Has humanity "jumped the shark"?

[RobertU]

The phrase “jump the shark” comes from a Happy Days episode where the Fonz, on waterskies, jumped over a shark. The expression describes a moment when something that was once great has reached a point where it will now decline in quality.

When did humanity reach its peak? How about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989? Or would you give a nod to 2009, when President Obama took office and smart phones became an everyday item, promising to link the entire world in a collective spirit of peace and prosperity? How did that work out?

When did it all start to go downhill, and autocrats reversed the march toward democracy? The war in Ukraine is sooo 20th century. Really, this again? Has history become derivative? All the songs have been sung. All the pictures have been drawn. All the stories have been told. For years, it’s mostly sampling and sequels.

If you think my perspective is West-centric, please show me a place on earth where humanity is taking a great leap forward.

Should we expect this “show,” the story of human history, to be cancelled?

 

[MamboDervish]

The phrase “jump the shark” comes from a Happy Days episode where the Fonz, on waterskies, jumped over a shark. The expression describes a moment when something that was once great has reached a point where it will now decline in quality.

When did humanity reach its peak? How about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989? Or would you give a nod to 2009, when President Obama took office and smart phones became an everyday item, promising to link the entire world in a collective spirit of peace and prosperity? How did that work out?

When did it all start to go downhill, and autocrats reversed the march toward democracy? The war in Ukraine is sooo 20th century. Really, this again? Has history become derivative? All the songs have been sung. All the pictures have been drawn. All the stories have been told. For years, it’s mostly sampling and sequels.

If you think my perspective is West-centric, please show me a place on earth where humanity is taking a great leap forward.

Should we expect this “show,” the story of human history, to be cancelled?

Throughout history, It has always been 10 steps forward, and 6 or 7 backward. Right now it just happens to be 9-1/2 steps backward. It may seem depressing and daunting, but the arc of history actually does bend toward justice - albeit too slowly. In this country we've had several great leaps forward as recently as just this millennium alone which, at least in part, is what accounts for the current backlash.

 

[Antiwar]

 

[lemmiwinx]

I don't think humanity has jumped the shark just yet. This war in Ukraine was started by one person with delusions of grandeur. You know who I speak of he wishes to become the leader of the new Supreme Soviet Union. First thing he did was make it a crime to speak out against the war or it's 15 years prison time.

 

[Daisy]

World War I was the turning point...

 

[ttwtt78640]

Yep, I remember when motorcycles were dangerous and sex was safe - now we have anti-lock brakes and AIDS.

 

[Gateman_Wen]

The phrase “jump the shark” comes from a Happy Days episode where the Fonz, on waterskies, jumped over a shark. The expression describes a moment when something that was once great has reached a point where it will now decline in quality.

When did humanity reach its peak? How about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989? Or would you give a nod to 2009, when President Obama took office and smart phones became an everyday item, promising to link the entire world in a collective spirit of peace and prosperity? How did that work out?

When did it all start to go downhill, and autocrats reversed the march toward democracy? The war in Ukraine is sooo 20th century. Really, this again? Has history become derivative? All the songs have been sung. All the pictures have been drawn. All the stories have been told. For years, it’s mostly sampling and sequels.

If you think my perspective is West-centric, please show me a place on earth where humanity is taking a great leap forward.

Should we expect this “show,” the story of human history, to be cancelled?

IDK about "humanity" but America certainly did it in 2016 when Cheeto Jesus got elected.

 

[LessBiased?]

I think it's similar to a stock index - the long-term trend is towards things getting better overall, but there's plenty of volatility along the way, and there are periods where things get worse for long enough that it does seem like the shark has been jumped.

One thing that could really be disastrous is large-scale nuclear war. And of course if a big object comes from space and hits our planet, that could be disastrous too. And a future pandemic could be far worse than the current one.

Incredible to think that, in a universe which is about 14 billion years old, and unimaginably large, with roughly 100 billion galaxies, each of which has roughly 100 billion stars, our one planet orbiting one star may be the only place in the universe which has intelligent life. And our human species is unlike any of the other millions of species with respect to both intelligence and self-destructive capability.

What the odds of all of this? Sometimes it all seems like a dream ...

 

[Mr. Invisible]

The phrase “jump the shark” comes from a Happy Days episode where the Fonz, on waterskies, jumped over a shark. The expression describes a moment when something that was once great has reached a point where it will now decline in quality.

When did humanity reach its peak? How about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989? Or would you give a nod to 2009, when President Obama took office and smart phones became an everyday item, promising to link the entire world in a collective spirit of peace and prosperity? How did that work out?

When did it all start to go downhill, and autocrats reversed the march toward democracy? The war in Ukraine is sooo 20th century. Really, this again? Has history become derivative? All the songs have been sung. All the pictures have been drawn. All the stories have been told. For years, it’s mostly sampling and sequels.

If you think my perspective is West-centric, please show me a place on earth where humanity is taking a great leap forward.

Should we expect this “show,” the story of human history, to be cancelled?

That's the thing, you can point to almost any part of human history and people there will feel as if things are going all downhill and that it's game over. However, that has yet to really be proven to last. Are things pretty bad right now? In some ways yes, with wars and rumors of war, massive economic inequality, and the very future of our planet in question. However, things have also been worse before and we don't even need to go back 100 years for that. Overall things may seem bad, however, in a greater historical context, it could be convinciably argued that we're on the up and up.

 

[noonereal]

I don't think humanity has jumped the shark just yet. This war in Ukraine was started by one person with delusions of grandeur. You know who I speak of he wishes to become the leader of the new Supreme Soviet Union. First thing he did was make it a crime to speak out against the war or it's 15 years prison time.

Isn't this thread about how Trump/trumpism has taken to the developed world middle ages?

 

[Fishking]

Throughout history, It has always been 10 steps forward, and 6 or 7 backward. Right now it just happens to be 9-1/2 steps backward. It may seem depressing and daunting, but the arc of history actually does bend toward justice - albeit too slowly. In this country we've had several great leaps forward as recently as just this millennium alone which, at least in part, is what accounts for the current backlash.

I'd push back a little and not say that history bends towards justice for the most part. I think it nearly always bent towards injustice until that past few hundred years. Before that nearly everything was nightmare fuel.

 

[Fishking]

Isn't this thread about how Trump/trumpism has taken to the developed world middle ages?

There are way more things in the world than Trump. I know, it's shocking to find that out.

 

[bomberfox]

The phrase “jump the shark” comes from a Happy Days episode where the Fonz, on waterskies, jumped over a shark. The expression describes a moment when something that was once great has reached a point where it will now decline in quality.

When did humanity reach its peak? How about the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989? Or would you give a nod to 2009, when President Obama took office and smart phones became an everyday item, promising to link the entire world in a collective spirit of peace and prosperity? How did that work out?

When did it all start to go downhill, and autocrats reversed the march toward democracy? The war in Ukraine is sooo 20th century. Really, this again? Has history become derivative? All the songs have been sung. All the pictures have been drawn. All the stories have been told. For years, it’s mostly sampling and sequels.

If you think my perspective is West-centric, please show me a place on earth where humanity is taking a great leap forward.

Should we expect this “show,” the story of human history, to be cancelled?

We havnt reached the end of history but we listened to too much Francis Fukuyama and got hella complacent while listening to overpaid dipshits tell us to just be grateful for what we got, be grateful for your place pleb.

Most motivational speakers hyping their hustle are bullshitting you.

 

[noonereal]

There are way more things in the world than Trump. I know, it's shocking to find that out.

Not a lot more when it comes to inducing a new middle ages. (Which is what this thread is about)

 

[Lisa]

IDK about "humanity" but America certainly did it in 2016 when Cheeto Jesus got elected.

Take the like for "Cheeto Jesus. "

 

[Fishking]

Not a lot more when it comes to inducing a new middle ages. (Which is what this thread is about)

Uhhhh...yes, there is. The Arab Spring (Winter) that brought about the rise of extremism in the ME and ISIS happened under Obama. The invasion of Ukriane happened under Biden. The annexation of Crimea happened under Obama.

A lot of ****ing things happen that has absolutely nothing to do with Trump at all. Like, nearly all the things. Only ****ing morons think Trump is behind all the problems.

 

[bomberfox]

Anyone who tells you to stop complaining about society doesnt want you to organize. Thats the problem with this scam of hyper individualism, it robs you of your ability to recognize maybe something is hideously wrong with society.