For any audience, recommended as a keynote presentation.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." --George Santanyana
History is, sometimes, a harsh mistress. She constantly hammers us to pay attention to her (as the oft-quoted Santanyana quote reminds us), yet when we do, her lessons are obscure and hard to see--until much later, of course, when the moment is past and the parallels, or lack thereof, are obvious.
Are we really so willing to simply accept that history's lessons are impossible to understand ahead of time? Or are we willing to do the work of the historian and learn how to make use of history and avoid some of the pitfalls and traps ahead of time?
Published on 20 June 2025