I heard Vint Cerf say similar things at a talk at Georgia Tech many years ago. Basically it was "we made this decision because of this reason, but had we known

I heard Vint Cerf say similar things at a talk at Georgia Tech many years ago. Basically it was "we made this decision because of this reason, but had we known this thing now we would have done it yet another way." Those points were largely technical in the beginning of his talk, but then he started talking about it in terms of the philosophical implications which were largely not realized at the time. It was clear that he (and assuming his team) were in it as much if not more for the technical challenge than anything else. Its utility was just as clear, but long term implications were (seemingly) not considered. It was both funny and a little disheartening.