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Have I Burned Out My Nostalgia Neurons by Being Too Nostalgic?

by James Wallace Harris, 5/3/26

The word nostalgia was originally coined to describe homesick Swiss mercenaries. For a long time, it was considered a malady, rather than the bittersweet emotion triggered by recalling our past. The term eventually expanded to include longing for the past in general, even for times before you were born.

The first movie I remember seeing on television was High Barbaree (1946), where nostalgia was a central theme. There is a scene early in the film where two childhood friends are separated when one of their parents moves away. The film was based on the novel of the same name by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, but it was rooted in Hall’s nostalgia for his childhood. In the novel, but not the film, we experience Alec Brooke’s last thoughts before dying. In the film, they are his last thoughts before being rescued.

At six, I had already experienced leaving friends several times. My father was in the Air Force, and we moved frequently. The movie and novel have had a lifelong impact on me. See “Did The First Movie You Ever See Haunt You For The Rest Of Your Life?“

Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I was nostalgic for my previous homes, schools, friends, and pets. For many years, I had recurring dreams of struggling to find my way back to our house in Hollywood, Florida. Those dreams stopped after I took a trip to that house in my early thirties.

My upbringing programmed me for nostalgia. I’ve always wallowed in it. Do I have more memories than the average person because I moved around so much?

When I retired, I spent years rereading my favorite books, contacting old friends and relatives, processing old photos, creating Spotify playlists of all the music I loved since 1962, collecting all the science fiction magazines I loved growing up, and watching all my old favorite movies and television shows.

Here’s the thing. I’ve been retired for thirteen years, and emotionally, it’s not what I expected. I thought my personality would have solidified in old age, but it hasn’t.

I feel I’ve psychologically changed several times in the past thirteen years. The current change is a surprise. I think I’ve burned up all my nostalgia neurons. For years, I only played one Spotify playlist composed of a thousand favorite songs from before the year 2000. Now I’m only listening to songs that came out after the year 2000. And the books and magazines that excite me the most are about current events. I haven’t given up on old friends, but so many people I used to know have died or disappeared.

Scientists have learned that memories aren’t fixed. When you recall a moment from the past, you overwrite it with new thoughts about that memory. I’m wondering if all my nostalgic reveries have overwritten my original recordings. That I’m no longer getting a nostalgic dopamine high when thinking about the past because I’m triggering recent memories that erased the originals.

Conservatives seem hell-bent on bringing the past back through political means. But can they give me back the thrill of being young and going downtown on a bus and eating at a lunch counter in the 1950s? Even if I had a time machine, would I use it?

I have a tremendous nostalgia for the 1950s and 1960s. However, would I return if I could? Without air conditioning, I’d be miserable. I’m 74, and I doubt I could get the medical care I need. What would I do? Rent a room in a rundown hotel on Miami Beach and listen to 1950s records while reading 1950s science fiction magazines? I could do that now.

I will admit, if I had a time machine, I’d make day trips to the past. Would returning to the scenes of my original memories exorcise the nostalgia that drove me back there?

I have to wonder if getting old eventually ruins nostalgia because we get wise to our fantasies? I’ve spent 74 years creating the life I have now, which is so very comfortable. Didn’t all the choices I made lead to where I am now? So, why would I jump to another place in time?

I’m returning to the idea that nostalgia is a malady. And I’m wondering if I’ve finally cured myself? Or have I? Will nostalgia return like bouts of malaria? I feel like aging is a series of transformations. I shouldn’t expect to arrive anywhere permanently.

Over the past few years, I’ve lost the ability to watch movies and television shows by myself. I had many theories as to why that was so. The main theory assumed that the Internet, YouTube, and doomscrolling destroyed my ability to focus. But I’m wondering if I was trying to watch TV by who I was in the past, and that just didn’t work. I’ve recently started watching TV again on my own, and my mind has stuck with it. Maybe my new stage of seeing things can let me relax and enjoy the shows. Before, my mind was restless.

Is that because my new non-nostalgic self has found new reasons to watch? I don’t know. My new self has found different books to read and different music to listen to. But how long will this last? I assume I will keep changing.

I have another thought. I spend a lot of time meditating about consciousness and studying it in books. I have many new theories about who I am. I no longer think of my personality as a unified, singular being. I now see myself like a computer with many parts: CPU, GPU, NPU, memory, etc. Have these discoveries undermined my nostalgic drive? Maybe self-awareness can destroy nostalgia?

This leads me to ask: Can we reprogram ourselves?

JWH

Prepping for Power Outages?

by James Wallace Harris, 4/28/26

Over the last decade, we’ve had three power outages during ice storms that lasted 3-5 days. Back in the 1990s, this house experienced a 10-day power outage during an ice storm. And in our previous house, we lived through a 13-day power outage during July and August.

We have survived all those outages with only inconvenience and discomfort. And I’ve never had any kind of emergency generator during my 74 years. It’s kind of wimpy to think about spending $15,000-20,000 dollars on the chance the power will go out for a few days. However, the older Susan and I get, the more we dislike discomfort and inconvenience.

We were lucky; the power stayed on during Winter 2025, but we were snowed in for over a week. Susan and I are afraid of falling, so we don’t go out when the ground is covered with snow and ice. News videos showing what people in Nashville, Tennessee, and Oxford, Mississippi, experienced frightened us. The destructive power of nature becomes so much scarier when you’re old.

My real fear is the pipes freezing. During these ice storms, many of our friends have had pipes burst. Now that’s more than inconvenient. The house’s temperature dropped into the forties during the last ice-storm outage. It was unpleasant, but we survived easily by wearing layers and sitting in our La-Z-Boys under several blankets. I’m considering buying some winter camping equipment.

One of the biggest problems during power outages is boredom. We solved that by getting unlimited phone plans and buying a Jackery to recharge our phones. I listened to music and audiobooks, doom scrolled Facebook and YouTube, and watched movies.

For years, I’ve been thinking about buying a whole-house generator that runs off natural gas. But I’ve always hesitated. I kept thinking whole-house battery backup might become practical.

I looked at two years of electric bills, talked to an AI that gave me some rough figures to consider.

If I’m lucky, I might get a whole-house generator installed for $15,000 to $20,000. I’d need a new electrical panel, but I’ve been thinking about that anyway. However, I’ve read that generators need an oil change after the first 25 hours and after running continuously for 50-100 hours. That would be a problem if the ground is covered in ice. Also, I know one family that spent $17,000 on a whole-house generator, and it failed the first time they needed it.

All that makes me leery of whole-house generators. Although they can last 20-30 years. (I don’t think I can, though.) That makes them a good investment.

I also researched getting something like a Tesla Powerwall. After much discussion with the AI, it was decided I’d need 40-50 kWh of battery backup to last a week-long power outage. With all the installation, the AI estimated $30,000 to $40,000. That’s way more than I’m willing to spend.

However, if the United States renovated its grid system, and I added both solar arrays and battery backups, this would be the best long-term solution.

Then I mentioned to the AI that my biggest worry was freezing pipes. That’s when it recommended a direct-vent insert for our fireplace. It should keep the house warm enough to keep the pipes from freezing, and it would work without electricity.

The AI also recommended a portable power station that could run just the blower to my natural gas heating system.

Those were two good ideas I’m considering. Battery technology is improving dramatically every year, and the prices are coming down. It might be cheaper to buy several portable units that I could roll around as needed. And I can research getting portable solar panels to put out in the yard to recharge them.

Portable power stations could run fans in the summer when the power is out. But I don’t know if they are powerful enough to use for cooking. Our water heater runs on natural gas, and it stays on when the power is out. But our stove and oven are electric. I’ve looked into Mr. Buddy heaters that use propane canisters. But propane sounds scary to use inside the house.

Let me know what solutions y’all have found.

JWH

FiiO JT7 $119 Planar Magnetic Headphones

by James Wallace Harris, 4/21/26

I’m a sucker for audiophile reviews that claim a new product sounds great for the money. My current headphones are Sennheiser HD 560 S, which sound wonderful, and I was completely happy playing through a FiiO K5Pro headphone amplifier. But then I saw several reviews praising the FiiO K13 R2R Desktop DAC & Headphone Amp. I’ve always wanted to try an R2R DAC, so I bought it. (See my review.)

The Fiio K13 R2R was very good, but it didn’t produce that night-and-day difference I was expecting. After years of seeing reviews of planar magnetic headphones, I’ve wanted to try them too, hoping the technology would take my music to a new level. That’s why I ordered the FiiO JT7 headphones. Plus, they offered two sets of cables, one of which worked with balanced circuits. In other words, the JT7 had two tech upgrades to try.

My previous headphones were Beyerdynamic DT 990 PRO, and before that, I bought a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M50x. Astute observers will notice that all of this equipment originally cost between $100-$200. I’m not sure if that isn’t the limiting factor determining the sound quality.

Between four headphones and two headphone amplifiers, I got a range of treble and bass responses, sound staging, and musical details. But nothing was ever night-and-day. I can say R2R sounds smoother than the ESS Delta-sigma DAC, but the Delta-sigma DAC had more detail. I can say my open-back headphones have a larger soundstage than closed-back headphones.

After switching between the four headphones and two headphone amps, the biggest factor in determining what I liked was power. The DT990s have 250 Ohm impedance. The Sennheisers have 120 Ohms. The ATH-M50x are 36 Ohms. And the JT7 is just 18 Ohms, but with a relatively low sensitivity of 92 dB/mW.

Comparing these four headphones is very difficult because once I got them to the same volume, which is very subjective, they were hard to tell apart. Like I said, soundstage and instrument placement varied, but mainly between the open-back and closed-back headphones. The overall tone varied between the K5Pro and K13. That was because of the ESS and R2R DACs.

I don’t know if I can ever find a true night-and-day difference in my audio equipment unless I spend a great deal more money. But the headphones don’t sound significantly different through my Bluesound Node 2i or AudioLab 6000A amplifiers, both of which cost over a $1000.

I’ve listened to “True Love” by Anna Ash so many times that I’m not sure which headphones actually delivered better sound quality. There are so many variables. I prefer the Sennheiser and FiiO JT7 the most, I believe. And I like the FiiO best for how they feel on my head and the way they look.

I will never buy $1000 headphones. I might buy $500 headphones if they did produce that El Dorado of night-and-day improvement in sound quality. However, I’m not sure that exists. I’m starting to wonder if audiophile reviewers have superior hearing to mine. I’m 74.

I’m not sure if technology or cost makes a difference anymore. I think I like the Class A-B AudioLab 6000A better than the Class D Bluesound Node 2i, but I’m not sure. It could be that they sound different because of the rooms they are in. I do know that equipment that costs under $100 doesn’t sound as good. The DAC in the Wiim Mini ($89) is terrible.

To me, everything I currently use sounds fantastic once the volume gets around 85 decibels.

I need to stop watching YouTube audio reviews. And I need to stop thinking that new equipment will blow me away.

I’m quite happy with the FiiO JT7 headphones. I just can’t tell you if they will sound better or worse than what you already own. My wife likes them, because when I use headphones, I’m not playing my stereo at 85 decibels while she’s trying to watch TV in another room.

JWH

Why Are We Sending Humans To the Moon When We Could Send Humanoid Robots?

by James Wallace Harris, 4/20/26

Millions were thrilled by the Artemis 2 circumlunar mission. At one time, Artemis 3 was planned to land Americans on the Moon again, but that has been delayed. Now they are talking Artemis 5. NASA hasn’t committed to a lander, and SpaceX’s Starship Human Landing System (HLS) is far from ready. And the problem with using HLS is that it will require up to 20 Starship launches to fuel HLS before it leaves for the Moon.

Why are we going back to the Moon? What will we get for our money? Is it scientific research? Is it to build a permanent base on the Moon? Mine Lunar resources? Or is it just another space race, but this time with China? Wasn’t the real goal Mars?

Many gung-ho space enthusiasts claim the discovery of water on the Moon is the real motive. Water can produce oxygen and hydrogen. Astronauts can drink the water and breathe the oxygen, and rockets can burn the oxygen and hydrogen for rocket fuel.

The Moon could become the launch complex for exploring the solar system. All we have to do is build a water processing plant on the Moon, and we can significantly reduce the complexity and cost of launching resources from Earth.

Most of the weight of a Moon mission comes from rocket fuel. Next is the air and water needed to keep the astronauts alive. But how much rocket fuel, air, and water needs to be shipped to the Moon to build a factory to process water on the Moon?

It would be a lot less if we sent humanoid robots. Robots don’t need to return, so we don’t need that rocket fuel for a return flight either.

Humanoid robots are evolving at a tremendous pace, along with AI. Before NASA has a lunar lander ready, they will probably have evolved to do all the work a human astronaut could do on the Moon.

Think about it. What if SpaceX’s HLS were refueled in Earth orbit from fuel brought from the Moon? That could save up to 20 gigantic Starship launches. And what if robots could eventually manufacture rockets on the Moon? Then astronauts could go into orbit on a SpaceX Dragon capsule launched with a Falcon 9, and transfer to a lunar-built rocket to travel to the Moon.

Landing humanoid robots on the Moon might be done without the complication of SpaceX Starship launches.

This would delay humans returning to the Moon, but in the long run, it would jump-start solar exploration. Robots could build habitats on the Moon for people, fill them with air and water, set up the environment, grow food, and get everything ready for human visitors. Robots could build the infrastructure for sending humans to Mars from the Moon.

We should be able to build robots that can withstand the heat and cold of space, endure the high radiation, and work with the dangerous regolith on the Moon and Mars.

Humans could watch through robotic eyes if we set up communication relay satellites orbiting the Moon. Imagine putting on an AR headset and seeing the Moon from human eye level with 4K eyes? The robots would be autonomous but also capable of working with humans.

I’m not sure the public will pay for building long-term human settlements on the Moon. The novelty of people on the Moon wears off quickly. Using robots is so much cheaper. Biological beings aren’t designed to explore space, but robots are perfect.

We really need to think about what we want from exploring the solar system. Is giving a few humans the thrill of going where no human has gone before? Haven’t the Hubble and James Webb telescopes given us so much more than manned missions? Personally, I’d love to see through the eyes of a robot working on the Moon and Mars rather than watch films of another human having all the fun.

But what I’d really love is giant space telescopes spaced across the solar system working as an astronomical interferometer. That would allow us to directly observe planets orbiting distant suns and spectrographically measure their atmospheres. That would be our best chance to discover alien intelligent life. Robots would be perfect for building such structures.

JWH

Do We Really Need AGI and ASI? Isn’t AI Good Enough?

by James Wallace Harris, 4/18/26

Tech giants are spending hundreds of billions of dollars in a race to be the first to achieve Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), while also hoping to reach Artificial Superintelligence (ASI) soon after. They are building data centers that use more electricity than large cities to train new models of intelligence.

But do we need machines with more intelligence than all of humanity?

Let’s assume we do want machines to solve our greatest problems. Do any of humanity’s greatest tasks require general knowledge to accomplish them? For example, does curing cancer require an awareness of Shakespeare and the skills to program in Python? Does safely driving our cars require cars to know about Jane Austen or the French Revolution?

Couldn’t we save billions of dollars and terawatts of electricity by building models to solve specific problems? Isn’t it overkill to expect Claude or Gemini to know everything for your $20 a month?

Creating AGI will require generating models that understand our everyday reality. Won’t that lead to self-awareness? And if machines have self-awareness, can we own them? Wouldn’t that be slavery? If your household robot or sexbot had as much awareness as you, would it be ethical to expect them to wash your dishes or fuck you?

Isn’t the drive towards AGI and ASI kind of like playing God? I don’t believe in God, nor do I believe we should become one or create one. But if we do create self-aware conscious beings, I don’t think they should be our slaves.

AI models are benchmarked against an array of tests and skills. Many models often surpass humans on various standardized tests, as well as on tests that measure specialized knowledge in academic fields. Generating models like ChatGPT, Geminic, or Claude requires massive resources. Resources that are straining the economy and infrastructure.

Are these efforts really needed, or is it just ego and greed run amok? Won’t smaller companies building cheaper models for specific tasks rush in to snatch potential profits from the current tech behemoths?

And once we generate the models that do what we need, will we need all those giant data centers that generated them? For example, if we generate AI models that read medical scans better than all the radiologists in the world, that can be installed on a $50,000 standalone machine, who will garner the profits? Will it be OpenAI or Anthropic?

Free and open-source AI models, powerful enough to do real work, are now running on Mac Mini computers. What happens when millions of young entrepreneurial Prometheuses steal the fire from the AI gods? I don’t think they will need AGI to succeed.

Isn’t the race to AGI an insane distraction? Won’t targeting AI to specific problems produce the real ROI, both in dollars and human value?

JWH