[W]e like to emit logical and rational ideas but we do not enjoy this execution. - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

American culture encourages the process of failure, unlike the cultures of Europe and Asia where failure is met with stigma and embarrassment. America’s specialty is to take these small risks for the rest of the world, which explains this country’s disproportionate share in innovations.

Note another element of Switzerland: it is perhaps the most successful country in history, yet it has traditionally had a very low level of university education compared to the rest of the rich nations. Its system, even in banking during my days, was based on apprenticeship models, nearly vocational rather than the theoretical ones. In other words, on techne (crafts and know how), not episteme (book knowledge, know what).

It takes a huge investment in introspection to learn that the thirty or more hours spent studying the news last month neither had any predictive ability during your activities of that month nor did it impact your current knowledge of the world.