Duncan Bell Is So Retro

When it comes to technology, nostalgia ain’t what it used to be…

Curiously enough, one of the truest things I’ve ever heard said about tech was uttered by former Blue Peter presenter and one-time tabloid icon, emeritus Professor Richard Bacon.

For some reason that now escapes me, he hosted the T3 Awards (twice!) and there, Dr Bacon posited a compelling theory. In tech, unlike in any other field of endeavour, the winner of a T3 Award could rightfully claim to be the GOAT: Greatest Of All Time.

At the Oscars, a film such as Green Book can win, and everyone says, ‘Well it wasn’t a very good year; it’s no classic like Terms of Endearment or Kramer vs Kramer, is it?’ ‘Actually, why is the winner of this always so awful?’ they might very well then go on to say.

At a tech awards, however, the winner in any given year is, by definition, the best such bit of technology ever.

Or, at least… [dramatic music swells] that used to be the case.

Modern life is rubbish