To understand the future we have to be able to understand the past..to what extent is this true?

Previous mistakes will be made again. The more you learn about history, the more you might avoid those mistakes.

It is, I’m afraid, only 68% true. The future, as seen in movies, is largely incomprehensible due to the amount of “artistic” license taken by movie makers. Not only do they pay little attention to the past, but they pay little attention to the present, and little attention to the books they are adapting for movies.

The 68% of the future that is understandable comes from that which currently exists. The rest of it is hogwash.

In truth, however, the future is completely ununderstandable because it hasn’t happened yet and we don’t know what it is.

Now, if you want to understand the present, then you can’t do that without understanding the past, and further back you go, the better you can understand the present.

@wundayatta And how did you come to find this magical percentage as how “true” it is?

everything @wundayatta said, from the 3rd par down that is!
I’m on a go-slow at the moment, but even that won’t let me agree on percentages and such

@wundayatta I agree with the movies paying little attention to the past as I remember sitting in a class after Braveheart came out detailing all the things that were wrong in it so if they can do that with the past then they are perhaps on safer ground with the future.

I think we can understand the future or maybe have a better idea of what to expect from looking at the past. For example using Pompeii to have a better understanding of Vesuvius and when it may erupt and to what extent.

Your percentage seems very exact so how did you come up with it? I could say 79% of this was posted while standing on one leg but people would only accept it to be true if I had proof.

To me depends on what you mean by we! I am mostly concerned with me, my family and coworkers and a few friends and most of those are out of my control as it should be. Each day is a new day and I say make the most of it you can as it may be your last.

I think in certain study’s of life such as ecology, astronomy, archaeology and so forth are good indicators of where we came from and how earth has changed. Anthropology would also guide as. So these sciences would be an indicator of where the planet is going, the solar system and perhaps even society. But I sure as hell don’t know where I am going!!

@Just_Justine It’s interesting that you mentioned different areas of study as being indicators as in archaeology I was always taught to think of things as a jigsaw puzzle. On a site you are working on a pit or a ditch or whatever and that is part of a jigsaw puzzle and it is up to you to fit all the pieces together to understand what is going on.

So I agree with you that it requires a team effort from a variety of sources to solve the jigsaw puzzle of where we have came from and how we can avert possible dangers in the future.

@cytonic_horus ja dis reg,totsiens lekker slaap ‘n dankie :)

You cannot understand the future and never will – it hasn’t happened. To understand what is happening currently can require an understanding of the past – it is often your baseline. To estimate what the future might bring will definitely require a close examination of the path that got you here – the past.

ditto what @filmfann said. History often repeats itself

I’m not sure it’s about “understanding the future” – it’s more about knowing where we want to go and how to avoid the mistakes and learn from the past. I’m taking a history class at the moment (America from Reconstruction to the 70s) and you’d be amazed just how similar everything we’re doing now is to some aspect of the past. The political situation has parallels in the 1880s, the economic situation is similar to what led up to the Great Depression, etc. And what really irks me is that (for example) I see people saying things like, “What will save us from a Depression is [what got us into the Great Depression].” A cursory intro-to-history class will reveal just how wrong some of that stuff is (like clamping down on federal spending, not putting cash into circulation, and deregulating the banks). If you don’t study the past, you can spout some truly stoopid stuff, but people are believing it and that’s just scary.

In short, study the past. It’s like studying a blueprint for the present and a map for the future. It might not help you “understand” the future, but it will help you know where to go.

Reviewing and applying ones past adversities to construct a more pleasant and beneficial overall lifestyle in the future is adaptation, and adaptation is a necessity if someone or something wishes to reach its maximum potential in any regard.

The future has no consistent trait which can be analysed or evaluated and as such cannot logically be understood, but can be predicted and prepared for to varying degrees.

An analysis of the events that lead up to major events can be a method to avoid them, or ensure they happen again.

One example that comes to mind is the belief that what happens is a one time event. In our area, there is an unseen hole in the riverbed. When a visitor falls in it and drowns, his family thinks it is an isolated event. The long term residents know this has happened time and time again, and will continue to happen to people who don’t know of the past. The authorities have erected signs warning of the danger, but visitors don’t want to be told what to do.

2012 may be the beginning of another ice age, they occur every 300,000 years, i think. Only 1 thought I learned at a seminar.

@jazmina88 2012 may be the beginning of another ice age,

????

We are part way through an ice age.

Huh…... what I’ve found most interesting here is that only about 3 people seem to comprehend the actual meaning of the question….

Very true indeed.

@JeffVader I’ll be the first to admit conformity. I saw that everyone was answering the question in a different manner to what I had expected and so tweaked my answer slightly to suit. It may be a similar case with others.

@Nially_Bob I’ve been doing that lately with all my responses…D: maybe i should stop.

@WolfFang
Don’t be too quick to criticise yourself my friend. We’re social animals; we’re inclined to assume that many are more likely to understand something (such as the intended meaning of a question) better than few as it’s thought that the ‘something’ will have been evaluated by more when this often is not the case. Sometimes a little scepticism can offer big benefits :)

If anyone cares, my post was satire. Everything in it was made up. My point is that we can’t understand the future no matter what we do, because we don’t know what it is.

@wundayatta No???Really??? Duh!

Pull my finger

@YARNLADY Seriously, I mean that. The future has not yet arrived. Dontcha know? I mean, well, ok, for the rest of us. I hear that you visit it on occasion, but they never invited me.