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I have just finished an excellent online course called "The Brief History of Humankind"[1]. It was really an eye opener for me. I always loved history, but all

by 11001 13y ago

I have just finished an excellent online course called "The Brief History of Humankind"[1]. It was really an eye opener for me. I always loved history, but all the arguments people made about why we need to study it never really resonated with me. The stuff about "not repeating the same mistakes", "not re-inventing the wheel", "learning from the past" just never made much sense to me. The real reason to study history, as it was brilliantly presented in the course, is not to learn from the past, but to get liberated from it. We study the past to learn about our present. How did we get here? Why are we here? Often, things we accept as "natural" or permanent, or "optimal" are just a result of decisions and events that occurred long ago in very different context. This post is an excellent reminder that sometimes we need to do the same on the personal level. We need to look back at our past in order to understand our present and decide about our future. [1]https://www.coursera.org/course/humankind https://www.coursera.org/course/humankind

gdwatson 13y ago
History is also great for providing intellectual perspective. A lot of people take as universal ideas that are actually peculiar to our own era; since no era gets everything right, the ideas and attitudes of the past can help you evaluate those you took for granted. Of course, studying the future would probably work just as well, if that were possible.
pagliara 13y ago
That's exactly why I love this TED talk about the history of the universe in 18 minutes: http://youtu.be/yqc9zX04DXs http://youtu.be/yqc9zX04DXs Understanding where we fit on the timeline of the universe is quite amazing.
scrrr 13y ago
I'm not sure it's really what Sivers means, but I agree with what you wrote. I even think that if (after learning how to read and write) children only studied history and maths, they'd be better educated (and even better people) than the average today. I encourage everyone to pick a slice of history this christmas and study it for a bit. It's entertaining, too.

by 11001 13y ago

gdwatson 13y ago

History is also great for providing intellectual perspective. A lot of people take as universal ideas that are actually peculiar to our own era; since no era gets everything right, the ideas and attitudes of the past can help you evaluate those you took for granted. Of course, studying the future would probably work just as well, if that were possible.

pagliara 13y ago

That's exactly why I love this TED talk about the history of the universe in 18 minutes: http://youtu.be/yqc9zX04DXs http://youtu.be/yqc9zX04DXs Understanding where we fit on the timeline of the universe is quite amazing.

scrrr 13y ago

I'm not sure it's really what Sivers means, but I agree with what you wrote. I even think that if (after learning how to read and write) children only studied history and maths, they'd be better educated (and even better people) than the average today. I encourage everyone to pick a slice of history this christmas and study it for a bit. It's entertaining, too.