We all feel like we are ‘modern’, living in 'modern times’, given the technology, culture, and fashion around us. This is in contrast to the 'ancients’, who lived in old times, with old technology, old culture and old fashion.

It’s hard to describe, but there is a sort of tangible feeling to how living in the present feels like, and looking at photos or paintings of people who lived in the past, it seems that living in those periods had a different feel to it. It’s as if we are experiencing reality through a clear glass, while they were experiencing it through a foggy glass. It’s as if the past and the people in it are the Other. As I said, it’s hard to describe.

But, the above feeling is just an illusion. Now that I’m older, I have lived through periods (like the 80’s) that, at the time felt 'real’ and 'modern’, but now seem like the Other, especially to the new generation.

I’m reminded of the illusory nature of what it means to be modern whenever I see the 'Carpe Diem’ scene from Dead Poets Society, which is one of my favorite scenes from that movie or any movie (see the video below, starting at 2min 41 sec)

The two memorable quotes from that scene, “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” and “Sieze the Day (carpe diem)”, should be in the back of everyone’s mind while we go about our lives.

What strikes me from that scene, besides the memorable quotes, are the pictures of those people in the black and white photos, with their old-fashioned haircuts, old-fashioned clothes, and old-fashioned items around them. Those guys must have felt they were living in modern times, being 'hip’ and young and wearing the latest fashions and ready to take on the world. And now, they look like ancient people to us.

It’s certain that, despite what we feel about how modern the era we live in is, people from the future will look at us, our clothes, haircuts, gadgets, and culture, and think about how ancient we look. Our present time will feel foggy and stuffy and Other to them, even though it feels like crisp and clear and Now to us.

Since, in the context of spacetime, the future already exists, we are in fact already ancient.

Originally posted December 15, 2011