Never buy a product that the owner of the company that makes it doesn't use, or, in the case of, say, medication, wouldn't contingently use. - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Many scientists... are... subject to such foolishness... One flagrant example is... global warming... These scientists initially ignored the fact that these [high temperature] spikes, although rare, had the effect of adding disproportionately to the cumulative melting of the ice caps. ...[A]n event, although rare, that brings large consequences cannot be ignored.

The difference between slaves in Roman and Ottoman days and todays employees is that slaves did not need to flatter their boss.

Our aversion to variability and desire for order, and our acting on those feelings, have helped precipitate severe crises. Making something artificially bigger (instead of letting it die early if it cannot survive stressors) makes it more and more vulnerable to a very severe collapse-as I showed with the Black Swan vulnerability associated with an increase in size.