Your time is limited, so don’t waste it
living someone else’s life. - Steve Jobs
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Thanks for stopping by.
If you are a trader, coder, creator, philosopher, ethicist, reader, polymath, or philomath like me, there is going to be some interesting stuff for you to look at here.
People overestimate newly emerging risks but underestimate known risks…[also] there is the illusion of a zero-risk society.
Interviewer: What do you mean by that? Life is risk, and risk is life. A situation without risk is described in physics as thermodynamic equilibrium - and means death. However, humans are constantly in disequilibrium and produce entropy. That is risky. Nevertheless, we succumb to the misconception that we can live risk-free. But whoever wants to eliminate all risks not only restricts freedom but also prevents new things. Research means taking risks, exploring the unknown. A society that increasingly wants to control risks is heading towards its death.
Interviewer: Isn't it rational to exaggerate new risks? After all, their development is unclear. What does rational mean? After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, many Americans refrained from flying. Yet flying is the safest form of transport, while car traffic causes many fatalities. Is it rational if the reaction to a new risk leads to thousands of deaths that otherwise would not have happened?
Interviewer: There could have been further attacks. It is rational to climb trees when something rustles in the bushes. Because we don't want to risk a lion jumping out of the bushes. Although this is very unlikely, the consequences would be fatal. Hence, there is an overreaction. In a hunter-gatherer world, the precautionary principle works perfectly. The problem is that we now live in a complex high-tech world, but human software is still the same as in the times of hunters and gatherers.
Today people live healthier, richer, and safer than ever before. Yet, it is often suggested that we live in a terrible world. Why this discrepancy between reality and perception? — Ditier Sornette
Sornette_Interview_13Feb2020.pdf
tldr;
Humans and other life forms are how the universe stays ‘alive.’ We bring chaos and produce entropy. Were it not for living things, time would have little purpose.
The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials)
first novel I’ve read since… 1999 probably?
Recent Random Thoughts:
“Life is an adventure you experience in the context of the illusion that you can control outcomes while holding the inherent disbelief that you can influence you situation”
$''“Even if there is no such thing as free will, we’re still going to pretend there is.”