Archive for May, 2007

“Prediction, not narration, is the real test of our understanding of the world.”

I was just reading a five page abstract (via getabstract.com) of a new book, “Black Swan” about the impact of unusual events. That quote jumped out at me. How true that is! We call people experts who can look at the past and explain why it happened - narration. Yet the vast majority of “experts” are completely unable to predict the future with an accuracy. This applies in any area of expertise - investment is the most obvious one, but far from the only one.

Maybe a real expert is someone who says “I don’t know what will happen, but these are the sort of things that can help us prepare for just about an eventuality, be they good or bad”.

Cool Stuff Mark 05 May 2007 No Comments

The Tyranny of Transparency

We all know about the trend of increased transparency. Blogging, product reviews, comparison sites, etc. Here’s a great new trend which is sure to grow: recordings of customer service calls. A customer having problems with their credit card, and recording the call and publishing it on the net. We’ll be seeing a lot more of this in the future.

via Trendwatching

Cool Stuff Mark 02 May 2007 No Comments