Last week Monica saw the most recent Mission Impossible movie and was fascinated by a plot detail wherein the characters need to use ancient technology from the — shudder — 1990s! Just after that, John Oliver did an expose on air traffic control towers where he noted that they often still run on software from floppy disk computers that are several decades old. This got her to thinking about the nature of nostalgia in technology. We simultaneously complain about tech being outdated while also fetishizing it because they “don’t make them like they used to.” So on today’s episode Monica and Mav are joined by returning guests John Martin and Michael Higgins to talk about the nostalgia we imbue within our technology. What makes us love things that are old and retro even when there might be better, newer tech available and why do we write so many stories where reliance on old tech is what ultimately saves the day? Listen and then let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Citations and Links:
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