Five things I learned studying history.

[Ms. Spam]

5 Things I’ve Learned Studying History:

1) Genius is contagious.

2) So is stupidity.

3) Empires don’t typically decline because of changes within, but rather because their neighbors become stronger by imitation.

4) Lavish spending usually follows theft, not work.

5) Factual accuracy has never had much to do with what people believe.

6) Intention and result are only distantly related, perhaps 2nd cousins, twice removed.

Disputes?

Additions?

I stole this from a friend so yes, there is six points. But Haha. If you don't know Spam by now then I don't give a fuck about that.

[Darth Ender]

 

5 Things I’ve Learned Studying History:

1) Genius is contagious.

2) So is stupidity.

3) Empires don’t typically decline because of changes within, but rather because their neighbors become stronger by imitation.

4) Lavish spending usually follows theft, not work.

5) Factual accuracy has never had much to do with what people believe.

6) Intention and result are only distantly related, perhaps 2nd cousins, twice removed.

Disputes?

Additions?

I stole this from a friend so yes, there is six points. But Haha. If you don't know Spam by now then I don't give a **** about that.

 

I think your friend's results are the result of quite a bit of confirmation bias.

[Carrie Mathison]

1 through 4 are laughably stupid. 5 is probably true. 6 is so imprecisely written, that it's hard to say without clarification, but is likely true to some degree.

[Guest]

6. Proves itself.

 

The intent was to make sense, the result is that it did not make sense.

[Poe Dameron]

4) Lavish spending usually follows theft, not work.

 

Is that backwards?

[Ms. Spam]

while 1 and 2 are kind of childish but we have to remember that people thought the world was flat and the earth was stationary while the sun revolved around it and genuinely smart military tactics are employed because, well they work. So... meh.

 

For the comment about confirmation bias I guess that is one is true. can it be added to the list? I stole it from a friend who owns a rock shop and jewelry store who's a geologist in an effort to keep from being bored on Tuesday during lunch. it's not really statistical though more a general observation thing so we can excuse this based on the fact we are making observations on history as a whole which I think is cyclical anyways. Humans are always looking for patterns.

[The Kurgan]

Stupidity IS contageous. I'm reminded in what Charles MacKay wrote in his 1840s opus on the Madness of Crowds: "Men, it has been well said, think in herds. They go mad in herds and regain their senses only slowly and one by one."