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https://theconversation.com/does-history-have-lessons-for-the-future-roman-krznaric-looks-to-the-past-to-discover-the-rules-for-radical-hope-233090>
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Review: History for Tomorrow: Inspiration from the Past for the Future of
Humanity – Roman Krznaric (W.H. Allen)
Answers to the question about the lessons of history generally oscillate
between two extremes. One is summed up in the 1905 aphorism of the
Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the
past are condemned to repeat it.” The other is the famous opening to the
English novelist L.P. Hartley’s
The Go-Between (1953): “The past is a foreign
country: they do things differently there.”
Can we draw direct lessons from history, or was the past so different as to
tell us little about current challenges and their solutions? Most commonly,
historians assert the uniqueness of past events while insisting that an
historical perspective – evidence-based, thorough, sceptical, holistic –
results in richer cultural awareness and wiser public policy.
Recently, more than 30 historians contributed to a collection titled
Lessons
from History: Leading Historians Tackle Australia’s Greatest Challenges,
edited by Carolyn Holbrook, Lyndon Megarrity and David Lowe from the Australian
Policy and History Network. They argued compellingly for the lessons to be
learned from key moments in Australian history, and for how closer knowledge of
the successes and failures of that history would produce better policy in
future.
Roman Krznaric’s latest book,
History for Tomorrow: Inspiration from the Past
for the Future of Humanity, is a far bolder version of this approach. He
explores what we can learn from the last 1,000 years of global history to
tackle urgent issues ranging from the climate crisis to the risks of artificial
intelligence."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
