for all people between the ages of forty and eighty to share the exact same values, interests, and concerns. If you take any of the following statements personally, ask yourself why.
While watching the internet is eating itself's latest video, I saw a comment that intrigued me, from user @flavioagostini153:
"Boomers be telling you 'ya know in the good ol times we had the best music' while blasting AI music full volume"
Mx. 153's observation is undeniably funny, but it got me thinking about this pattern that I've observed, too; and I've come to the conclusion that these two things are not necessarily antithetical to one another. As a matter of fact, as evidenced by this other video from the internet is eating itself about AI-generated nostalgia-bait, I will go as far as to say masturbatory nostalgia and poorly-made AI slop go hand-in-hand. I enjoyed both these videos and highly recommend the internet is eating itself if you're interested in these subjects; but I was a little underwhelmed with Mr. eating itself's analysis on what the AI nostalgia trend in particular says about contemporary social attitudes.
This piece, like all my pieces, is an effort to fill a gap in the literature.
The Baby Boomer and Gen-Xer fascination with AI slop cannot merely be attributed to gullibility. Many of them know the images and sounds that so intrigue them are, in fact, churned out by machines. They may not know precisely how these machines work, but they know of the machines; as a matter of fact, many go out of their way to use them. I think Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers are so compelled by generative AI because it appeals to one of our country's greatest vices: nostalgia. At a 1993 book signing, it was Harlan Ellison—a personal problematic fav of mine—who said, "We live in a culture that reveres youth. It reveres youth because that's where the money is … it is a disease." Is it any wonder that a demographic incapable of moving past the decades in which they graduated high school would gravitate toward a machine whose sole purpose is to chew up preexisting material and spit out a baby-food version of it, hyperpalatable and incapable of biting back? Are we at all surprised that the industry moguls who sincerely believe there will never be another singer like Bob Dylan or another actor like James Dean prefer to attempt technological necromancy rather than giving new artists a chance, as if their favorites weren't themselves youth icons?
Can we pretend to be shocked about the environmental, artistic, and social costs of generative AI, when its core demographic consists of people who are apparently more comfortable with clinging to a narrative of cultural decline than they are with trying something, anything, anyone new?
Could this be accelerationism in motion?
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