Why you should study history?

History.. Always unreliable, past predictor of future return.

Why you should study history Reason 1: To develop common sense to Bullshit

When someone says this never has happened before, I say to myself, is that so now? Because history gives examples of so many unexpected occurences of similar nature. It is likely you will find one or two examples from each century! So your bank getting defaulted would not be new news but expected news. Better question to ask would be "well, who gets benefit from this shitty narrative?" Past return does not gurentee future return. This Is true, in two ways. It can be either extraordinary low return or extraordinary high return after long streakes of marginal returns. Optimism and pessimisism can both be ignored when it comes to reality. And it is nobodies fault, just the way of nature of complex systems.

History

2: To make my problems feel small.

Gratitude is a great way to live a fulfilled life. When the mind is shouting, I need more, I say shut up and study, thinking about all those people who struggled in the past without any footwear, mittens and sunscreen. Even 150 years ago people died of appendicitis and ureteric stones. People have survived concentration camps many have collapsed with exhaution to their factories from lack of food and chronic malnutrition. The few grams of gold I am wearing to my friends wedding has seen human blood enough to fill the entire wedding Hall. That's how many people have been killed over a gram of Gold. So I am greatful to democracy, ethics and law, and all the humans who agreed to live their lives in this human made florishing society. Where I can still live even if my both kidneys failed to work, except a few hours a week seated on a chair in a dialysis unit reading a book of my liking.

3: Learning history let's you live with great people of the past.

How boring it is to spend an afternoon with your mediocre friend having dinner. Would you rather walk upto a party where elite intellectual individuals from reknowed universities gather and discuss the universe of atoms and philosophies? How about Benjamin Franklin, Neitsche or Thales of Mellitus? It might be interesting experience than supressing the reality with some ethnol. Maybe you should take a walk on vineyards of belgium, while looking at pictures of ruined churches after world war 2. All this can be done if you just started getting curious about the history. I am sure you wouldn't understand what they speak. But that's not totally the point. You can just brigten up your life a little bit more if you just grasp few ideas from past.

4: To understand reality is nothing but a story.

A civilisation is nothing but a story with an enormous budget. So is patriotism. Borders of a country, Nationality, is just another story taught us so we do not try anything stupid. I am not saying these things are not benificial for survival of the individual and everyone else. Yet it doesnt change the fact it is indeed a fabricated story that we constantly change over time. Time and time over we have seen individuals rise over entire nations and change their will for patriotism. Extend boundries, drag them into wars, and sacrefice with their lives for a great cause. But as it seem such any cause that any man ever died for is just another fabricated lie. You would never know how stupid human beings have been, until you make a habit of studying human history.

5: To understand reality is dynamic

Change is at the heart of everything. Even reality. When we study history we can see most of the things we believed to be true is just partially correct. As more evidence accumilates, other than giving more power it gives us more opportunity to shape the reality. If what we believed to be true 500 years ago has mostly been proven wrong today, think about in 500 years in the future. If every catastrophy which can happen between today and then excluded we can safetely conclude that future man would laugh at us the way we laugh at men who worshipped trees 500 years ago. Maybe the way is not to chase another truth, but to understand the ending of this forever chase of truth in human mind.