Does anyone else think the only thing we learn from History is that we dont learn from it?

Question

We keep repeating stupid decisions

Answer 1

One is tempted to agree! Or, maybe we DO learn from history, but the dratted thing never repeats itself close enough for us to identify the present situation with the past, so our lessons are too often wasted - or else dangerously practised on quite different circumstances. Or so it seems. Or else we are just so angry and humiliated and stubborn and hurt and proud and scared that our decisions have very much to do with our feelings and very little to do with our knowledge. I haven't much wisdom to share here, but I like your question and will be interested to read others' opinions on this.

Answer 2

What you see as repeated stupid decisions (and I fully understand why you see them that way), is actually a sign of healthy system. The complexity theory tells us that all complicated systems will eventually collapse (or rather, go wrong). The weather for example, you can start with the exact same amount of humidity, barometric pressure, wind, sun, clouds and so on on every day of a month; and you can get up to 30 different types of weather showing up. You can get a sunny and pleasant day, you could get a hurricane or anything in between the two; but you will never be able to fully predict it more than a few days in advance (and even then you could be wrong).

And this works for all complicated systems. They will all break down and become unpredictable. And in fact, since this happens in every complicated system, it is a sign of a healthy system if it breaks down once in a while. In fact, if you go for a long time with no breakdown in the system, that is a sign the whole thing is about to experience a collapse from which the system cannot recover. For example, if you have a certain species of animal that is constantly reproducing and has no predators; well you would venture to guess that it would grow and really establish itself. All of them live to old age, right. But eventually the population grows too big and there isn't enough food, causing widespread death through the group (and sometimes even ending in complete annhilation of the group.

Well, the stupid decisions you speak of are breakdowns in the system. They are a sign that the system is failing but will never die. As long as dictatorships occur, the system will hold together well enough to keep humankind alive. To a point, you don't want to learn from history; because if you fix the system then humans will grow even more out of control then they are now. It is callous I know to speak of dictatorships as "population control" but they do serve in that respect.

They also serve as an example of what happens when you let power get out of control. People not serving the dictatorship (resistance movements, other countries not allied with the dictatorship) then learn to work together and to let go of their differences so they can join together to overthrow the dictatorship and return the system to balance so the whole process can begin again. As long as the process works, humans survive.

Answer 3

My mother always told me that if we do not learn history, then we are doomed to repeat it.
I believe, as you do, that we repeat it no matter what.
I think we learn history to be entertained-like a story book-We get to hear the fairy tales that have been passed down from generation-to genteration.
Gosh, maybe the courses we take shouldn't be called History-maybe they should be called literature or english class!

Answer 4

You cannot learn lessons from history because situations never repeat themselves exactly. However one can discern patterns - and such understanding helps in thinking about new situations that arise.