There were many terrible things in my life and most of them never happened.
But as you've seen, in matters of this kind,
Appearances can deceive the keenest mind.
Remember my example, and be wise:
When things look simple, don't believe your eyes.
(Sganarelle, or The Imaginary Cuckold)
The thing that makes tail events easy to under-appreciate is how easy it is to underestimate how things compound. How, for example, 9/11 prompted the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, which helped drive the housing bubble, which led to the financial crisis, which led to a poor jobs market, which led tens of millions to seek a college education, which led to $1.6 trillion in student loans with a 10.8% default rate. It's not intuitive to link hijackers to the current weight of student loans, but that's what happens in a world driven by a few outlier tail events.
(The Psychology of Money)
To sum up: I shall say to you that the matter is as Themistius puts it: that which exists does not conform to the various opinions, but rather the correct opinions conform to that which exists.
(The Guide of the Perplexed)
More than the glory of flowers and fall leaves that season by season capture everyone’s heart, it is the night sky in winter, with snow aglitter beneath a brilliant moon, that in the absence of all color speaks to me strangely and carries my thoughts beyond this world, there is no higher wonder or delight. Whoever called it dreary understood nothing.
As far as I can see, halfhearted refuge in religion is more likely to get you lost in an evil rebirth than staying on in the mire of this world.
Amid the seeming confusion of our mysterious world, individuals are so nicely adjusted to a system, and systems to one another and to a whole, that, by stepping aside for a moment, a man exposes himself to a fearful risk of losing his place forever. Like Wakefield, he may become, as it were, the Outcast of the Universe.
The people who start the wars don’t fight them, the people who spend the taxes don’t pay them, and the people who forgive the criminals don't live next to them. Of course we’re going to have too many wars, too much spending, and too much crime.
Diax said something that is still very important to us, which is that you should not believe a thing only because you like to believe it. We call that Diax’s Rake and sometimes we repeat it to ourselves as a reminder not to let subjective emotions cloud our judgment. (Anathem)
Any great power that's spending more on debt service than on defense is probably not going to be great for much longer.
And fear not lest Existence closing yourAccount, and mine, should know the like no more;The Eternal Sáki from that Bowl has pour’dMillions of Bubbles like us, and will pour.
Love is so short, forgetting is so long.
You can't see the seer who does the seeing; you can't hear the hearer who does the hearing; you can't think of the thinker who does the thinking; and you can't perceive the perceiver who does the perceiving. The self within all is this self of yours.
Upaniṣads--Bhadâraṇyaka Upaniṣad
I am very intrigued by Bitcoin. It has all the signs. Paradigm shift, hackers love it, yet it is described as a toy. Just like microcomputers.
“Inflation is the surest way to fertilize the rich man’s field with the sweat of the poor man’s brow. He also wonders where wealth concentration comes from.”
All men whilst they are awake are in one common world: but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own.
Gray hairs are signs of wisdom if you hold your tongue, speak and they are but hairs, as in the young.
Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it.
A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. it makes the hand bleed that uses it.
Bigotry tries to keep truth safe in its hand with a grip that kills it.
To be outspoken is easy when you do not wait to speak the complete truth.
Bigotry tries to keep truth safe in its hand with a grip that kills it.
Let us not pray to be sheltered from dangers but to be fearless when facing them.
You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.
Beauty is truth's smile when she beholds her own face in a perfect mirror.
