It really is. My great-grandfather was born in 1898 and died in 1999. He almost lived in three different centuries. He rode a horse and buggy in his youth and played Windows Solitaire in his later years.
At my buddy’s great grandmother’s funeral they said “She was born century before last”. I don’t remember the years but it would have been similar to yours.
Same for my Great-Grandfather, but it was much more than that when I look at his life.
Went from horse and buggies and steam trains, lived through 2 world wars, saw rural electrification - 1930s for him - bring lights and washing machines and telephones, survived his own pandemic - Spanish Flu 1918-1919, saw the invention of automobiles, radios, and TVs, heavier than air flight, the Great Depression, the beginnings of the digital world, and watched the Moon Landings with me sitting in his favorite chair in our living room.
When he died, no one really knew how old he was - there was no official record of his birth certificate since he was born at home in a very rural area. While I’m old myself now and have seen some few changes, I cannot fathom the sheer number of societal upheavals and disruptions he went through every decade of his life.
Well, let’s see. Depending on your age, you were alive when JFK was assassinated. You watched the moon landing. You were alive during the Vietnam War. You remember 9/11, the Great Recession, and the spread of Facebook. You were alive when America elected its first Black president. You witnessed the explosion of technology, namely, smart phones. You’ve driven on roads alongside self-driving electric vehicles. You survived an international pandemic. You have access to the largest library of human knowledge to ever exist. If you’d like to, you can have a decent conversation with something pretending to be human.
I’d say you’ve lived through a decent chunk of history as well.
Everyone lives through history. But few live to see so many wrenching changes as his generation did. The best I can say I lived through was the beginning of the internet and the inter-connection of every person on the planet.
It’s kind of a sad way to live. Your family is mostly dead and all your friends are gone. And the world isn’t what you knew anymore. So you just sit there and wait to die yourself.
Yea I see what you mean, I only really have my siblings, fiancee and mother that I care about so I’m not worried about extended family. I have a handful of great friends but I’m perfectly content with being alone, I often go solo camping to get away from things. I’ve long since made peace with what my dream entails if I ever were to live that long.
Being content with being alone isn’t quite the same thing as knowing the world you lived in is gone and you are all that’s left. And all that you have left is dying.
I remember on New Years Eve 1999 the local newspaper ran an article that was interviewing people who’d been alive for the last turn of the century and comparing the two New Years’ celebrations. In hindsight I wish 10 year old me had had the presence of mind to save it, it was pretty neat.
I have a recording of interviews I did with all my living grandparents for a school project when I was a kid. One thing that stood out was the level of abject poverty they experienced. They were teenagers during the great depression and it definitely had a major impact on all of them.
Would you be willing to digitize that recording and upload it to the Internet Archive for preservation? You certainly don’t have to add the link here, but I believe it would be a wonderful thing for the next generations to watch one day.
I love watching old restored footage so I can vicariously experience that moment in time and reflect on how far humanity has progressed.
I love this idea! I have videos of my grandparents where my dad interviews them about their lives. And then one of my dad when we interviewed him about his life after he was diagnosed with cancer. Can’t really bear to watch that one but some day I should save them online somewhere. I like the idea of them being part of an archive and part of searchable history fo future generations
I think it’s a noble thing to preserve these digital recordings. It’s tough, because they’re the individual person’s memories. But long after we’re dead and our names and lives are forgotten, it would be an important artifact for our future generations to have access to.
Now I’m thinking about all the old VHS tapes my parents have. If they haven’t already degraded, I’m going to ask for those tapes and see what it costs to digitize them myself.
Wow. I played Windows Solitaire when I was in primary school. Even if I don’t make it there I wonder how different the world will be 99 years after my birth.
At this rate, probably playing the last working copy of windows solitaire. It has to be run on a system cobbled together using 73 year old black market parts to hide the copy from our corporate overloards, otherwise risk the auto detect sytetem to disable the computer and send the police robots to your door.
It really is. My great-grandfather was born in 1898 and died in 1999. He almost lived in three different centuries. He rode a horse and buggy in his youth and played Windows Solitaire in his later years.
Ha! My great grandma beat yours! She was born in 1898 and died in 2002!
That’s a weird flex, but you made me laugh.
I doubt they flex much anymore but hey a laugh is a laugh.
Ah! Rigor mortis joke
I thought it was an arthritis joke, but either way I think it’s a little stiff
At my buddy’s great grandmother’s funeral they said “She was born century before last”. I don’t remember the years but it would have been similar to yours.
Same for my Great-Grandfather, but it was much more than that when I look at his life.
Went from horse and buggies and steam trains, lived through 2 world wars, saw rural electrification - 1930s for him - bring lights and washing machines and telephones, survived his own pandemic - Spanish Flu 1918-1919, saw the invention of automobiles, radios, and TVs, heavier than air flight, the Great Depression, the beginnings of the digital world, and watched the Moon Landings with me sitting in his favorite chair in our living room.
When he died, no one really knew how old he was - there was no official record of his birth certificate since he was born at home in a very rural area. While I’m old myself now and have seen some few changes, I cannot fathom the sheer number of societal upheavals and disruptions he went through every decade of his life.
Well, let’s see. Depending on your age, you were alive when JFK was assassinated. You watched the moon landing. You were alive during the Vietnam War. You remember 9/11, the Great Recession, and the spread of Facebook. You were alive when America elected its first Black president. You witnessed the explosion of technology, namely, smart phones. You’ve driven on roads alongside self-driving electric vehicles. You survived an international pandemic. You have access to the largest library of human knowledge to ever exist. If you’d like to, you can have a decent conversation with something pretending to be human.
I’d say you’ve lived through a decent chunk of history as well.
Everyone lives through history. But few live to see so many wrenching changes as his generation did. The best I can say I lived through was the beginning of the internet and the inter-connection of every person on the planet.
Fuck, that’s my dream but realistically it won’t happen. I’m an early 90s kid. I would have to live a decent bit over 100 to see 3 centuries.
It’s kind of a sad way to live. Your family is mostly dead and all your friends are gone. And the world isn’t what you knew anymore. So you just sit there and wait to die yourself.
Yea I see what you mean, I only really have my siblings, fiancee and mother that I care about so I’m not worried about extended family. I have a handful of great friends but I’m perfectly content with being alone, I often go solo camping to get away from things. I’ve long since made peace with what my dream entails if I ever were to live that long.
Being content with being alone isn’t quite the same thing as knowing the world you lived in is gone and you are all that’s left. And all that you have left is dying.
I’d have to hit 130.
I’m not sure there’s even that much more of this century I want to see.
Yea, I’m done with this century. Can I skip the cutscene?
It’s unskippable and I sure hope that the auto save was not in the middle of it
At least you got it easier than us 2000s kids. I have to live to 96 just to see two!
Except for strictly 2000 kids, those will get to live in three centuries before turning 101
I remember on New Years Eve 1999 the local newspaper ran an article that was interviewing people who’d been alive for the last turn of the century and comparing the two New Years’ celebrations. In hindsight I wish 10 year old me had had the presence of mind to save it, it was pretty neat.
I have a recording of interviews I did with all my living grandparents for a school project when I was a kid. One thing that stood out was the level of abject poverty they experienced. They were teenagers during the great depression and it definitely had a major impact on all of them.
Would you be willing to digitize that recording and upload it to the Internet Archive for preservation? You certainly don’t have to add the link here, but I believe it would be a wonderful thing for the next generations to watch one day.
I love watching old restored footage so I can vicariously experience that moment in time and reflect on how far humanity has progressed.
I love this idea! I have videos of my grandparents where my dad interviews them about their lives. And then one of my dad when we interviewed him about his life after he was diagnosed with cancer. Can’t really bear to watch that one but some day I should save them online somewhere. I like the idea of them being part of an archive and part of searchable history fo future generations
I think it’s a noble thing to preserve these digital recordings. It’s tough, because they’re the individual person’s memories. But long after we’re dead and our names and lives are forgotten, it would be an important artifact for our future generations to have access to.
Now I’m thinking about all the old VHS tapes my parents have. If they haven’t already degraded, I’m going to ask for those tapes and see what it costs to digitize them myself.
That’s amazing. We can all hope to be so lucky.
No we cannot and will not.
Instead of living that long, I would like to donate those years to the rest of you people. What’s 120 ÷ 8 000 000 000?
Wow. I played Windows Solitaire when I was in primary school. Even if I don’t make it there I wonder how different the world will be 99 years after my birth.
At this rate, probably playing the last working copy of windows solitaire. It has to be run on a system cobbled together using 73 year old black market parts to hide the copy from our corporate overloards, otherwise risk the auto detect sytetem to disable the computer and send the police robots to your door.
You joke, but the solitaire police are fucking brutal. We didn’t realize it at the time, but we aligned them perfectly to crack down on all of us.
By then, they’ll have released Solitaire 2.