There is value in understanding the history of a thing if the goal is to maintain. A lot of people get paid a lot of money to maintain a thing. At some point th

There is value in understanding the history of a thing if the goal is to maintain. A lot of people get paid a lot of money to maintain a thing. At some point the thing becomes obsolete or less valuable and somebody gets paid to patch the thing. I think we have seen so much more value created by people thinking perpendicular to the norm. Do you need to know the history of the taxi industry to create Uber? Do you need to know the history of the grocery industry to create Blue Apron? I would argue that knowledge of the history can bog you down and influence your approach to solving problems. Do you need to know the history of monarchies to understand that the person who was born into power is not representing your needs? Knowing the history doesn't help you decide that being governed by somebody who you and your peers are able to elect would more effectively represent your needs. I would argue that ideas aren't born out of a historical perspective, but that they're born out of current need and that the historical perspective only serves to tell you why you can't do something.