Exactly. It's especially hard to compare, when things don't move straightforwardly, every new thing is 9/10 old and 1/10 new, and all new things have their own 10th. Things wave back and forth, in spirals. Knowing history avoids looping too much. I didn't understand that about it as a kid (it holds in tech but in society, politics, musics etc too). Good for you you're already sensible to that.