Conversation about History

Kadam:

The statement that those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it seems misleading. I do not in any way mean to demean the study of history, but rather that history should be one of the most celebratory fields in the world: The study of humanity’s past actions doesn’t just teach us what lead to Nazism, but also contains the memories and stories of the combined sum of humanity’s success thus far in history. Perhaps a more justifiable way to phrase the point would be that those who study history are blessed with the greatest treasury of past success, and have the strongest foundation ever for the structuring of future endeavors.

To justify the title of this post, Anachromancy is my own term to indicate to myself the notion of predicting and structuring future action from the vantage point of a comprehensive view of the past. Obviously the future is created through a continual dialectic between the existing structure and new ideas, but far too often the new is overemphasized.

Therefore, history should be a required course. Next time on Nova, nodal points and the coming cultural event horizon!

Joey:

I love history because of the sheer depth of it. At it’s core, history is about humanity, and humanity is rich with experiences, feelings, and stories. As you said, the sum total of human experience up until this very moment is a truly humbling thing indeed, like looking up at the billions of stars in the universe.

It always amazes me that so many people are obsessed with “new”, when there’s so much unexplored and undiscovered sweetness and melancholy in the old.