re: #24 dat_said

This demonstrates the need for a historian.

In WWII they did studies of aircraft that came back from combat. They used these studies to determine what areas of an aircraft needed to be toughened or armoured.

Areas conspicuously missing from these studies were the pilot’s cockpits, the engines, and the fuel tanks. That was because aircraft hit in these areas tended not to come back.

It took awhile before they noticed this. Which lead to more personnel lost in combat.

Can’t remember the term for this phenomena. Interesting though.

However, as John Ralston Saul points out, in a purely rational society history is regarded as irrational and thus of no use.