this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
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Microblog Memes

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[–] BananaTrifleViolin@lemmy.world 125 points 4 days ago (3 children)

Yeah it's not about the Internet and virtual reality or fax machines etc, it was about overpopulation and ecological collapse among other things.

The song was inspired by a trip to an underground city in Sendai, Japan if you read Wikipedia. In the late 90s Japan was a gadget obsessed place with neon signs and screens packed into places like Sendai. Japan had industrialised rapidly over the 20th century and gave the impression of a thriving technology and manufacturing industry.

It was seen as a futuristic place by people from the rest of the world when they visited. Of course in reality Japan was in the first of its "lost decades" of stagnation that's run from the early 90s to now.

[–] e8d79@discuss.tchncs.de 23 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Underground city in Sendai? Did they get radicalised by visiting a shopping center connected to the subway?

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[–] protist@mander.xyz 19 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Besides not meeting its capitalist expectations, how have Japan's "lost decades" impacted its people, and how does that impact differ from that within comparable nations that had continuous economic growth during that same time (e.g. the US, Europe, Australia, and South Korea)?

[–] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 45 points 4 days ago (1 children)

political radicalization. in the past 100 years Japan has seen:

  • hypermilitarization
  • hyperfascism
  • hyperbombs
  • hyperdepression
  • hypercolonialism
  • hyperindustrialization
  • hypercapitalism
  • hyperrecession

and a lot of people want to know if there will ever be an end to everything being so damn extra all the time, or if Japan is simply expected to burn itself out working. and as is always the case when the people start askrng these questions, there's a rightwing reaction promising to restore Japan to the glory of an imagined past

[–] yucandu@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago (6 children)

Is hyperfascism like regular fascism with neon lights or what?

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[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Overworked, or refusing to work at all. No one's having sex. Their economy is further collapsing, their population is converging to the point of a death spiral. No one can afford to have a family.

They still like tech in Tokyo and pump out anime, though.

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[–] Klear@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago

Yeah, sure. I suppose next you're gonna say that The Return of the Space Cowboy is not about the movie Serenity.

[–] mrfriki@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Looks like the The Expanse main character throwing a hat party inside the Rocinante.

[–] swizzkillz@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago
[–] cout970@programming.dev 17 points 3 days ago

Reminds me of Serial Experiments Lain, an anime released in 1998 that talks about the power of social networks and how companies will compete to gain control of the internet. Some of the predictions are outstandingly good.

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 15 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Before the modern web, before Wikipedia, before pocket computers, Encarta was the shit!

[–] pyre@lemmy.world 5 points 3 days ago

yeah i spent so much time reading random shit on it. to be fair i already did that with physical encyclopedias so it was natural. but the fact that Encarta allowed what's now known as wiki surfing was next level for me.

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 5 points 3 days ago

JK was inspired to write the song after he spent all night exploring a web ring - all of which were GeoCities sites with an “under construction” animated gif.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I heard he wrote this song after visiting a fancy underground mall in Hong Kong/Japan and seeing how gnarly the tech was there at the time.

[–] hellfire103@lemmy.ca 44 points 4 days ago

Don't forget Radiohead releasing Planet Telex in 1995, then OK Computer in 1997.

[–] LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 19 points 4 days ago (4 children)

TIL "gaff" is UK slang for your house or home.

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[–] espentan@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I'd been texting for a couple of years when this came out, and had just logged my first full year working as a web developer. The next 5 years or so felt amazing, hardware and software was improving so quickly on all fronts.

[–] Poojabber@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Yeah, it was good times back then. Now the technlology has vastly exceeded our wildest dreams, yet it is under the control of greedy mega corporations, resulting in the most expensive shitty experience we have experienced so far.

[–] rmrf@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

There's exceptions, though; that's why we're here :)

I totally read what you're saying. My work requires me to maintain a personal cell phone (Intune business profile) and, with any OEM implementation of a smartphone OS you're essentially paying to donate everything about you to a megacorp to sell it to another megacorp to siphon more of you're life away from you. The beauty of modern advancements, though, is that if you don't care to be within 20% of the "bleeding edge" of attention extraction and intention fabrication you can spend your time in communities like this and with tech like graphene and linux making few sacrifices, if any.

I don't know about you, but the lemmy atmosphere feels a lot like that of early forums to me. Not quite the same, but the community aspect is more present.

I think my stance is that technology doesn't suck, as is the case with most things; it's the unchecked and rampant abuse of a given thing.

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[–] ThePyroPython@lemmy.world 40 points 4 days ago (4 children)

Was born in 1996, please can someone tell me who's this? I'd like to listen to them. Thank you.

[–] dellhiver@sh.itjust.works 74 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

It's Jamiroquai.

This video is for: "Virtual Insanity".

The video to : "Automaton" is also worth a watch in my opinion.

[–] NickwithaC@lemmy.world 42 points 4 days ago (6 children)
[–] Yondoza@sh.itjust.works 17 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I really love this cover of virtual insanity.

https://youtu.be/ZTDcdRTziMM

I know it's almost unrelated to the discussion because you're talking about the music video, but how often is Jamiroquai brought up?

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[–] olosta@lemmy.world 13 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I remember my mind being blown away by a TV segment that explained how the practical effect was achieved.

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[–] Dozzi92@lemmy.world 16 points 4 days ago (1 children)

While you're checking out the video for virtual insanity, also check out the one for Canned Heat, another great tune and another great video from Jamiroquai. I was only a kid then, but I'd turn on MTV in the morning before school to watch videos back in like 97-99, and these videos popped up every so often, and they had a lasting impact.

Check out also the Wikipedia article on Sterno, sometimes referred to as Canned Heat, because people would drink the shit to get fucked up and would ultimately die, and the coroner would rule it a death by canned heat.

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[–] Zos_Kia@lemmynsfw.com 19 points 4 days ago (2 children)

We tried to cover it with my band, but it sounded really boring. Upon listening closely to it, I was surprised by how minimalist it actually is. I mean there's barely anything on the track! Some piano, some strings, and drum and bass of course.

It was a happy surprise to find that it's one of those songs that are carried by the pure energy of the vocalist, which makes it very tricky to cover unless you go a very lateral route and "re-genre" it.

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[–] CaliforniaSober@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 days ago

I mean, I guess yea? They was already putting out 2 albums of classic modern soul before traveling without moving and the world couldn’t be bothered…

[–] DistrictSIX@lemmy.zip 17 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

Then your mind will literally explode if you listen to "Computer Love" by Zapp & Roger, released in...... 1985!

[–] SharkWeek@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 3 days ago

Also, System Addict by 5 Star was 1985 IIRC

[–] ook@discuss.tchncs.de 26 points 4 days ago (2 children)
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[–] MilitantAtheist@lemmy.world 15 points 4 days ago (6 children)

I miss the old internet. Usenet was magic.

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[–] normalexit@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago

I'm walking into spiderwebs, so leave a message and I'll call you back.

[–] SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works 16 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I remember the that summer. Always wanted a Jamiroqoi hat

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[–] uuldika@lemmy.ml 9 points 4 days ago
[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago (12 children)

People have always complained about how new tech warps people’s minds. Like back in the day there were people saying the same thing about books when the printing press was invented

And they had a point. While the printing press (not books, those are way older) was a tool that could be used for good, many quickly realized that it gave propagandists a whole new set of tools to manipulate people with. Newspapers had a ridiculous amount of opinion-making power for quite a while there, they just got replaced by radio, TV, and then social media and now LLMs.

[–] rumschlumpel@feddit.org 5 points 3 days ago (3 children)

What if very powerful people are literally using tech to warp people's minds on purpose?

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[–] bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

"Travel Without Moving". Appropriate way to describe VR, even if it's Dune quote.

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