3.0.0 How we got where we are: History - Overview

Version 1.4 November 2016                                                       (Previous Version)

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History has a good story to tell about how societies developed, and how we got to be as we are.

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A major problem with our personal knowledge of history is that it is generally short term and parochial: we know about a few selected events, often in the recent past, and not the wider picture.

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What we think are the “known knowns� often actually reflect our own narrow-minded ignorance.  Members of ethnic groups may feel that they know their own history, but often don't know the details, because they aren’t personally aware of them or the details are unknown even to scholars.  Some of what we think we know is distorted.  Political and religious leaders who exploit history usually avoid a long-term, global perspective, hoping that we, their audience, don't know or care enough to correct them.  We all need to expand our perspectives to discover greater truths. 

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The “known unknowns� may be less of a problem, if we remain aware of them.  As members of one ethnic group, we rarely know much about other people’s history.  We can personally commit to learning more about our shared, long-term, global history.  Professional historians are generally aware of the uncertainties in their reconstructions of the causes of wars or social movements.

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To historians, the “unknown unknowns� are a manageable concern.  For the rest of us, who don’t know what we don't know, what is far more critical is our personal ignorance, our own “unknown unknowns�, especially when we make critical life choices or political decisions that affect others.

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But history’s current stories, at least those that take a global and long term perspective, despite their flaws and potential omissions, are still good, and will be replaced only by better ones.

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The introduction has a short summary of our historical conclusions (see 0.3.3).  The slightly longer overview below covers the same conclusions in slightly more detail.

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