Wiping away the past (Destiny)

by Leviathan , Hotel Zanzibar, Thursday, September 10, 2015, 17:16 (3157 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Right, but Destiny has chosen to be temporary. They've been pretty much declaring that since the beginning. It may not be what you want it to be, but that's what Destiny is. It's going to continue to be that way.

But art shapes culture. Temporary art means temporary culture.

I'm convinced people are selfish and don't care about the future anymore. I was in a conversation the other day, where the person mentioned that nothing was worth dying for. I said "Really? Nothing?" and they affirmed that. To me that is completely astounding that anyone would consider their own (temporary) existence to be literally the most important thing in the world. What about the ideas and institutions of the world that stood before and will stand after you? Ideas and institutions that improve and protect the lives of billions? That let you live the wonderful life you have now, and will help far more people in the future?

And guess what, art can directly affect these ideas and institutions by contributing to the culture! No wonder people don't care if their art is disposable!

Uh, you jumped some lily pads here on me. Because Destiny is always-online and will likely not last forever... everyone in the future is going to believe nothing is worth dying for?

Culture has always been temporary. It's fluid. Because you know, time exists and all that. The culture I live in now feels completely different than the one I grew up in, and that one felt completely different than the one my father grew up in. There's stuff I experienced in the 90's no kid will experience today. There's stuff in the 1800's nobody now will ever experience. It's gone!

Even the stuff we DO have from the past no longer has the past around it, that is to say its context. We experience David completely different than Michelangelo did. We might be able to put ourselves somewhere near that mindset with education and imagination but never completely and we'll never know for sure how close.

I don't want every game to be like Destiny. I don't want every piece of art to be intentionally temporary. But I'm fine if some are; there's unique experiences to be found in them - things I can enjoy and learn about that only that context can provide. And it also makes me happy somebody like you recorded all of Dinklage's audio, so we can still remember it and others in the future might be able to imagine it in the right context if they care to.

EDIT - Also interesting to note: Because of computers and the internet, we are probably preserving more about the present for the future than EVER before. There's a Norm McDonald joke that says something like "My dad had one photo of my grandpa. When my kid asks me for a photo, I can say 'here's a photo of everything I ever did, every day.'" Except it's Norm... so it's funny.