The Never Ending Pool

i agree with your points, not henry porter, but do not believe that our memories help us much when it comes to future events in the same way that a study of history can help us understand what happens now and in the future.

for example, when caligula assumed power, he gave all citizens a tax rebate, and destroyed the roman economy by overspending on the military. george w. did the same. we can understand better the w administration by studying that of caligula. the little i know of the administrations that ruled america during my own lifetime has been culled from reading, not recalled from personal memory.

therefore, i persist in claiming that it is time and history that are linked, not time and memory.

i don't want you to think I am downplaying the role memory plays in our behavior. most of our actions are predicated upon previous actions, and the memory of actions determine the actions to come. but time is not really an element here. animals who have no concept of time function in the same way as regards memory.