For example, buildings and houses more than a hundred years old keep getting more and more rare, and often have an aesthetic that stands out, more ornate or with a particular style that most people can’t afford today or that is not financially convenient etc. But back in the day, that’s how things were built and most people didn’t put much thought into it.
Another example, illustrations for advertisements ( either billboards or magazines). Up until the 60s (declining from the 70s onwards) a lot of ads had hand drawn illustrations, which required a lot of skill and talent to make. Yet people took them for granted, it was the standard quality of illustration for ads.
So the question is, are we currently mass producing something that will be seen in a similar light in a couple of generations? Thoughts?
The relatively low level of plastic in our testicles
laughs in woman
No worries, microplastics are equal opportunity! You can find microplastics at any of your local ovaries today!
Also, now introducing kids microplastics! Don’t want to wait for your microplastics? Simply be born in the current era and we’ll send you kids microplastics absolutely free! That’s a $60 value, absolutely free! Other companies might trick you into buying fast by making that a limited time offer, but we know you’ll love microplastics so much that this is a forever offer!
Microplastics- we’re already inside you!
We’re already seeing this one now: physical media
True, there is a lot going into box art for music and videogames which we don’t get when purchasing digital
- Good Emails/articles/publications that do not use AI atvall.
- If AI regulations stop the NSFW side of AI, then those.
- LAN multiplayer games.
Minimilitia, SuperTuxkart(Haven’t checked the LAN part, but 2 players can use the same keyboard to play the game, at the same time)
Good e-mails in general! People have forgotten (over never learned) how to properly write and answer mails.
Already feel terrible seeing how this comment misses retro and Arcade games with 2/3 player option offline, or LAN games like CS1.6 or NFS Most Wanted 2005. You kids are from Mini Militia era.
I think musical instruments could definitely be one of them. Yes there are many that are mass-produced and pretty utilitarian, but honestly that’s fine, that’s a way for people to access the artform that they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. That’s a great thing. And the stuff that’s not mass-produced? Damn there is some real love and skill put into a lot of it
Shoutout to the Sythstrom Deluge.
Open source. Battery is easily replaced, it’s an 18650. Packed with features and since it’s gone open source the updates have really ramped up.
You know it’s getting good updates when there’s 45 minute videos scratching the surface of what’s new in the beta.
Vintage clarinets can be very beautiful, but modern more standardized clarinets are also often beautiful (I’m quite partial to a lot of the Backun designs, but I have an old Selmer I really like too)
I can’t think of any instruments that aren’t made as “beautiful” as before. The only differences are that modern ones are just made… better, like way better. A $200-400 guitar now surpasses the quality of a guitar costing thousands of dollars from a few decades ago, and there’s way more diversity in the designs.
That being said, I don’t see what the point of musical instruments that aren’t “utilitarian” would be. It’s not a sculpture, it exists to make sound, there’s no reason for an instrument that sacrifices sound or design quality to have fancy aesthetics, unless it’s for a movie/play or something and the sound doesn’t actually matter.
While I agree that instruments should generally aim for sound and ergonomics over appearance, those things don’t always have to clash with each other. To take Selmer clarinets as an example, since you said you liked them, it’s normal for the keys and posts to have a highly-polished silver appearance, but you can get the signature model with matte black keys and posts if you want. That’s a totally visual choice that won’t change anything else, but it makes for a really distinctive-looking clarinet. Same goes for all the decorative inlays in the wood.
Besides that, though, I don’t necessarily mean the visual appearance of the instrument. Check out the synth that the other reply to me linked. It barely has any concessions to aesthetics at all, but someone has clearly experimented with ways to get a highly-personalisable playing experience. My dad and I are both guitarists, but we set our instruments up for totally different sounds because people experimented with stuff and we got to follow in their footsteps to pick what we subjectively liked best - the clear treble sound of thin roundwound strings for him, the rich warmth of thick flatwounds for me. Those are also things that came about because someone, at some point, had the curiosity and ability to just try it out and see what it sounded like, and I love that we get to enjoy the fruits of so many of these experiments now.
I can see your point, I’ve known people into instrument craft and repair and it truly is an art. Even if niche, I think it’s valid as an answer
Contemporary cars are mass-produced and have impractically many special and unrepairable parts. They’re a real patchwork of different technologies that will become obsolete when switching to other fuel sources.
Also stamps and cash. Intricate prints meant to dissuade counterfeiting, which will be replaced by digital technology.
My wife is a facilitator at a stamp collector club for kids. According to her, we’re already at the stage where stamps are a historical artefact and some people get surprised when they’re reminded that they have a purpose.
Besides proving that postage was paid, stamps also used to function as legal tender, at least where I live. I remember posting stamps as payments of small amounts instead of writing a tiny cheque or requesting bank details.That’s not the case any more. Even the post office can reject to buy back of stamps now, so they don’t function that way anymore.
I like this answer. Currency in particular is a really good candidate.
This is so hard to answer because so many of these things you don’t miss it until it’s gone. I’m going to say physical keyboards. Like, not that physical keyboards will disappear entirely, but I think they will continue to get much, much less common. I think a lot of people will miss the tactile advantage of a good keyboard, though.
One thing I think we’re in for a rebound on is how we deal with batteries. Currently, the paradigm for many devices is that manufacturers put a rechargeable battery in and that’s it. When the battery wears down or breaks, the device is done too. This can’t go on forever. It’s creating too much e-waste, expense, and pollution.
I think the deal that customers are getting from streaming services is probably too good to last, in general. It’s already starting to degrade, with companies all going to start their own streaming platforms with smaller and smaller catalogs. You have to really plan for what you want to see. The rise of exclusive shows really damaged things. Vertical integration like that hurts competition.
Agreed with the keyboards. They’ll probably become a tool specifc for certain professions only.
I see your point with the battery, but I’m not sure if I’m getting it completely. I also agree, it’s wasteful and not environmentally responsible. But by the time a battery needs replacing, the device is obsolete not because it’s worn out but because it’s obsolete, there are much more powerful models our in the market which can handle the much more demanding software. I guess what I’m trying to say it that batteries are far from being the only problem in that whole situation.
I wonder if streaming services will be herded back together in the future. TV is a relatively new thing, and I wonder if what we are seeing is the beginning of a pattern. Perhaps some sort of third party that curates content from several competitors.
The battery issue isn’t just in devices that go obsolete. It is also in devices like bike lights where the original functionality never changes. And even in devices like a smartphone, phone battery life often drops off far before the useful life ends.
Yes, that’s what I’m getting at, the useful life of the device isn’t over but for most people is more convenient to just replace it.
Houseplants. I feel like they are slowly disappearing. My grandma has plants in nearly every window, but us younger folk would rather have a Displate with a picture if a plant instead if an actual plant.
Ours are getting so out of hand that they are starting to encroach on the TV but I’m not even mad. TV looks better when viewed through a jungle anyway xD
Our outdoor plant game is much weaker though, I feed all the neighbourhood birds and the pigeons love to get into the outside plant pots and wreck out shit!
My first temptation was to say that it might be an age thing, but then I know many people my age who still don’t care about plants.
For me, it’s like a switch flipped one day. When I was younger, I just didn’t really care, and the few times I was given a plant, it did not end well. Figured that I just had a brown thumb.
But, maybe 10-some-odd years ago, I got a peace lily, and, by then, something had changed. I wanted to see this plant thrive, and it brought me just a little bit of satisfaction to see it doing well. It doesn’t hurt that peace lilies will tell you when they need watered, and, as such are pretty easy to keep.
I’m still not the best plant dad, but I’d since gone on to buy about a dozen more and appreciate the bit of greenery around the house.
I haven’t noticed a decrease in houseplants in my circles. I really hope they don’t disappear
The sky, mostly open and noiseless, without drones.
Remember how quiet it was outside after 9/11? And the first time you saw a plane after that?
Do people in cities have planes circling them 24/7 or something? I see like a few planes every month maybe and I live not far from a city with an international airport.
I live within 20 miles of a big airport, a smaller commercial airport, and a small (mostly private and corporate) airport. We used to live in line with the runway of the small airport and I insisted to my husband that the lights were dimming every time a plane went over. It was just a shadow. Daily you don’t really notice it unless you’re doing something outside that’s quiet, but when it was gone, it was shocking how much we noticed the absence.
I think this was common to any era before though and I took the OP as something unique to this era. I mean we still have some nature and oxygen levels are decent to.
Sunbathing mornings, cycling/jogging in fresh air, sitting bored happily
Obligatory mention for durable and long lasting products/items and purely mechanical items
Non AI videos/photos/media content organically made with human creativity
I will enjoy those till I die.
I remember when the ability to make AI images based on prompts first became available to the masses. I had tonnes of fun making cool images. Now it feels like those sidewalk vendors with the spray paint galaxy images they do.
They’ve lost whatever it was that made them look special. And now the more absurd and glowing an image is, I don’t marvel at its other worldly nature or the imagination behind its creator. The ‘prettier’ the image is, the more likely it is AI. They all look the same.
It’s so refreshing to see real drawings and photography and paintings, done by hand.
maybe a little late for “currently” but somebody will probably be into the bendy tube aesthetic of compact fluorescent bulbs
Desktop computers. I know more people that don’t have access to a full computer now than I did as a kid, with smart phones filling most of that niche for people.
I miss them though, easy to maintinace, upgrade and tinker with. I love listening to old heads talk about early computing too where you were expected to really program for the hardware too.
Old websites or services you just ran at home like email, bultin boards, mumble, etc.
Cars you could work on at home. EVs ironically represent a potential to return us to that time because the extreme tolerances to make high mpg ICE just isn’t there, but most manufactures seem intent to add complexity and black box controllers to prevent that.
This whole " companies now own your vehicle more than you" worries me honestly. I look forward to see EV jailbreaking and DIY repairs flourish even more than phones.
Me too. I mean heck I built an EV in highschool as part of a class (a barely road legal one seated but still). They really do represent an opportunity for BETTER right to repair and home mods.
I see a lot of electronics becoming the same form of a black rectangle. I think the design of older electronics will be cherished.
I think probably yes; there are lovely housewares and glassware being made now, bottles for wines and liquors are not standard and some are really pretty, also a lot of the kitchen appliances currently have pretty nice design.
Nothing, honestly. Our water and air will be so polluted that it won’t matter; and even if it did, we don’t create beauty in this age. Our mode of production just cranks out mass-produced, plastic-riddled crap that was built to be intentionally obsolete within 5 years to keep the populace endlessly, sans-principle consuming.
my thought but I came to see if anyone had something because I can’t think of any.
Actual happiness, whatever that is.
