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Black Swans: Stories

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In 1997, Babitz was severely injured when ash from a cigar she was smoking ignited her skirt, causing life-threatening third-degree burns over half her body. Because she had no health insurance, friends and family organized a fund-raising auction to pay her medical bills. Friends and former lovers donated cash and artworks to help pay for her long recovery. Babitz became somewhat more reclusive after this incident, but was still willing to be interviewed on occasion. Her articles and short stories have appeared in Rolling Stone, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, and Esquire magazines. She is the author of several books including Eve's Hollywood; Slow Days, Fast Company; Sex and Rage; Two By Two; and L.A. Woman. Transitioning to her particular blend of fiction and memoir beginning with Eve's Hollywood, Babitz’s writing of this period is indelibly marked by the cultural scene of Los Angeles during that time, with numerous references and interactions to the artists, musicians, writers, actors, and sundry other iconic figures that made up the scene in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. The subject of these nine stories by Babitz ( Sex and Rage) is Hollywood: brilliant and beautiful couples who somehow get along; charming yet moody men and their odd needs; and “Eve,” the narrator, who cautiously reveals in herself the vices of a naughty but not really bad girl.”— Publishers Weekly In chapter nine, Taleb outlines the multiple topics he previously has described and connects them as a single basic idea. In chapter thirteen, the book discusses what can be done regarding “epistemic arrogance”, which occurs whenever people begin to think they know more than they actually do. [15] He recommends avoiding unnecessary dependence on large-scale harmful predictions, while being less cautious with smaller matters, such as going to a picnic. He makes a distinction between the American cultural perception of failure versus European and Asian stigma and embarrassment regarding failure: the latter is more tolerable for people taking small risks. He also describes the " barbell strategy" for investment that he used as a trader, which consists in avoiding medium risk investments and putting 85–90% of money in the safest instruments available and the remaining 10–15% on extremely speculative bets. [16] [17] Argument [ edit ] Babitz’s talent for the brilliant line, honed to a point, never interferes with her feel for languid pleasures." ― The New York Times Book Review

Types of uncertainty: Extremistan vs. Mediocristan Differences between Extremistan vs. Mediocristan It felt very Melrose Place, except with more drugs and.. as I can remember it.. and I can’t remember it too clearly because I was a youngin when that show was on but from what I remember this was giving me heavy Melrose Place vibes. I continued to think Taleb is more a popularizer than an innovator. But even if so, that's not so shabby. He's trying to revolutionize the way we think, and the more we rehearse that, the better.

Shortform note: It’s unclear how Taleb defines “predicted.” Plenty of science-fiction writers and cultural commentators anticipated recent technologies like the Internet and augmented and virtual reality.) The world is not fair. Unfairness and inequality are no epiphenomena but part and parcel of reality. Rose, Charlie (February 24, 2011). "Charlie Rose Talks to Nassim Taleb". Bloomberg News . Retrieved December 20, 2020. Although the world is ran by unpredictable events, it doesn’t mean we can’t benefit from them. Taleb closes with a bunch of practical tips to benefit from the uncertainty in the world. We are social animals" - how true is this statement! I never realized this until I worked more than a year from home. I have always considered myself somewhat antisocial, but I was proved wrong. When I returned to the office, I felt like I was in vacation, and this feeling didn't left me yet. And I don't have problems at home, it's just that I never realize how much I missed my colleagues, friends, our jokes and interactions. Above statement has a continuation: "hell is other people" - also true, but some of them can be heaven too: a sparkling conversation, a good joke, a meaninful look, a kind gesture, a shared moment - all these can make someone feel good for a long time.

The way she was so casual about cheating like everyone cheats and it is normal to do so, it is not and not everyone does it! I feel like dating and relationships didn't evolve at all since the 80s~90s or when was this book written and I am disappointed af. Also, there were no feelings behind the cheating, everyone was cheating. She was sleeping with a married man. The only reason I rated Jealousy, the first chapter, 5 stars is that it was funny how it portrayed the difference between the sexes when they cheat. Everything is fine and everyone is supposed to be happy if HE cheats, but if SHE does it she is a hoe! I find it funny how this mentality is still going even now, and even more because really a woman is a hoe either way after a break-up or in any situation. Scholars are judged mostly on how many times their work is referenced in other people's work... it's an I quote you, you quote me type of business." The first claim is only partially true. The reputation of an author is judged by their published work, but the products of science are ideas. These ideas are, in the scientific literature, judged primarily by their content. In science, a humble patent clerk can become the biggest name in theoretical physics by having the right idea. The accusation of tit-for-tat citation is ludicrous. Speak for yourself, Taleb! He would like for us to realize our overuse of normal-curve thinking, which makes us minimize risk and have no expectations out of the ordinary: like the turkey whose experience all goes to show how human beings love him and care about him and prove it by feeding him--until Thanksgiving day arrives and he's dinner. I put this book down after the first chapter, but thought I would give it another chance, that I was being unfair. When I read the second chapter (which is a metaphor for what Taleb thinks is him) I puked in my shirt. This man is the most conceited person I think I've discovered through reading his garbage hypothesis. If I met Taleb, I would recommend that he read some other theories on random variables (why does he use Gaussian distribution as the only example of random distribution?), systems theory, and the scientific theory. He apparently was sleeping though these discussions.Everything was about L.A. I'm not from L.A. or even the USA so the L.A. parts really were boring for me, which means 80% of the parts were boring in the end. She talks so much about L.A. about how amazing it is, at least she is aware that the USA is not better than Europe like most think. She really thought she can make her boyfriend move to L.A. because she wouldn't leave it of course! The love for L.A. left me speechless and I'm happy I'm not an American.

Take discoveries, for example. At any given moment, there are scores of scientists, scholars, researchers, and inventors around the world working diligently to better our lives and increase our knowledge. But what often goes unremarked is that the discoveries with the profoundest impact on our lives are inadvertent— random—rather than the reward for careful and painstaking work. While the author has valid points, his writing style oscillates between boring, repetitive, and just plain bad. Plus he uses the pronouns “I” and “me” more often than any other author I have read. Perhaps he is using his gigantic ego to prove the existence of fat tails in the standard bell curve and thus exhibit directly the central thesis which is that the Gaussian curve does not hold up in our modern “extremistan” society (and trust me that that sentence is funny if you read the book). Biologically, Taleb says, human beings are not set up to be deep thinkers and are fooled by a variety of logical fallacies. This is only a problem because, as time goes on, humanity has less running away to do from things trying to eat us and more dealing with the complexities of modern existence. The New York Times records stories of those who have committed crimes, but have not been caught. Our representation of the standard criminal, might be based on the properties of the less intelligent ones that have been caught. Once we lean ourselves into the notion of silent evidence, the things around us that were previously hidden start manifesting themselves. Babitz’s talent for the brilliant line, honed to a point, never interferes with her feel for languid pleasures." — The New York Times Book ReviewNote here that I am not saying causes do not exist; do not use this argument to avoid trying to learn from history. All I am saying is that is it not so simple; be suspicious of the "because" and handle it with care — particularly in situations where you suspect silent evidence." pgs 120-121 Our world is dominated by the extreme, the unknown, and the very improbable." Except when it's not. Massage therapist,” for example, is a “nonscalable” profession. There is an upper limit on how many clients you can see—there’s only so much time in a day, and therapists’ bodies fatigue—and thus there’s only so much income you can expect from that profession. Davies, Will (June 15, 2007). "All in a Flap: Beware of Unknown Unknowns". Oxonian Review. 6 (3) . Retrieved December 20, 2020.

She’s a natural. Or gives every appearance of being one, her writing elevated yet slangy, bright, bouncy, cheerfully hedonistic—L.A. in it purest, most idealized form." — Vanity Fair It has been more than two months since I read this book and only now I succeed in writing a review about what this book can mean for a historian. That says something about how difficult it is to separate the problematic aspects of this book (the arrogant and polemical tone) from the real content. Because Taleb does have something to say for those who look at the past. What stands out about Babitz's writing is her voice: smart, unapologetic and knowing, like Dorothy Parker magically time traveling to the modern era . . . Rereading Babitz is a delicious, guilty pleasure." — Alta Everyone thinks they know what is going on in this world that is much more complicated than they realise. When something unexpected happens, they retrospectively distort all previous thoughts. They can only assess matters after the fact, as if they were in the rearview mirror. History books are much more organised than empirical reality. Our minds are wonderful explaining machines, capable of making sense of almost anything, capable of mounting explanations for all manner of phenomena. We are also generally incapable of accepting the idea of unpredictability. Taleb, Nassim Nicholas (November 1, 2010). "Benoît Mandelbrot". Time. Archived from the original on October 26, 2010 . Retrieved November 5, 2017.Nassim Nicholas Taleb is working the same territory as Daniel Kahneman in Thinking, Fast and Slow. While they both have us investigating our thinking, for Kahneman, it's to make us own up, while Taleb has more direct emphasis on avoiding disaster. They compel human beings to explain why they happened—to show, after the fact, that they were indeed predictable. The confirmation bias and the round-trip fallacy, including how we confuse an absence of evidence with an evidence of absence, and the difference between negative empiricism vs naive empiricism.

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