Hum Historical Analogy

What it does

When your agent uses it

• The user draws on historical precedent to justify a strategy
• Needs to evaluate whether a historical comparison is valid
• Wants to learn from past events — even if they say this is like the dotcom bubble
• History repeats itself

Example prompts

• “this is like the dotcom bubble”
• “history repeats itself”
• “what can we learn from how X handled this”
• “/hum-historical-analogy”

Workflow steps

6 steps, taken from the first numbered list in SKILL.md.

1. 1State the analogy explicitly: "Situation A is like historical event B because..."
2. 2Map structural similarities: What causal mechanisms, dynamics, or patterns are shared?
3. 3Map structural differences: What is fundamentally different?
4. 4Assess the balance: Do similarities outweigh differences for the specific question at hand?
5. 5Extract lessons carefully: What specific, actionable insight does the analogy provide?
6. 6Identify the analogy's limits: Where does the analogy break down?

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 4e7f4f8. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

• Tool permissions

  Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

  From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

• Runs code

  No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are markdown).

  From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

• Network

  No URLs in SKILL.md.

  From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

• Credentials

  Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

  From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Hum Historical Analogy loads about 1.4k tokens when it runs, and up to ~4.7k if it reads all its reference files. Until then it costs about 118 tokens; SKILL.md has 472 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it

~118

When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches

~1.4k

With references · SKILL.md plus every file in references/, read only if the agent opens them

~4.7k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from asgard-ai-platform/skills at commit 4e7f4f8, republished under its MIT licence (© asgard-ai-platform). 472 words, ~1,429 tokens.

name

hum-historical-analogy

description

Use historical analogies to inform strategic decisions by identifying structural similarities and differences between past and present situations. Use this skill when the user draws on historical precedent to justify a strategy, needs to evaluate whether a historical comparison is valid, or wants to learn from past events — even if they say 'this is like the dotcom bubble', 'history repeats itself', or 'what can we learn from how X handled this'.

metadata.category

WP-19 文學院/人文

metadata.tags

humanities, historical-analogy, strategic-thinking

IRON LAW: Structural Similarity, Not Surface Similarity

A valid analogy requires shared STRUCTURAL features (causal mechanisms,
power dynamics, systemic patterns), not just surface resemblance.

"This startup is the next Apple" because the founder wears turtlenecks =
surface similarity (worthless). "This market has the same demand-side
network effects as early smartphone adoption" = structural similarity (useful).

# Historical Analogy Assessment: {Current Situation} ↔ {Historical Event}

## The Analogy
"{Current situation} is like {historical event} because..."

## Structural Similarities
| Feature | Historical | Current | Similarity |
|---------|-----------|---------|-----------|
| {mechanism} | {how it worked then} | {how it works now} | Strong/Moderate/Weak |

## Structural Differences
| Feature | Historical | Current | Impact on Analogy |
|---------|-----------|---------|------------------|
| {factor} | {then} | {now} | Weakens/Neutral/Strengthens |

## Validity Assessment
- Overall analogy strength: Strong / Moderate / Weak
- Valid for: {what aspects of the decision the analogy informs}
- Invalid for: {where the analogy breaks down}

## Lessons (with caveats)
1. {lesson} — caveat: {where this might not apply}

© asgard-ai-platform, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

SKILL.md and 2 other files (references) in hum-historical-analogy of asgard-ai-platform/skills.

• SKILL.md
• examples/sample_scenario.md
• references/thinking-in-time.md

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 4e7f4f8