To the question in the title I say yes. We had the Hippie movement in the 60s now we have the occupy movement today. We have had cults repeat their theirselves. We had the Civil Rights movement now the Gay Rights movement. Stock market fell in about 1912 which lead to great depression and we had a major dip in the economy. So I saw it does. What do you think though?
Not, I don't think "history" does "repeat itself". However, from time to time, there will be events which have close historical parallels; and if people start saying and thinking "Oh ... it's history repeating itself" then this can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. But I don't think history repeats itself; and if occasionally it appears to, well, it's an awfully big world with an awful lot of events going on, and it's statistically inevitable that from time to time there will be recurrences of particular circumstances.
Not literally of course, but some aspects in history are almost bound to repeat themselves. For example I think no empire will last forever.
But is "no empire lasting forever" the same as history repeating itself? What are the nature and causes of the decline of empires? And is there a pattern, readily identifiable, or does each decline and fall in its own particular way? Is there a common theme between the decline and fall of the Roman empire, the Angevin empire, the Mongol empire, the Spanish empire, the Ottoman empire, the Japanese empire, the British empire, the Soviet empire? I'm struggling to see one ... and if there isn't, can that fairly be described as history "repeating itself"?
Only in that aspect perhaps. Although it's safe to say the rise of one group of people (not always an empire or nation) goes at the cost of another (often a bigger and older one that struggles to adapt present issues). But why I actually gave this example is of course because this is what the line 'history is repeating itself' is used and I kinda agree. It does not always need the same common theme, they will just fall. And although some may have similar causes there will always be exceptions as well
Nature is cyclical. Look at the motions of the planets, the change of the seasons, the rise & fall of the tides, etc. The same events are repeated. That's not to say that events are exactly the same each time, but the general pattern is repeated. Human endeavors are extremely complex, but it's arrogant to think that we are somehow above the cyclical nature of the universe.
Does history repeat itself? Well, it's not over yet (Francis Fukuyama's protests aside) so it's hard to say. What is true is that human nature, the psychology of the individual and the sociology of groups, could produce patterns which reiterate, but subtly influenced by structual factors like religion, cultures, languages, ethical norms, the balance of power and so on. Oh, and technology of course, which considerably altered the playing field several times in history. So certain events will seem similar to historical ones, even factoring in the human mind's remarkable ability to see analogies and patterns where there are none. But at the same time, the structural influences will affect how those psychological and sociological drives are played out. For instance, prestige seems to be a fairly major historical constant. In medieval times, prestige was usually linked to the wealth and the military power of the ruler. In more modern times, it was linked to colonialism, and nowadays prestige seems to be linked to nuclear weapons, aircraft carriers, large economies and recognition within the UN Security Council. Ultimately though, science will allow us to alter our basic psychology and thus the drives which cause reiterations in the historical record. Transhumans, whatever form they may take, will have radically different psychologies and may even be entirely unpredictable by the standards of a normal human. So even if history does repeat, or seem to, it will not necessarily continue to do so for forever.
