It takes some humanity to feel sympathy for those less fortunate than us; but it takes honor to avoid envying those who are much luckier.
via It takes some humanity to feel sympathy for… – Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
I apologize for the absence but 1) I didn’t have any idea worth writing about that I haven’t already discussed somewhere, 2) wasn’t bothered by any public figure or corporation s.a. Monsanto or Nestlé to the point of anger, 3) read nothing of note, 4) do not find it elegant to show pictures of my past vacations or the table in some FatTony restaurant on Facebook.
(Note: I was asked by many where I was so this is to explain that I am not playing doctor mysterious).
via I apologize for the absence but 1 I didn’t have… – Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
A good book gets better at the second reading. A great book at the third. Any book not worth rereading isn’t worth reading.
via A good book gets better at the second reading. A… – Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
The alpha person at a gathering of “high status” persons is often, detectably, the waiter.
—
(Also note that the acting boss in the Obama household is Mrs Obama).
via The alpha person at a gathering of “high status”… – Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
All the education in the world will not compensate for a logical fallacy, of the style: “All members of the Smith family are tall; he is tall *hence* he is a member of the Smith family”, the central error in Fooled by Randomness (and the main reason for underestimation of luck).
—
For, I am unhappy to report, many people make it in real life, along with its variations. Further, this is not just journalism: I saw it made just so frequently by PhDs (in the GMO and Pinker debates) that I am totally disgusted: better be a truck driver with logical abilities, than a PhD with such elementary defects. Indeed it is so prevalent in social science it is not even funny.
—
Finally, I find it horrifying that people make it here on this page (these people are now gone). Forget all the complicated stuff, focus on the elementary, the basic, for Baal’s sake.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affirming_the_consequent
Affirming the consequent – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Affirming the consequent, sometimes called converse error or fallacy of the converse, is a formal fallacy of inferring the converse from the original statement. The corresponding argument has the general form:
via All the education in the world will not… – Nassim Nicholas Taleb.