Philosophy

The more I think about it, the more I think this is why so many of us, myself included, are attracted to data-based optimization. We’re painfully aware that we are vulnerable, fallible creatures. Our shame about that is reflected in Western religious traditions: The Bible tells us that upon first creating the world, God “saw that it was good,” but... See more

I’ve read thousands of books. In 2010, I picked one up that would change my life. The book: *Fooled by Randomness* by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) Over a decade later, the 5 lessons that have stayed with me:

Who Am I?

Look deep into the recesses of your being, and identify everything you think makes you, you.

Traverse all your mind’s pathways, and locate every desire and thought. Summon every opinion and belief, every interest and passion, and interrogate each and every one, relentlessly.

Ask them where they came from, and who planted them. Ask them if... See more

How could gaining knowledge amount to anything other than discovering what was already there? How could the truth of a statement or a theory be anything but its correspondence to facts that were fixed before we started investigating them?

Some philosophers have argued that, despite widespread intuitions to the contrary, knowledge is not merely a... See more