What do cinematic universes cloud archiving and voice cloning have in common? They're in the
business of foreverizing - the process of revitalizing things that have degraded failed or
disappeared so that they can remain active in the present. To foreverize something is to
reanimate it to enclose and protect it from time and the elements and to eradicate the
feeling of nostalgia that accompanies loss. In a culture anxious about nostalgia things are
considered failures if they don't last forever or if they're expected not to last.
Foreverizing is a bulwark against instability but it isn't an infallible enterprise. That
which is promised to last forever often does not and that which is disposed of can sometimes
last disturbingly forever. In this groundbreaking book American philosopher Grafton Tanner
develops his theory of foreverism: an anti-nostalgic discourse that promises growth without
change and life without loss. Engaging with pressing issues from the ecological impact of data
storage to the rise of reboot culture Tanner tracks the implications of a society averse to
nostalgia and reveals the new weapons we have for eliminating it.
