Is It Better to be 17 or 70....in 2023?

[Walker88]

1 hour ago, Freddy42OZ said:

Are you sure you're not 70? 

Lots of old music is great, but EDM, Techno, House and Trance are awesome!

Even when I was 17 I had taste, so if I were 17 today, I know I would hate the banal cacophony and unimaginative drivel that is House, EDM, Techno and trance. "Awesome" it ain't.

 

I do think it's "apropos" (just for you, GG) for the TikTok generation, as it is people without talent producing content for people without taste.

 

I can enjoy classical, then enjoy the shift from that to Jazz by people like Louis Moreau Gottschalk to Ferdinand LaMothe, to Gershwin and Johnny Mercer, to the Swing Era, or Duke to Thelonius to Coltraine to Miles, even to Elvis, the Beatles, Dylan, CSNY, Jimi, Led Zeppelin and others. I can enjoy Blues, Soul and Motown. I can listen to Bollywood dance numbers, or Isaan folk music. The noise played in clubs now, however, is anathema to music in general and me in particular. A hydraulic jack or a pile driver is preferable.

[Old Nomad]

How old were you at 17?

[1FinickyOne]

4 hours ago, QuantumQuandry said:

Pattaya.  Time is always in short supply, here ????

Are you just there for a couple of days?

[khunPer]

20 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

I have been debating this question in my own mind....

During the past five years.

 

Any thoughts?

I'm pretty happy being in my early 70s (73-74) in 2023, I still feels like I'm 17...???????? 

–unfortunately some of the young girls might not see me equal their age anymore...????

[kingstonkid]

23 hours ago, GammaGlobulin said:

Wait!

 

Are you telling us that you would be willing to be 17 in 2023?

 

Are you sure?

 

I'm trying to be as serious as I have ever been, here.

 

Do you mean that you would actually be WILLING to be 17 in 2023???

 

 

If I could take all the info and knowledge that I gained over the past 67 years with me, definitely.

 

Would go to university instead of the military.

would buy a better car to drive gf in.

 

At 18, I was still able to get into bars so that was never an issue.

I 

[Stevemercer]

Maybe I am taking the question too literally.

 

I am 64 now, in 2023, so naturally I don't want to give up 6 years to become 70 in the same year. Would I want to be 17 again in 2023, and gain 57 years? I guess so.

 

But wait, if I was 17 again would I retain all my memories and experiences gained in 64 years? Or would I be starting again as a fresh-faced (more likely pimply) teenager who is a blank sheet?

 

If the later, obviously the year 2023 holds no special significance because I won't have recollections or experience of past decades for comparison. So I'll make my own future with none of the expectations or prejudices I might have now.

 

If the former, I'm not sure I want to live my life again. Of course, it would be a different life because external factors are so different now.

 

If the question was would I like to go back in time to when I was 17 (with all the experiences and memories I have now), then the answer would be no. Sure, I could make my life different, and I would have an additional 57 years of life, but I already know the story and don't want to do it all again. I certainly don't want to go through all the same old externalhistory.

 

But I would like to see the future and how things turn out. I don't place any particular significance on 2023 in comparison to 1970, 1999 or 2010. I would like to see a manned mission on Mars, flying cars for everyone, personal robots, genetically modified pets, maybe even clone myelf.

 

So, yes, I would be 17 again in 2023. But I don't want to live my life again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2023 by Stevemercer

[bignok]

7 hours ago, Freddy42OZ said:

Based on my observations of old guys in Thailand, they weren't exactly very smart to start with.

They just get fatter, grumpier and fixated on how "it was better in the 50s"   

They also seem to lose the ability to dress well or keep themselves looking well groomed.  

The 50s was 70 years ago. These guys must be 90yo!

[Chris Daley]

I have been messing around with AI art.  IT blows my mind.  Now we have AI chat and AI music is coming soon.  Cars that can predict an accidents before they happen.  This is insane.  I would rather be 17.

 

 

 

Edited October 10, 2023 by Chris Daley

[Freddy42OZ]

On 10/10/2023 at 10:25 PM, bignok said:

The 50s was 70 years ago. These guys must be 90yo!

Haha maybe I was remembering the times these old timers have posted links to music and movies from the 50's and claimed them to be 'better'.  

Or just the general attitude so many older people have that the old days were better. 

I recently saw a question on Facebook asking "What did the youth of the 80's have that the youth now don't have?"    It has more than 14,000 answers, all stupid comments that you'd expect from people who think the past was better. 

I had an amazing childhood in the 80's and grew up with loads of privilege, but technology and everything else is way better now. 

The only thing that isn't better now is that I'm in my 50's not in my teens, 20s or 30s and I don't have the same fortune and privilege as I had when I was living off my parents.

[Freddy42OZ]

On 10/10/2023 at 4:14 PM, Walker88 said:

Even when I was 17 I had taste, so if I were 17 today, I know I would hate the banal cacophony and unimaginative drivel that is House, EDM, Techno and trance. "Awesome" it ain't.

 

I do think it's "apropos" (just for you, GG) for the TikTok generation, as it is people without talent producing content for people without taste.

 

I can enjoy classical, then enjoy the shift from that to Jazz by people like Louis Moreau Gottschalk to Ferdinand LaMothe, to Gershwin and Johnny Mercer, to the Swing Era, or Duke to Thelonius to Coltraine to Miles, even to Elvis, the Beatles, Dylan, CSNY, Jimi, Led Zeppelin and others. I can enjoy Blues, Soul and Motown. I can listen to Bollywood dance numbers, or Isaan folk music. The noise played in clubs now, however, is anathema to music in general and me in particular. A hydraulic jack or a pile driver is preferable.

I can listen to all of that too, except Isaan music.

I also like reggae, and heavy metal (Scorpions, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, etc)

Club music is about the people you are with, the hot girls, good drugs.  I wouldn't put House music on to sit and relax at home. 

But if I'm in a club and there are some banging tunes and there are hot white girls to dance with for a few hours then I'm in heaven!

[Freddy42OZ]

On 10/10/2023 at 6:44 PM, khunPer said:

I'm pretty happy being in my early 70s (73-74) in 2023, I still feels like I'm 17...???????? 

–unfortunately some of the young girls might not see me equal their age anymore...????

As long as you still act like you are young.  When I see old people who have given up on trying to look good, have lost their dynamism, no longer want to keep current with technology etc those are the ones I want to have nothing to do with (to the extreme of not even wanting to acknowledge they exist, so I'd rather not have to even see them).

On my death bed I hope I'm still interested in the specs of the latest VR headsets and new Augmented Reality Glasses (for example) and reading about new tech even though I won't get to see it.  

[mrwebb8825]

The question you pose seems to be taking into account "knowing what you know now" and on that premise I would choose to be 17. I would join the military and put in 30+ years. I would retire at 50+ will full medical, dental and a monthly paycheck guaranteed for the rest of my life.

Along the way I would make small, monthly deposits into an offshore savings account, purchase small amounts of gold and silver and invest small amounts into a stock portfolio. All of my housing, clothing, utilities and food would be 100% free, cigarettes and alcohol would be tax free on base so IF I chose to indulge, it would be a greatly reduced cost. My monthly salary would be direct deposited into a Credit Union so whatever I didn't spend/deposit elsewhere would just pile up there.

"A girl in every port and any port in a storm".

 

Since you asked...