'May you live in interesting times.'

[TuckEverlasting]

Do you think we do?

I read a lot of history, and I have a (sometimes silly) tendency to say 'man, I wish I had lived in time X and place Y. That would have been so exciting!'

Do you think our time is interesting? If not, do you think it might get interesting? What do you think? All thoughts are welcome.

[quaist]

I think that's the same thing as music. Some people say, the 70's, 80's,90's (whatever) had such a good a good sound, now it's colorless and boring, and all the same. Robbie Williams said that maybe in ten years we would discover what a great music we had now

People tend to think that the past was better, I don't know why. Sure I sometimes want to live in the victorian England, it would be very amazing, but all those strange tradition... After about two weeks I would want to return to this century. :wink:

[Taran Wanderer]

Do you think we do?

I read a lot of history, and I have a (sometimes silly) tendency to say 'man, I wish I had lived in time X and place Y. That would have been so exciting!'

Do you think our time is interesting? If not, do you think it might get interesting? What do you think? All thoughts are welcome.
I want to live in the 24th century. :smile: There isn't any time in the past I'd really want to live in. Maybe the Middle Ages or the Renaissance, if someone were going to force me into the past. But I might die of something that we could cure today, so I wouldn't be eager to go. I think our times are interesting, especially the international politics, partly because I don't know what will happen next. Moving into the future is like exploring the unknown.

I've read that "interesting" in that saying means bad. But that doesn't matter. It's a good question.

[Raptor]

People tend to think that the past was better, I don't know why.


My guess is that we tend to remember the good things of the past, and forget about troubles and problems that we had at the time.

[David Hayward]

My guess is that we tend to remember the good things of the past, and forget about troubles and problems that we had at the time.I recall that a few years ago someone did some research on when "The good old days" were -- and found that however far back you looked, centuries even, the good old days for whatever date you looked at were always twenty years previous.

'May you live in interesting times' is allegedly not Chinese (http://www.noblenet.org/reference/inter.htm) but possibly Scottish (http://hawk.fab2.albany.edu/sidebar/sidebar.htm). Whatever, it embodies the simple truth, which I (mostly) endorse, that peace and quiet and stability are desirable.

Fetch my pipe and slippers.

[jason]

I think that's the same thing as music. Some people say, the 70's, 80's,90's (whatever) had such a good a good sound, now it's colorless and boring, and all the same. Robbie Williams said that maybe in ten years we would discover what a great music we had now
I suspect the reason you find it with the music is because there is always a lot of complete dross about, but after 20 years, only the good stuff has hung about while the rubbish has sunk to the bottom.

Jason

[mentored1]

Do you think we do?

I read a lot of history, and I have a (sometimes silly) tendency to say 'man, I wish I had lived in time X and place Y. That would have been so exciting!'

Do you think our time is interesting? If not, do you think it might get interesting? What do you think? All thoughts are welcome.

Well met Tuck - good question :thumb:

I'm a history fan too so I know and appreciate your question! :wink:

Sometimes I wonder about this idea and realize that without the ability of memory, whether retaining historical records or movies or just recalling our personal lives, what relevance would history have? It's an amazing gift to able to imagine periods in time that have passed or have not yet arrived.

I certainly agree our time is interesting; though I often wonder if it's only because my life is relevant to this time and not the ones that have passed or yet to arrive. :shrug: Nonetheless I think things are moving faster than they have to this point and that makes it interesting.

When things reach a critical mass there is an inevitable turning point. At some point we're going to face this - and soon. There is so much baggage from our past because we have accelerated our technology and civilization at an exponential rate in the past century: that, methinks, is uncanny when viewing the progress of human civilization.

The past is in conflict with the present on so many levels. The critical mass is when our past - both biological and sociological - can no longer co-exist with the future. There is a lot of tension and uncertainty now - granted there always has been but the speed of transportation, communication, warfare, and other modes of technology has accelerated the spread of this tension and uncertainty. It will reach a level of saturation that will transform humanity into something new or it will crack and disintegrate. Which one? :shrug:

Take care

[TuckEverlasting]

Wow, I didn't even expect anyone to reply to this thread, 'cause it's sort of unusual and I was in a weird mood when I wrote it.

'May you live in interesting times' is allegedly not Chinese (http://www.noblenet.org/reference/inter.htm) but possibly Scottish (http://hawk.fab2.albany.edu/sidebar/sidebar.htm). Whatever, it embodies the simple truth, which I (mostly) endorse, that peace and quiet and stability are desirable.
I've read that "interesting" in that saying means bad.

Wow, and here I was thinking it meant 'may you live in exciting times' because boring times are, well... boring. :doh: Oh well... that's still the way I choose to take it. :hehe:

My guess is that we tend to remember the good things of the past, and forget about troubles and problems that we had at the time.

Definitely. I find it weird (and ironic) that whether we are remembering a past event or longing for a future event, what we remember or imagine about a thing is often better than the thing itself was or will be.

Take care

You too. Thanks for your input. :smile:

[SuzieQue]

My guess is that we tend to remember the good things of the past, and forget about troubles and problems that we had at the time.
To some degree that may be true, however if you are young it's best to enjoy it while you're there. :smile: