Once you understand the pattern of Welfare, you can see it everywhere.

Europe, specifically NATO countries, has been on US arms foodstamps for decades.

Take that welfare away and they are forced to re-arm, just like the big baby in Spirited Away was forced to grow up outside of his mother's "care".

This is good. Downstream welfare programs would inevitably suffer in each country, forcing the EU to re-evaluate Infinite Welfare as a general principle.

It won't happen but it should.

@UncleIroh “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.”
― Alexander Fraser Tytler

@Tfmonkey I've come to appreciate the role of history more and more.

All our current problems, every single one, has been understood by our forbears many times over.

I'm convinced that education needs a radical change that puts the study of patterns front and center. That a person cannot be considered educated until they have understood that patterns of a deep cyclical or seasonal nature govern everything from the rise and fall of Empires to our own appetites.

And evolutionary biology.

@UncleIroh history is written (and re-written) by the winners.

You're only allowed to "learn" what benefits those in power. Any truths that threaten those in power will be suppressed until they are forgotten.

We are simply lucky that the internet has made book burning impractical, but that's where the social credit score system comes in. It's an Inquisition against "heresy" on behalf of the powerful against that which they wish to be forgotten.

@Tfmonkey More accurately, history is written by the current winners, since anything can be ret-conned with sufficient control.

And even the most powerful totalist system can't distort reality forever. It always snaps back, taking shit out.

Forced with a scenario where mankind has to start again but can retain 2 pieces of wisdom I would go with these:

1. We're just monkey's after a banana and some pussy.
2. The Political Trichotomy.

I think you can derive the most wisdom from those two.

@UncleIroh The truth is that "truth" itself is not always what people want, and people's wants are usually mutual exclusive and conflicting.

Thus there is always competition, and thus winners and losers, and the winners decide what's "true".

There is a reason why everything keeps cycling back around again despite all the advancements we've made in education.

The only two pieces of wisdom worth keeping are these:

1. Be strong
2. Don't lose wars