Slang. Applied to devotees to vintage/retro technology, fashion, movies, books, or
music. Retroids believe that there are no new ideas; rather, that old ideas get re-contextualized. This re-contextualization, Retroids argue, is proof that the old idea was not fully understood or realized in the first place. The past echoes in our minds, a whisper we can't quite understand; the human
brain develops now at a higher rate than the rate at which human beings are able to comprehend the information that the
brain processes and stores, an imbalance responsible for the odd incongruities and general discord of modern life. This idea draws in no
small part from
Arthur Koestler's views in his book "The Ghost in the Machine," in which the author posits that as the human
brain has grown, it has built upon earlier, more primitive
brain structures, and that these are the "ghost in the machine" of the title. By re-examining discarded ideas and technologies, Retroids repair the gaps and glitches in present life.
Fueled by renewed rumors that
Kurt Cobain had been murdered, retroids absorbed
Nirvana's
music in search of clues in the lyrics.
