Book: Black Swan. Page 3

Do not need to identify yourself with the world of science, do not need to undergo amputation to squeeze into the Procrustean bed of specialization.

View from this point of view on the events of 11 September 2001. About two and a half thousand people were killed by the terrorist group of Osama bin Laden to the twin towers of the world trade center. Their families, as expected, received support from the various agencies and charities. But, according to studies, over the next three months of that year, thousands of people began a secret the victims of terrorists. How? Fear of flying has caused many to get behind the wheel of a car, and the roads much more dangerous than air routes. That period was marked by a significant increase in the number of accidents on the roads. The families of these victims have not received the support - they didn't even know that their loved ones were also victims of bin Laden.

It often happens that a political or social campaign draws policy in a favorable light, and the implicit evil consequences of such an action hit all the others and expensive for society. Take the campaign to save jobs: you show those whose positions now are not subject to reduction, and you take it as a great social victory. No one will notice those who can't find work because of the measures taken will lead to the closure of many vacancies.

The necessary funds are there, if, according to an old English proverb, "Rob St. Peter to bestow upon St. Paul's".

Success, in his cynical observations, is the result of any tricks and organized the patrons of hype, or random surge of interest, due not to the merits of the work.

Joint activities of the whole tribe of doctors can roughly estimate, based on the specimens available for observation. The same is true for plumbers, taxi drivers, prostitutes and representatives of other professions, where there are no "superstars".
Because of the "star" of the dynamics of what we call "literary heritage" and "literary masterpieces" that represents only a tiny fraction of the collectively created. Here's the thing. This prevents us to identify talents.
Let's say you attribute the success of Honore de Balzac, French novelist of the nineteenth century, his ruthless "realism", "insights", "the acuteness of the senses", "study of the characters", "ability to captivate the reader" and so on. These "excellent" qualities you can recognize a necessary prerequisite to the creation of excellent artworks provided and only provided that those who do not have the so-called "talent", do not have these qualities. What if there was dozens of equally wonderful literary creations that we have not reached? If you really were written and disappeared equally valuable manuscripts, I'm sorry to say, your idol Balzac differs from his opponents only obscure the fact that he was incredibly lucky. Moreover, bowing to the Balzac, do you allow the injustice to others.
I do not mean that Balzac was not talented, I just want to say that his talent is less unique than it seems.

The losers of history - how people and ideas - like the pious dead in the water, do not leave behind autobiographies (it is desirable to stay alive).

More than two thousand years ago, the Roman orator, belletrist, thinker, stoic, politician, manipulator and (almost always) a noble gentleman Marcus Tullius Cicero in his treatise "On the nature of the gods" told a story. The Greek philosopher Diagorou, surnamed the Atheist, showed images of people who prayed to the gods, and escaped the shipwreck. The implication was that prayer that saves from death. Diagor asked: "where are the images of those who prayed, but still drowned?"

People will believe any of your words, if not detect weakness in front of them; they, like animals, can smell the smallest cracks in the armor of confidence even before they become apparent. And the best rim confidence the ultimate courtesy and friendliness that allow you to manipulate people without offending them.

It is believed that the memory of the responsible hippocampus. This is the most creative part of the brain; it is also considered that it absorbs all the negativity of the regular troubles like chronic stress we constantly experience from the daily injection of negative emotions, - as opposed to "pretty bracing stress" from the sudden appearance of a tiger in your living room. We can reason with yourself all you want, but the hippocampus chronic stress takes seriously and begins an irreversible process of atrophy. Contrary to popular belief, these small, seemingly harmless stressors do not make us stronger; they can cripple our personality.

Easier to survive the big one, but a brief sorrow, than that pain stretch for many years.

For happiness is more important than how often we experience a pleasant feeling, or, as psychologists say, "positive affect", and not how much the feeling. In other words, the good news is first of all good news; how good it is, is not so important. So to live happily, you need to get your little "positive affects" how can you more regularly. Just a lot of good news is better than one good news.

I really hope that someday scientists and politicians re-discover what has always been known to our ancestors: the most valuable in human culture is respect.

Economist Hyman Minsky identified the cyclical nature of attitudes towards risk in the economy. The scheme is as follows: in periods of financial stability people are not afraid to take risks, they are confident in the success and rarely think about possible problems. But a crisis occurs - and frightened the most is "hiding in shell", afraid to do anything to invest.