Religion was an early attempt to answer the questions we all ask: why are we here, where did we come from? Long ago, the answer was almost always the same: gods made everything.
“Here you have one of the top cancer researchers in the world, and he’s saying he could make a bigger impact on cancer if he focused on getting people to quit smoking—but that’s not intellectually stimulating enough for him. Or for many scientists, for that matter. Now, I don’t blame him—and Weinberg has added enormous value to the war on cancer. But here we have an example of complexity being favored for its excitement, when simplicity may actually do a better job. And that, I’ll tell you, is a big lesson that applies to many things.”
― Same as Ever: Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life
― Same as Ever: Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life
“And here are some thoughts for parents. If you’re lucky enough to have control over where your child goes to school, whether by scouting out a magnet school, moving to a neighborhood whose public schools you like, or sending your kids to private or parochial school, you can look for a school that prizes independent interests and emphasizes autonomy conducts group activities in moderation and in small, carefully managed groups values kindness, caring, empathy, good citizenship insists on orderly classrooms and hallways is organized into small, quiet classes chooses teachers who seem to understand the shy/serious/introverted/sensitive temperament focuses its academic/athletic/extracurricular activities on subjects that are particularly interesting to your child strongly enforces an anti-bullying program emphasizes a tolerant, down-to-earth culture attracts like-minded peers, for example intellectual kids, or artistic or athletic ones, depending on your child’s preference”
― Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
― Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
“Vul and Pashler drew inspiration from the well-known phenomenon known as the wisdom-of-crowds effect: averaging the independent judgments of different people generally improves accuracy. In 1907, Francis Galton, a cousin of Darwin and a famous polymath, asked 787 villagers at a country fair to estimate the weight of a prize ox. None of the villagers guessed the actual weight of the ox, which was 1,198 pounds, but the mean of their guesses was 1,200, just 2 pounds off, and the median (1,207) was also very close. The villagers were a “wise crowd” in the sense that although their individual estimates were quite noisy, they were unbiased. Galton’s demonstration surprised him: he had little respect for the judgment of ordinary people, and despite himself, he urged that his results were “more creditable to the trustworthiness of a democratic judgment than might have been expected.”
― Noise
― Noise
“there are those that would totally disagree with this and say “Gee, if I could just be a millionaire! That would be the most wonderful thing.” If I could just not have to work every day, if I could just be out fishing or hunting or playing golf or traveling, that would be the most wonderful life in the world—they don’t know life. Because what makes life mean something is purpose. A goal. The battle, the struggle—even if you don’t win it.”
― Same as Ever: Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life
― Same as Ever: Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life
“Van Valen called it the Red Queen hypothesis of evolution. In Alice in Wonderland, Alice meets the Red Queen in a land where you have to run just to stay in place: However fast they went, they never seemed to pass anything. “I wonder if all the things move along with us?” thought poor puzzled Alice. And the Queen seemed to guess her thoughts, for she cried, “Faster! Don’t try to talk! Keep running!” “Keep running” just to stay in place is how evolution works. And isn’t this how most things in modern life work? Business? Products? Careers? Countries?”
― Same as Ever: Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life
― Same as Ever: Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life
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