It's true. You just reminded me of a graphic I saved that sends me back to that era

Rage face rulz wojak droolz

I suspect that the mass extinction was caused by 4chans alt-right phase... And perhaps even earlier in the atheism+ and gamer gate periods.

I guess memes adapt to their environmental pressures

That should not be in any way surprising.

The word was coined by British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins in The Selfish Gene (1976) as a concept for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena.

Agreed, look at all the natural variation that was lost. The newcomers don't convey the same intensity of emotions.

P.S. "extant" means still in existence, I believe you meant "extinct" :)

Edit: I only now realize the image is also incorrectly labeled. It's a perfectly understandable mistake, anyway.

We should not have gone further than rage comics

I still use me gusta... though I'd be lying if a part of me didn't feel incredibly old using it, but a part of that might also stem from the fact that I work with 18-25 year Olds

The evolution of memes.