42: The Answer to Almost Everything — Season 1, Episode 102: Does History Repeat Itself?

Episode synopsis

Wars, pandemics, economic crises...: so many episodes during which we look back and wonder if history isn't repeating itself. But what is the reality? Indeed, certain geographical or psychological patterns favor the occurrence of similar events. But the stories humans tell themselves also contribute to these similarities between events. Not to mention our tendency to sometimes believe that history repeats itself when the differences outweigh the similarities. Can we, however, learn anything from history?

About 42: The Answer to Almost Everything

What would we be without mucus? Can we live on water? How much does life weigh? Finding out the answers is the aim of ARTE's new science show. In a nod to Douglas Adams's "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", where the figure 42 is the ultimate answer to all questions, 42 tries to provide the answers.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1Can we dig our way through the Earth?
• E2Could We Live on the Moon?
• E3Should we use lotteries instead of elections?
• E4How Much Does Life Weigh?
• E5Will we move onto the water?
• E6Can Algorithms Make Us Healthy?
• E7What if there were no mucus?
• E8How do we solve the nuclear waste puzzle?
• E9What if Fear Didn't Exist?
• E10What if the ice disappeared?
• E11Do We All hear the Same Thing?
• E12Are we too pessimistic?