Beyond Ghor there was a city. All its inhabitants were blind. A king with his entourage arrived near by; he brought his army and camped in the desert. He had a mighty elephant, which he used in attack and to increase the people’s awe. The populace became anxious to see the elephant, and some sightless … Read more
The challenge in learning something is never in understanding its content or in retaining the knowledge over time. The challenge and only benefit to learning is being able to apply what you have learned when the time is right. Call this “prescience.” When you learn something new, you will tend to give it a high … Read more
Once upon a time Khidr, the Teacher of Moses, called upon mankind with a warning. At a certain date, he said, all the water in the world which had not been specially hoarded, would disappear. It would then be renewed, with different water, which would drive men mad. Only one man listened to the meaning … Read more
People assume scientists are honest. But scientists have certain kind of personalities, maybe a tendency to question everything beyond the point most people would be willing to go. Scientists may also be disagreeable since the very point of practicing science is to falsify previously established theories, so that we can make progress. Dawkins uses an … Read more
Three fishes once lived in a pool. They were: a clever fish, a halfclever fish and a stupid fish. Life continued for them very much as it is for fishes everywhere until one day came—a man. He was carrying a net, and the clever fish saw him through the water. Calling upon his experience the … Read more
The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig isn’t about discarding the people who claim to have discovered the secrets of business success, but to make a more subtle point, or rather to ask a more subtle question: why is it so hard to define success? There are many delusions that shape the way we think about … Read more
Men die, on average, 4 to 6 years earlier than women in the U.S. Men are more likely to get infections than women, have more accidents including falls, poisonings, drownings, firearm accident, car crashes, fires, and explosions. Men are 30 percent more likely to die from accidents in their first 4 years of life and … Read more
Promiscuity Women’s preferences for short term mates suggests that they use casual sex to evaluate potential husbands. If they only wanted short-term mates for opportunistic sex, as many men do, then certain characteristics (such as promiscuity, commitment) would not bother women. Like men, women would find promiscuity in a prospective lover to be neutral or … Read more
Resources The gist of this section is that men are one long breeding experiment run by women. Women look for men to gain access to resources. Buss explains this because sex-role socialization of women throughout history. In primitive culture, men with the most land attract the most wives. Globally, women usually marry men who are … Read more
Choice is good, but too much choice can be bad. Choosing between 4 types of red wine is pleasant but choosing between 144 types of wine is stressful. The paradox of choice is becoming more relevant with time, as more options become available across many different domains. There are millions of books available to download; … Read more