In 2004, collapse still took time. The Red Sox took a week to reverse the curse. Martha Stewart took five months to go to jail. The tsunami took seven hours to cross the Indian Ocean.

At first glance, the keyword “downfall -2004-” appears to be a historical anomaly. When we think of colossal collapses—empires shattering, economies cratering, or icons imploding—the year 2004 is rarely the first that comes to mind. It lacks the visceral terror of 1929, the geopolitical shock of 1989, or the physical horror of 2001.

The downfall of 2004 was a lesson that the world's pillars—sports dynasties, network news, pharmaceutical safety, even geological stability—are softer than we think. The keyword isn't just a date. It is an epitaph for the last year we believed things would last forever.