Y2K
We really thought the world was gonna end back then. Maybe not literally, but likely in some sense of catastrophic mayhem or a reset of some kind, a page turn. The looming threat was mostly exaggerated but we chose to half-believe it anyway. It was absurd and simultaneously felt real. Banking systems were going to go haywire, internet would have a meltdown, systems across industries would be tricked into thinking we had reset to 1900; a real large scale disaster. And we responded by making jokes and throwing apocalyptic themed parties. It was as if we had a collective subconscious fantasy to see society spiral into chaos.
And for better or worse, on January 1, 2000, of course the world did not end. Here we are, over a quarter century later, trying to keep our heads above all of this information, these zeroes and ones. Here we are, trying not to drown in a conflict of nostalgia and nihilism, trying not to get swept away in this mudslide of information. Seems like the only thing left we can do to survive is to swim out with the current, to know and consume all the right and cool things. Otherwise, you’ll be left on this island alone.
And so… here we are. Welcome to the Matrix and thanks for the Prozac. At least the parties were good along the way.
Happy New Year 🎉🥳🍾
