a "ko" rule which says that the location of the last move played can make a difference
That information could however be considered part of the current position.
In principle, every configuration of a Go board has a single "best next move". The story of previous plays should not matter to determine future plays! And that's probably how it would be if Go was played by planet-sized computers who could work out all possible games arising from that situation, and just play the best move every move.
...Nitpicking - but actually in Go, multiple moves may have the same (maximal) value - and go is normally played with either a "ko" rule which says that the location of the last move played can make a d
Tyler Cowen argues in a TED talk (~15 min) that stories pervade our mental lives. He thinks they are a major source of cognitive biases and, on the margin, we should be more suspicious of them - especially simple stories. Here's an interesting quote about the meta-level: