the only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from from history

History repeats itself, I was told in a high school history class. History repeats itself and we have to learn from the mistakes already make so that we don’t make the same mistakes again. This was the reason we had to learn history. If you don’t learn about what happened before, you are doomed to do the same stupid things over and over again. A fool is someone who does the same thing over and over again expecting different results each time.
The problem is that history keeps repeating itself no matter how many history classes are taught in High School and College. People continue to make the same mistakes over and over again, as if they are doomed to repeat them and never learn any lesson. Why don’t we learn from history and improve on the future instead of making the same mistakes over and over again?
When we look at history, what do we see? Do we see a string of mistakes that need correcting in the future? Or do we see a string of successes that have contributed to the progress in technological and human innovation?
In my mind it is the latter, we see the good things that have happened to bring us to the current point in time. We see all the wonderful things that have expanded the human lifespan, grew our food supply to sustain such a big population, and gave all the amenities that the kings of old would look on in envy. We don’t see all the so called mistakes that we are supposed to learn from, because all the good things that have happened have over powered the little mistakes that we have made along the way.
In fact, I would go so far as to say that the little mistakes are an inevitable part of humanity striving to better its condition. If allowed freedom of action, freedom to pursue its happiness, humanity will undoubtedly make mistakes along the way. Even in a controlled environment, it is impossible to calculate all the variables necessary to rule out all “bad” consequences of actions that bring about progress.
The history professors of the world would have you believe that learning about mistakes will prevent their repetition. People will get wiser from the knowledge they have gained by learning the stories of the past. In truth, this is not the case at all; people make the same mistakes over and over again for one simple reason: these same mistakes lead to good things for humanity in the long run. After so many years of death and destruction, war still exists and is a thriving industry. Even after looking at all the miserable people taking drugs, people continue to indulge. Staying up all night, a person vowed never to do such a thing again, yet the next time he does it anyway. The list is endless; there are so many follies that people have done and continue to do. Even knowing all the lessons of history, people still say, “the ends justify the means” and “you have to break a few eggs to get an omelet.”
Humanity is a risk taking species. While some individuals would like to hide from risks; as a community, people like taking risks. Corporations were developed with the goal of taking on risks to get large rewards. Countries were developed to pool the risk over large amounts of people for protection and war. However, there are always two sides to risk. There is the possible loss as well as the possible gain. When you spread the risk over many people the perceived gains always override the possible losses. So long as humanity remains humanity, history will continue to repeat itself. People will continue to make the same mistakes over and over again. In the risky roll of the dice you don’t always win. In the end though, it’s all worth it. Look how far we have come.