In a paper titled, “Implications of the Copernican principle for our future prospects“, astrophysicist J. Richard Gott III describes how in 1969, he visited the Stonehenge (which was estimated to be over 3000 years old) and the Berlin Wall (8 years at the time).
Gott then wondered which of the two structures will outlast the other.
As you probably know, the Berlin Wall was destroyed in 1991, while Stonehenge continues to exist to this day.
Gott then mathematically proposed an argument that the longer a thing exists, the more likely it will continue to exist.
This has been popularly called the Lindy Effect.
My takeaway is simple: More often than not, older is better.
Books that were written hundreds of years ago but are still in print today contain more wisdom and practical knowledge than books written in the past 10 - 20 years. And because of their current longevity, these classics will also continue to remain relevant for the next 1000 years.
The same pattern repeats itself in medicine.
Herbs were used by our forefathers to cure ailments and they still remain relevant today. On the other hand, numerous ‘modern’ drugs have been replaced. For instance, as a young child, I remember using chloroquine pills to treat malaria. Artemisinin and other drugs have long since taken the place of chloroquine as the go-to cure for malaria.
This point is instructive: While everybody is shouting about futurism and cutting edge technology, you will be better served to at least keep one hand on systems and structures that the Lindy Effect has vetted.