Hubris

What single human-made structure is most exemplary of humaity's hubris?

My vote goes to Falcon's Flight. This monstrous roller coaster was designed and built by Intamin to be the focal point of the $998.2 million Six Flags amusement park nested in the $9.8 billion Saudi megaproject Qiddiya.[1]

For many roller coaster enjoyers (myself included), the hubris reeks from the basic stats alone.[2] Falcon's Flight captures records in multiple categories, dethroning coasters that I believe display hubris in and of themselves.

Even before we get a chance to look at the damn thing, even the excesses are excessive. Now, let's look at the damn thing:

Ancient Greece had multiple meanings to the ancient Greeks. The modern definition arises from poets using the term to describe "wrongful action against the natural order of things". Falcon's Flight offers that in droves. The hostile desert climate and steep cliff face are woven into the coaster's DNA. A barrage of LSM launchers that serves to power a relentless assault on human endurance. A very complex six-train operation mode, each train emblazoned with the same lifeless eyes.

The coaster even supplies it's own on-the-nose metaphor: not satisfied with encircling the entire theme park, it interacts with the nearby F1 racetrack (wow, another sportswashing venture!). Not satisfied with limitless soverign wealth and no accountability for human rights abuses, the House of Saud wants to pour that soverign wealth into having people think they (and the human rights abuses they commit) are cool.

Across the stories in Greek mythology, the hubris of the mortal characters most often manifests itself as the belief they can get away with defying the gods or other higher powers. This is flipped in the current world order, where it is the most powerful who are steadfast in the belief they could get away with it because they put their efforts towards ensuring that the class that can hold them accountable by rising up remains marginalized. They are so overconfident in this belief that they are also innovating in ways to dab on us.

How do we stop the tide and hold entities like the House of Saud accountable? One idea would be to make it clear to collaborators that the moral cost is not worth it by refusing to engage with them if they ever go through with them.[4] We can't just assume that figures and organizations will never sell out, even if in some cases they will explicitly say they won't. Everything has a price, whether that price tag is public or not.

What if, when the rot consumes something we love, we can't easily cut ties wholesale with it? Seek out or build communities centered around the vestiges of the things we loved pre-enshittification. These can also serve as time capsules; living history and inspiration for new generations.

I don't follow amusement park industry news much at all to be honest.[5] I learned of the big industry stories relevant to this post in the following order:

1. Cedar Fair and Six Flags would merge, keeping the name "Six Flags".
2. The first "Six Flags" property outside of North America would be in Saudi Arabia.
3. Said amusement partk would feature a coaster that defies all previous notions about what coaster engineering could accomplish; one that, even devoid of the context of it being in Saudi Arabia, would be a hard pass for me.

Each of these news items filled me with some combination of outrage and disgust. The thought of Cedar Point being renamed "Six Flags Cedar Point" was and still is incredibly cursed. Corporations seeking out Saudi money on their own accord, making it clear that they believe some of their customers/users don't belong in this world, is always disheartening.

How other parks and coaster manufacturers respond to Intamin building the amusement ride equivalent of the Tsar Bomba remains to be seen. Does Falcon's Flight mark the end of coaster arms races forever, or did it inaugurate a new one, far more cynical in tone than the ones in previous decades.[6]

At least in this particular case, there is an easy way to ignore the noise. The amount of superlatives a ride claims is immaterial to how good the ride experience is. The reigning multi-year champions for both wooden and steal coasters at the Golden Ticket Awards (Knoebels' Phoenix and Carowinds' Fury 325, respectively), do not rely on any superlatives they may have in their advertising.[7]

The lesson here is to stop chasing the next big thing and to enjoy the things you actually like.