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Sunday, December 17, 2023

History does not repeat itself; the future is unknowable

It is not true that history repeats itself. If history were repeating itself, then the future would be predictable. The future is anything but predictable. 

The history of every age was different—life in every age was driven by its own challenges, achievements, religious and cultural movements, and wars. The intellectuals and political thinkers in every age were taken by surprise by the major events. 

Today we have access to massive historical records, but this voluminous amount of history will not tell us what the world will be like in 2030, 2040 or 2050. How can we predict the future, when we can’t properly understand today’s political and cultural events? 

Today’s breaking news stories are tomorrow’s big joke. When we fail to judge which contemporary events are important, deserving the tag of breaking news, and which are frivolous, then how can we predict what the world will be like in 10 to 100 or more years. 

We can be certain of only one thing—the future will be unlike anything we can imagine.

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