I Think I’ve Been Here Before

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Archive on 4: I Think I’ve Been Here Before

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Repetition is everywhere. Repetition is persuasive. Has Ross Sutherland been here before?

4 Extra Debut. Ross Sutherland explores repetition. Repetition is everywhere. Repetition is persuasive. Has he been here before? From 2020.

To mark Groundhog Day, writer Ross Sutherland explores the joy that comes from repetition. 

To mark Groundhog Day, writer Ross Sutherland explores the joy that comes from repetition. 

Repetition is everywhere. Repetition is persuasive. Repetition is fun. 

Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was listening, everything must be said again.

The music we like, the games we play - it all seems to revolve around the pleasure of repetition. After all, familiarity provides comfort. 

Our jobs are loops. Our social lives are loops. Are we into infinity because we are not infinite? The loop, unlike us, never dies.
 
We shouldn't be afraid of saying something more than once - the deepest "Aha's" spring from an encounter and then a return. A build and a release. 
 
Yet repeating oneself is embarrassing. We call out the robotic language of diplomats, politicians and liars. 

Even history itself seems to endlessly loop back around, forcing each new generation to make the same mistakes as the last. 
 
Ross Sutherland looks at the behavioural grooves that we return to, the concepts of pattern, memory and déjà vu.

With contributions from: 

Professor Catherine Loveday
Techno DJ and Rinse FM resident “Hodge” 
Comedian Glenn Moore 
 
Producer:  Hana Walker-Brown 

A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in February 2020.

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