'How AI Slop is Making You Nostalgic For A Time That Never Existed' (2025)
https://www.youtube.com/embed/0dPSAn3Dgqc
Point: AI videos like the one being critiqued here represent a form of escapism (and seemingly, 'toxic nostalgia' and/or 'golden age thinking'), which can be theorised in terms of the concept of 'hauntology' https://newpractices.co.uk/hauntology/ Transcript: "Here we are in our terrible future present being fed slop AI videos like this. ... Kids, the 80's sucked. Nothing looked like that. Everything smelled like cigarette smoke. Blockbuster sucked. You know, they gouged you on late fees and were too expensive. Arcades sucked. The video games sucked. How long do you think you really want to play Galaga? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaga That robot is lying to you. This is toxic nostalgia creating a false memory and begging you to get lost in it. But you can't. Do not go there. Do not stay. You simply can't dwell in it. It's like the hot tub at a Holiday Inn - it's nice for exactly as long as it takes you to realise that the water feels like soup. It's just a bowl of strangers brought to a light boil." More: https://newpractices.co.uk/AIslop/
