If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from exper... — George Bernard Shaw

If history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience.

Author: George Bernard Shaw

Insight: We live in an age of endless information, yet we keep making the same mistakes. Countries repeat failed military strategies. People stay in relationships that clearly aren't working. We watch financial bubbles inflate and burst, then act shocked when it happens again. Shaw's point cuts deep because it suggests something uncomfortable: we're not actually incapable of learning. We're just really good at convincing ourselves that this time is different. The trick is that we learn facts easily but struggle with patterns. You can know intellectually that impulsive decisions made when angry don't work out, and still do it anyway. You can see how a friendship ended badly the last time you ignored red flags, and miss the same flags in a new person. History doesn't repeat because we're stupid—it repeats because recognizing a pattern in real time, while you're living it, requires something harder than intelligence. It requires admitting you might be wrong about what's happening right now. The unexpected happens so often partly because we're looking for confirmation of what we already believe rather than looking for what we're missing. Real learning from experience means staying alert to how this moment might actually resemble that one, even when it doesn't feel the same.

Source: Man and Superman, Maxims for Revolutionists