Nature (our genetic inheritance) and nurture (our lived experiences) drive our behavior and one wonders how much control we have over these circumstances. I can understand what people mean when they say: “history repeats itself”.
How does technology factor in? The way we live today is certainly different than how we lived 100 years ago, and so on. But technology doesn’t change our fundamental experiences, it just alters “how” we access those experiences. Take social media for example – in some ways it’s new, like our ability to instantly connect with people around the world but, in other ways, it’s old, in that we are satisfying our need for social engagement. In other words, social media is a new way of experiencing our ancient need to socialize.
So Mark Twain’s has a better take on history: “History doesn’t repeat itself but it rhymes.”
This excites me about the future. To me, defining potential futures we want as a species, and toiling to actualize them, is worth it in itself. And this striving to achieve new milestones as a species is what motivates Elon Musk: “It’s important to have a future that is inspiring and appealing… What do you love about the future?… If the future doesn’t include being out there among the stars and being a multi-planetary species – I find that incredibly depressing, if that’s not the future we’re going to have.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSJO4ESljuQ&ab_channel=Pompsie)
