>I’m convinced that the fatal flaw of humanity: forgetting the lessons of the past, is a function of our lifespan

Counterpoint: some lessons deserve to be forgotten. Like there are many old people in my country that hate Germany and Germans for the things that happened in 2nd world war. Yes, nazis were bad and Holocaust was a nightmare. But modern day Germany moved past it. In fact, in Europe almost every country both did and was a victim on many atrocities. Dwelling on that forever would make peace or things like EU impossible. We would still be angry at things that happened 500 years ago.

Unfortunately we forget more than we should, but maybe it's the price we have to pay to evolve as a society.