Future Re-Enacting

[Mission]

I was sitting there, poring over yet another copy of an archaic 350 year old surgical journal trying to comprehend just what the writer was saying, seeing, feeling and thinking when it struck me that some day, 350 years from now, some person may be sitting there (whereever there may be) poring over yet another copy of an archaic 350 year old forum post, trying to comprehend just what the writer was saying, seeing, feeling and thinking.

You know?

"...we are simply passing through history. This, this is history." -René Belloq

[Matty Bottles]

This is not what I thought it would be at all. I thought this would be about us, now, reenacting the FUTURE.

I need to start working on my Buck Rogers kit.

[Fox]

I need to start working on my Buck Rogers kit.

Yeah, but Buck Rogers is only one source, it doesn't tell us that everyone will be wearing in the future, nor does it cover every possible variant, however unlikely, so we might as well ignore it.

Plus, dummy, Buck Rogers is fiction so can't be trusted.

(Removes tongue from cheek and sticks it out between lips.)

[hurricane]

Thanks Foxe, I just blew red wine out my snotbox. Too funny. I think he was wearing boots, by the way, if you take the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century TV series as gospel. :)

I'm pretty sure we're the first generations (from say, the turn of the century even) that hasn't enough to do to survive that we think up a thing like re-enacting. I think any family member doing such an activity in the Midwest when there were crops to tend to would have had a switch taken to them.

We've come to a point in our lives where we don't have to toil 24/7 just to survive, so we can have the luxury of this activity. And even then we have to exercise selective choice - can't be a Nazi, a Taliban or probably even a rum runner running around town in a 28 Ford with a tommy gun blazing.

Now where was my black spandex... got to get back to my Ice Pirates representation.

-- Hurricane

Edited February 2, 2010 by hurricane

[Matty Bottles]

I tried to explain reenacting to a couple from India. It was not a concept that was related easily.

[Quartermaster James]

I tried to explain reenacting to a couple from India. It was not a concept that was related easily.

Intrigomon...

I was sitting there, poring over yet another copy of an archaic 350 year old surgical journal trying to comprehend just what the writer was saying, seeing, feeling and thinking when it struck me that some day, 350 years from now, some person may be sitting there (whereever there may be) poring over yet another copy of an archaic 350 year old forum post, trying to comprehend just what the writer was saying, seeing, feeling and thinking.

You know?

"...we are simply passing through history. This, this is history." -René Belloq

This is a scenario I use often to bring home the importance of subtle differences in style. Imagine hosting a disco party in the year 2360 and the mix of fashion you would get for people wearing any "old fashioned" 20th century thing!

One notable difference, however, is that future generations are likely to have a much more substantial record from which to work than have we.

Then again, my other scenario is a post-apocolyptic world in which the only record of our civilization is old reels of Gilligan's Island. Or, as these future generations know them The Island Stories. These Island Stories are interpreted to be morality plays in which each of the seven stranded castaways embodies a distinct human archetype. It is believed that through these Island Stories we taught our young and propagated our culture.

[hurricane]

Intrigomon...

One notable difference, however, is that future generations are likely to have a much more substantial record from which to work than have we.[/font][/size]

That would largely depend on two things, unfortunately. Our ability to preserve it (as we know, data left on Zip drives, Syquest Drives and eventually, even VHS, film, CDs and DVDs will be lost if we don't transfer them to new media) and our ability not to destroy it (think the ancient libraries, the knowledge of the Mayans and the Aztecs). We like to think we are smarter these days, but think of the valuable art, writings, etc. lost in the bombings of WWII or much of the Haitian collections because of a natural disaster.

Inevitably, the future will know of us because of what we protect and preserve, as well as what we choose to pass on (as you know, history books, press clippings, news reports, etc. are entirely subjective works, based on the author's prejudices and subjectivity). And let's throw in a little convenient revisionism at the same time.

That's what I get for snorting red wine. :)

-- Hurricane

Edited February 3, 2010 by hurricane

[Quartermaster James]

Granted the possibility of massive destruction, I think we may still have sheer volume on our side.

[sutlerjon]

Let us not forget the archeologists favorite place to dig ...... the ever popular landfill.

Be it the filled in hole from the outhouse of old, to the now (350 years in the future) filled in Grand Canyon.

The trash heaps of history are invaluable resources.

Do we not, now, make many interpretations from what we find in the ruins of yesterday?

[LadyBarbossa]

:::nods::: Mission... ye have NO idea how often I have wondered that. Seriously.

I live close to Riverside. And for those of you familiar with Star Trek, ye know how significant that is. After watching the latest Star Trek film and seeing their idea of how Riverside and the rest of Washington County would look like in over 200 years... it seriously makes me wonder. I pondered when and after I watched that movie... where was the English River? Why is the ground so flat (contrary to belief, Iowa is NOT that flat. Only place it's that flat is between Kalona and Washington, on the western side of Highway 1), where was that massive canyon (which was clarified to me was a quarrey), and most importantly... the site of the starship ship yards... THAT was beyond my imagination on where the hell that could be!

Star Trek is not truly an obsession here in Washington County, but it's a reality check. Between the vision of the future that Roddenbury created and still seeing the lifestyles of the Amish in the Kalona district... it's a reality check. What still will be used and incorporated in 200+ years from now? What won't? And if it's not common, how will it be viewed and studied. Great example is the Amish still pin attire together. I saw this over the summer at a Farmer's Market, and inquired one of the Amish gals about it and got a rather awesome mini-lesson out of it! What an experience! To realize that clothes had been pinned in the similiar style or close to it 200 - 300 years ago! Amazing. So, can we expect the same 200+ years from now?

It's an awesome thought, Mission.

~Lady B

[Mission]

I assume much will be lost, due to some cataclysm or (more likely) due to pure negligence and/or lack of funding. When reading period account with modern footnotes, I am amazed that many books have not survived. Still, it is a good point that there is a lot more material. As Hurricane mentioned (I think) we have more leisure time which gives us the ability to be fascinated with ourselves. We also have access to much better, cheaper and easier ways to record our thoughts and actions.

Still, I think it would be funny that 350 years from now some student of history or whatever leisure pursuit takes the place of re-enacting (Though projection re-enacting? Something even more amazing we can't even begin to envision?) may be poring this very thread and trying to understand it and our motives, predilections and inclinations. (The truth is probably so much more banal than what it may seem to them. )

[LadyBarbossa]

I assume much will be lost, due to some cataclysm or (more likely) due to pure negligence and/or lack of funding.

Or flooding, if the weather continues at this rate.

Hmmm... reenacting a la Holodeck?

~Lady B

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

I've long said that one day, after this species has completely destroyed itself and most everything around it; sometime a milinium from now the next species will come across somebody's stash of MAD magazines in a Rubbermaid storage container and say: (in whatever medium of communication they use) Look! Our creators! See what great knowledge of our past they have left us!" and a whole religion will be formed based on the philosophy of Alfred E. Newman.

What? Me Worry?

Bo

[Mission]

There isn't already one? It sure affected my outlook on life.

(I don't think we'll ever destroy ourselves. If such destruction happens, it will happen because of something beyond our control IMHO. Many of us do not give ourselves enough credit for our innate self-preservation instincts.)

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

There isn't already one? It sure affected my outlook on life.

No. The current "religion" or philosophy is more like: Not my job...not my problem...not my responsibility... who cares what we screw-up, I'll be dead before anything happens anyway.

We will eventually kill our species by creating something that cannot be controlled, like a virus (we already have those), or Terminator (who is now Governor of California), or some really nasty fast-food that will take everyone out in a couple of weeks (we're pretty close to that now too).

Bo