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Thursday, February 04, 2010

Learning From History

Everyone actually does get an "A" for learning from History. All those doom-sayers that go around, spouting  "Those who do not learn from History,...blah, blah, blah..." are preaching to the choir, because we all learn from History.
The only difference - neurologically...in entities such as we - between Past, Present, and Future is our choice of which tense of the verb to use: Did, Does, or Will Do.
This is not really as comforting a thought as it may seem at first.

Most of us, having received the news that we got a 4 point in Learning from History, would draw the conclusion that our views of the Future: our prophecies, our forecasts, are just most of the same old stuff, just gussied up a bit with people running around with jet-packs, and everyone having health insurance.
However, instead of statements about the future being just like statements about the past, using the same images and what was learned etc., it may be the other way around; i.e., statements about the Past and Present are just like our perceived statements of the Future...only we dull them down a lot.
Instead of taking experience and creating a bleak vision of Terminator 2, prehaps we take a premonition of Terminator 2 and create a bleak present and past.
You have got to love it.

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