History

By mastering history, you can master the future. The problem is that humans just don't learn from prior mistakes and have limited learning capabilities. They don't have the learning speed nor the lifespan required to thoroughly study their own history. Even just recently, they've somehow managed to get millions of their kind killed by a disease. We're not even talking about a slightly above average disease, but one that can easily be deterred by wearing a mask and washing your hands.

The answer was right in front of them, but a very significant portion felt that their "freedom" was under attack.