January 2012
5 posts
“Any man who has had teenage children will tell you to be suspicious of logic,...”
– Bonner, W. & Rajiva, L. (2007). Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics
“As we said, the older we get, the less we know about anything; the more facts,...”
– Bonner, W. & Rajiva, L. (2007). Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics
“The single man, on the other hand, is a desperado. Adolf Hitler and Joseph...”
– Bonner, W. & Rajiva, L. (2007). Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics
“We see people reading “The World Is Flat” numbly on airplanes....”
– Bonner, W. & Rajiva, L. (2007). Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics
“The truth is that no risk-control gimmick however complex, can protect a whole...”
– Bonner, W. & Rajiva, L. (2007). Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics
December 2011
1 post
“You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but...”
– Francis Pharcellus Church
November 2011
1 post
“There is enough uncertainty in entrepreneurship without adding inflation,...”
– James G. Rickards
September 2011
1 post
“[…] people who are interested in making the best possible decisions rarely...”
– Ray Dalio
August 2011
2 posts
Independent
I have yet to hear about a single contemporary “independent” thinker that doesn’t actually have a circle of close friends inside of which critical thinking is abolished as a courtesy.
Writing advice
If you think that you have something to say, you should first write a (private) draft. Then, you should read it by trying to understand what the hell you were trying to say. Then rewrite it, by dropping all of the fluff and by keeping only what it was that you were trying to say. You might be surprised to find this second version is much, much shorter. You might even be surprised to find out...
July 2011
4 posts
Happy-Go-Lucky
When the system you are a part of is too big (and for the record, everything became too big ever since the entire humanity stopped living in groups of < 100 people not so long ago - oh, and there’s no going back) you do not even need to consciously choose immorality (or unconsciously choose what most would deem immoral) in order to do harm. Hence, the perversity of the happy-go-lucky...
Self-congratulation
Disregarding any other philosophical considerations, self-congratulation is delusional simply because everyone practices it (i.e. shows how shaky a proposal it is to rely on anyone’s approval - which roughly is the ultimate underlying motivation for it).
The "middle way"?
Stating that the “middle way” should be followed is the emptiest form of wisdom. Akin to giving up completely. At best, you can speak of the “middle way” only a posteriori.
Arrogance
Some people are surprised when they find extreme arrogance in the very same person they thought of as humble and diffident. They should not be surprised at all, for if humbleness serves them any purpose, it is to show them the absurdity, vanity and lack of consistency surrounding them (in which they do not take any part). The important thing is that you will always be able to get through to such a...
June 2011
5 posts
Culture & economy
I’ll take cultural differences leading to squabbling politicians any day over cultural affinities leading to “harmony”, cartels, collusion of interests etc.
Narrow
Narrow passions are a sign of narrow minds (those of people who can’t see behind the details that everything is just more of the same). Hopefully someone else didn’t say this before - I can certainly see it behind many things/writings.
I’m not sure why investors like the countries that can print their way out of debt better. As if they were really getting their money back.
“The tourist is almost the exact opposite of the philosopher.”
– Very approximate quote from Nassim N. Taleb; if he disowns this quote, I’ll gladly assume ownership.
Empty
The empty is the most potentially evil (the first thing that grows in there will be unstoppable).
May 2011
3 posts
Knowledge
Knowledge: Sacrificing depth for breadth is usually a desirable compromise (…which will give you depth).
Autotelism
Autotelism: Something that idiots never experience.
“For it is neither love nor money that makes the world go ’round - but vanity.”
– Bonner, W. & Wiggin, A. (2009). The New Empire of Debt: The Rise and Fall of an Epic Financial Bubble.
March 2011
1 post
Corollary to the “Dunning–Kruger effect”
Corollary to the “Dunning–Kruger effect”: If one does not entertain, in any enterprise, for a significant amount of time, the idea that the [“bad side” of the] “Dunning–Kruger effect” may apply to oneself, then it likely does. :P
February 2011
1 post
“If you try to hide the complexity of the system, you’ll end up with a more...”
– Aaron Griffin
December 2010
1 post
“Don’t duck pain. It’s precious, it’s your gold mine,...”
– Richard G. Stern
November 2010
1 post
“I found not quite to my liking the two lines in your letter where you say that...”
– Fyodor Dostoyevsky (letter to G. A. Kovner, 1877)
October 2010
4 posts
“[…] the project of promoting maximal economic growth is, perhaps, the most...”
– John N. Gray
“Both science and religion are systems of symbols that serve human needs - in the...”
– John N. Gray
“In The God Delusion, Dawkins attempts to explain the appeal of religion in terms...”
– John N. Gray
“I hate conservatives but I really fucking hate liberals.”
– Matt Stone
September 2010
4 posts
“Keats’s negative capability - ‘being in uncertainties, mysteries,...”
– John N. Gray
“The best prospects may lie with the technologies to which Greens are most...”
– John N. Gray
“Realism requires a discipline of thought that may be too austere for a culture...”
– John N. Gray
“We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones” - Yeah, and we praise their little strengths to convince ourselves they have no important ones :P
August 2010
5 posts
“When legal niceties were tossed aside in the United States and suspects rounded...”
– John N. Gray
“The trouble with secular myths is that they are frequently more harmful than the...”
– John N. Gray
“The most that humans can do is to be brave and resourceful, and expect to...”
– John N. Gray
“Keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut. For as long as possible.”
– Mark Strand
“Even though they do not think of themselves as interdisciplinary, their best...”
– Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
July 2010
4 posts
“Other animals do not need a purpose in life. A contradiction to itself, the...”
– John N. Gray
“My ONLY measure of success is in how much time you have to kill.”
– Nassim Taleb
“By contrast with Nietzsche, a nomad who wrote for travellers like himself and...”
– John Gray
“Academics are vague where they need to be precise; and precise, (distracting you...”
– Nassim Taleb
January 2010
2 posts
“…he was not in the habit of reworking his prose, because the important...”
“I’m tired of sailing my little boat,
far inside the harbor bar,
I want...”
– ?
October 2009
1 post
“My biggest problem with the educational system lies precisely in that it forces...”
– Nassim Taleb
March 2009
1 post
“Ah, the office: the mournful gloaming under the fluorescent strips, the...”