It’s that time of the year again, when avalanches of New Year’s resolutions are launched with idealistic plans for drastic self-improvement in 2016. We resolve to quit drinking, smoking, or both. We resolve to help others and to spend more time with our friends and…
Could we both agree on the following notion? That, in the investment field, there is no one instrument that can perform all the time, and that there is no one who can say with certainty—in advance—which instrument would perform best. The future is uncertain and markets are random. As such, what Harry Markowitz…
I can literally envision all you regular readers rolling your eyes at yet another “brainy” post and thinking: “Tacomob, haven’t you written more than enough about the brain already? Isn’t there some other topic on your mind?” Of course there is, and that’s why I am…
Recently there has been a lively discussion among the Singapore Financial Blogger Scene about ‘Net Worth’ and how it should/could/may be computed (here, here, and here). This showed me how imperfect and susceptible to bias we all are. We are…
Do you believe in a just world? Most of us do. Simply because we assume that bad things will befall bad people, and good things, to good people. The bad news is that it doesn’t always play out that way and also that the world…
I would like to write about the end, yours and mine to be specific. I recently read that due to medical and technical advances, the first person to attain the age of a hundred and fifty has already been born. Are you that person? Well, I suppose…
Do you know what is the central element of good decision-making? It is actually one’s ability to manage delay. Yes, our ability to think about delay is a central part of the human condition and it’s a gift, a tool that we can—and should—use to examine…
Have you ever had—while driving—that extraordinary experience where anyone driving slower than you is an idiot, while anyone driving faster is a maniac? That, my dear reader, is an example of the Correspondence Bias in full-blown action. Generally, this bias refers to the tendency…
A few weeks ago, I wrote herewithin about a natural phenomenon: When things go well, we tend to ascribe our success to our abilities—our disposition. But when they go wrong, we tend to blame external factors—our situation. Finished. Done. Quick conclusion. Move on. But wait…
Ageing, that is. Humans have two things in common: We have a biased brain, and we grow older. Unfortunately, the fear of ageing these days is rampant, because we fear what we will become. My Claim “Being old is much better than…