[Teddy5]

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*was bored, it's late, thought of a thread*. Does it matter? When you think about it, there are arguments that support both sides.

I myself, believe in the saying "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it".

What's your stand on the subject?

[Fipherion]

As with any saying like this, there are elements of truth but it is not completely true. The fact is that we live in a dynamic world and, while there are similarities, we cannot always apply yesterday's reasonings to today's situations. Another saying that is applicable here is "hindsight is 20-20." We can always look back into history and say "oh, if only we had done this, it would have been better" but there is a major problem. We do not have absolute knowlege of all possible outcomes. It is a mistake to say "this was bad, if we hadn't done that, then it wouldn't have happened" because who's to say that the world would be in better shape if a different decision had been made?

When a decision is made, there are two outcomes: it turns out to have good results of bad results. However, once the actions are taken, it is absolutely, 100% impossible to know what would have happened if the decision was different.

When history "repeats itself" its mainly because history is so freaking huge! So much stuff has happened so the likelihood of something happening that hasn't happened before in a broad sense is very slim. If you make a decision and it turns out like something from the past you can say "oh man, he hsould have paid attention to history, he would have known that would have happened" but we have no idea that whatever the other result may have been would have been any better. If he had chosen otherwise, chances are history would have seen another similar result and the cycle continues.

[Longknife]

Personally I'd try to learn as much as I can.

And yeah, I think I learn plenty from history. I'd argue that other social studies are very reliant on it. I know Psychology and Sociology need history to develop (because they view cases over and over and develop their findings off of them). You could even argue that, since it's a good idea to have a fair amount of knowledge of Psychology for public speaking, Speech depends on it too. I really think you need a good idea of history for many things.


Again, I wouldn't toss away ANY subject though. xD



Now if you mean like, not history in GENERAL (as in never referring to the past further than you need to) but as in wtf happened when America was created and wtf people did when we lived in midevil times and Carmen Electra hadn't been invented yet...can't say I see TOO many obvious practical uses for it, but again, I think there's always a use in there somewhere.

[Moshineko]

Originally Posted by Longknife

Now if you mean like, not history in GENERAL (as in never referring to the past further than you need to) but as in wtf happened when America was created and wtf people did when we lived in midevil times and Carmen Electra hadn't been invented yet...can't say I see TOO many obvious practical uses for it, but again, I think there's always a use in there somewhere.

Hehe, Carmen Electra invented. Silly Longy.

I actually remember hearing a report on NPR one day about a landfill that apparently had been in use in Roman times, and had preserved a lot of writing. Apparently the most popular book was a "pulp" porno. Hehe, the more things change, eh?

History doesn't repeat itself so much as humans make the same stupid mistakes again and again. Think of all the things your parents have told you not to do, or to make sure you do. Guess why they tell you? Yup. They want to make sure you don't screw up like they did. And, most of the time, we do anyway.

The life-cycle of a human almost dooms us to keep making silly mistakes. First, we are children, without the experience or capacity to really think ahead, and base decisions on past events. Later, we become adolescents and young adults, and strive to make our own identity, and, as a result, deliberately do things the wrong way, simply because we "know better" and think we're different. Which, unfortunately, is rarely the case. And finally, adulthood, when we've made enough stupid decisions that we know our actions have lasting consequences. Usually, by that point though, we're busy making a living, raising children, and not having enough energy to go out and change the world. And when we do try to change the world, our lack of saving-the-world experience usually leads us to make a decision that looks good, but turns out bad.

When you're a beast with a seperate conciousness, there is a drive to seperate yourself, to some degree, from others. That wish for seperation can lead to the old "history reapeating itself" cliche. Being seperate beings, we have a hard time believing that since Johnny got bit trying to kill that leopard, that the same thing will happen when we try to kill it. We're us, after all, the hero of the story. Heroes don't die. Silly Johnny, should have let the hero take care of it.
But, when we're all heroes, there's a big problem when we look for a villain. So, we try foolish things, take silly risks, say rude things and burn our bridges. Because we can't alter our interior story enough to make ourselves bit players, but the rest of the world sees us as such.

One of my favorite quotes that I can't find anymore says something to the effect of: "children no longer respect their elders, disaster besets us, society is losing its morals, dogs won't even listen to their masters. Surely the end of the world is nigh." It comes, perhaps unsurprisingly, from ancient Greece, written by some old man thinking the same thing we all think in our dotage. "Didn't used to be like this when I was young. Pesky chilluns."

At a certain point, it becomes sort of logical to think of history not so much as what happened to make the world the way it is, but as a silly story that tells you all the possible ways to make a mess of your life. When you look deep into history, down to the lives of the everyday people, nothing much changes but the clothes, the furniture, and the odd household appliance. For all we know, there may have been a massive dinosaur civilization, with a Carmen Elctrosaurus, and dinovision. After 65 million years, we wouldn't find a bit of evidence. So, we sort of guess, and tell a story that sounds good, and, of course, stars us as the heroes.

[Avarion]

Personally I think history is essential. Hindsight is, as another user said, 20-20, and we are unable to utilise it if we don't reflect on past things. Things do have a way of coming full circle, such as Tesco's recent decision to transport goods via the Manchester Ship Canal, which people only remember as being at its peak of activity during the Industrial Revolution.

In an our attempts to remain progressive and to look foward to new things, sometimes the solutions to our problems and answers to our questions lie somewhere in the trail of dust behind us, but not everyone knows when it's time to stop and look back.