A heuristic on whether you have control of your life: can you take naps? - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Those who aren't in it for the money won't tell you that they aren't in it for the money.

The French have a distinction mathematician vs. "matheux". + The mathematicia(e)n is like someone who composes music; doesn't have to perform, be good w/instruments. Invents math. + The matheux is someone who plays an instrument; can be a virtuoso but doesn't compose music.

One cannot assert authority by accepting one's own fallibility. Simply, people need to be blinded by knowledge - we are made to follow leaders who can gather people together because the advantages of being in groups trump the disadvantages of being alone. It has been more profitable for us to bind together in the wrong direction than to be alone in the right one. Those who have followed the assertive idiot rather than the introspective wise person have passed us some of their genes. This is apparent from a social pathology: psychopaths rally followers.