Why do humans often forget past pains and repeat mistakes?

Why Do Humans Always Forget the Pain Once the Wound Has Healed?

This is quite interesting, and we can look at it from several levels; it's both a physiological mechanism and a psychological phenomenon.

1. The Brain is a Smart "Lazybones": To Keep You Alive

You can imagine our brain as a supercomputer whose primary mission is to ensure your survival, not to keep you living in pain.

• Memory Priority: What the brain needs to remember is "what causes danger," not "how much that danger hurt." For example, the first time you touch a hot cup, your brain remembers "a cup at this temperature = danger, don't touch," rather than making you relive the burning pain of being scalded every day in the future. If the brain stored all pain exactly as it happened, we might have long since been unable to live normally due to mental breakdown. Remembering the "lesson" is far more cost-effective for survival than remembering the "pain" itself.
• Emotional Fading: In psychology, there's a phenomenon called "Fading Affect Bias." Simply put, over time, negative emotions (like pain, sadness) fade faster and more completely than positive emotions (like joy, excitement). This is a psychological self-protection mechanism that allows us to move on from trauma and continue forward. Otherwise, if the heartache from one breakup remained just as intense for a lifetime, who would dare to love again?

2. The "Deception" of Memory: We Remember Stories, Not Facts

Our memory isn't a high-definition video recorder; it's more like a "story editor."

Every time we recall an event, we're not extracting the original file 100%; instead, we're "telling" that story anew in our minds. In this process, we unconsciously modify, simplify, or even distort it.

For painful experiences, we subconsciously "rationalize" them or only remember their vague outlines. Over time, the original, sharp sensation of pain is smoothed out, leaving only a vague notion of "I once had it rough."

3. From Individual to Collective: Why Do Financial Crises Always Repeat?

Applying this individual trait of "forgetting the pain once the wound has healed" to society and the market makes it even more interesting, perfectly explaining why events like financial crises happen again and again.

• The Allure of Cycles: Markets are cyclical. A major downturn (like the 2008 financial crisis) leaves a deep impression on a generation—that's the "pain." But after the market recovers, it enters a long period of growth—that's when the "wound has healed."
• New Players Enter: A decade or more passes, and a new generation of investors enters the market. They haven't personally experienced that "pain." What they see and hear are stories like "so-and-so bought at the bottom years ago and is now financially free." They don't see the scars; they see others' glamorous appearance after recovery.
• The "This Time Is Different" Curse: Even those who experienced the last crisis find their memories slowly blurring during a prolonged bull market. Greed overcomes fear, and people start finding excuses for themselves: "Last time it was a real estate bubble; this time it's a tech revolution, the fundamentals are different!" This is a classic case of "forgetting the pain" and beginning to repeat the same behavioral patterns.
• Survivorship Bias: We are more likely to see examples of those who "survived" and "thrived" after a crisis, while the voices of those who went bankrupt and disappeared are unheard. This further exacerbates our wishful thinking.

In summary:

"Forgetting the pain once the wound has healed" is essentially a self-protective and restorative mechanism that humans have evolved for survival and development. It allows us to let go of past burdens and bravely try new things and take risks.

However, on the other hand, it also makes us prone to falling into a cycle of repeating mistakes, especially in areas that require long-term reverence and rationality (such as investment).

Therefore, the key might not be to forever remember the feeling of "pain," but rather to transform the experience of "pain" into "rules" and "lessons" that can guide future behavior, and constantly remind ourselves not to forget these rules.