As Ennius wrote, “The good is mostly in the absence of bad”; Nimium boni est, cui nihil est mali. - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

At no point in history have so many non-risk-takers, that is, those with no personal exposure, exerted so much control.

In a thick and captivating book, La rebellion française, the historian Jean Nicolas shows how the culture of rioting was extremely sophisticated — historically, it counts as the true French national sport.

What is surprising is not the magnitude of our forecast errors, but our absence of awareness of it. This is all the more worrisome when we engage in deadly conflicts: wars are fundamentally unpredictable (and we do not know it). Owing to this misunderstanding of the causal chains between policy and actions, we can easily trigger Black Swans thanks to aggressive ignorance-like a child playing with a chemistry kit.