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Summary
The 20th century was an age of numerous transformations. The broad scope of these changes stuns the observer, whose eyes cannot take them all in due to their rapid influx. This has brought about an extremely odd phenomenon: since we have been through such complex and many-sided transformations, we should have become more mature in behavior, more incisive in thought, and steadier in demeanor than we had previously been. However, precisely because these changes swept over us too violently and with excessive frequency, to the extent that we never seemed to have sufficient time to properly ponder and digest the experience of any one of these changes, we in fact actually became more immature in behavior, more superficial in thought, and especially more impulsive in demeanor. It seemed as though we were always encountering a new and strange way of life that made yesterday appear extremely distant and of no relation whatsoever to today's experiences.
Nietzsche once said, “The last human has the longest memory” of the type of history mentioned above. Yet this is not necessarily the case. If something were to go wrong with the last human, his memory would instead be the briefest. Like a black bear pulling apart an ear of corn, grasping various parts of it while discarding others, in the end the only thing left would be the last piece. To be sure, nobody is willing to cut oneself off from the past, since that would be another form of death – ordinary death amounting to being cut off from the future. Because of this, the faster a time machine spins in a given place, the more prevalent the trend of nostalgia in that locale. However, what we refer to as “nostalgia” is often merely a matter of emotion, and does not actually contain any element of understanding.
If we claim that the unexamined life cannot amount to true living, then it would follow that unexamined memory cannot amount to true memory. I realize that after having experienced several decades of jolts and shocks, everyone feels extremely exhausted, and that everyday life is also infused with anxiety and bustle.
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- Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2013