>Human beings cannot sufficiently absorb crucial knowledge from the past to stop them repeating mistakes of the past. This is especially so in respect of war—an

>Human beings cannot sufficiently absorb crucial knowledge from the past to stop them repeating mistakes of the past. This is especially so in respect of war—and it's one thing we're exceptionally good at. One would expect that, as we've engaged in it many thousands of times from time immemorial. Some things you don't get except by enduring it. The only way out is through. Adversity is just one of those types of teachers. If it's any comfort I've had a theory along the same lines that the vast majority of human communication fails by default, and that in fact, accurate conveyance in the sense of high fidelity replication of understanding is something that literally requires an institutional pipeline. However the existence of the institution as a conduit of power jeopardizes it's effectiveness at it's raison de' etre. Truly a vicious cycle to break.