My dad once told me “When I was a kid, world war 2 was news, now it’s history.”
Today I went to a hooley festival. I don’t know what a hooley is or why it would choose to collapse on betelgeuse seven. But what I did learn was that the kingston area used to be a big relaxing hotel-laden refuge from the city. People would take 2-3 week vacations away from the city in this area. But the car killed the entire economy there. Now instead of the journey being a big deal, such that you’d stay there a while, you could take a day trip in your car.
Consequently the hotel business dried up and that took everything around it with it.
That was 100 years ago, there’s no evidence left of this vibrant economy.
What I realized was interesting about that is that in 100 years, nobody will know what a strip mall is, all of the small retail businesses having been put out of business by big box stores (the few that survive) and amazon and the like. And we’re watching it happen now. Now it is news, in 100 years, it will be history.