Sunday, February 8, 2009

Fill in the blanks

The theory was described by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his 2007 book __________. Taleb regards many scientific discoveries as _________—"undirected" and unpredicted. He gives the rise of the Internet, the personal computer, World War I, and the September 11, 2001 attacks as examples of ___________ events.
The term ____________ comes from the commonplace Western cultural assumption that 'All ________ are white'. In that context, a __________ was a metaphor for something that could not exist. The 17th Century discovery of ____________ in Australia metamorphosed the term to connote that the perceived impossibility actually came to pass. Taleb notes that John Stuart Mill first used the ______________ narrative to discuss falsification.

Criteria to identify a ____________ Event based on the author's criteria are:
1. Event has appeared by complete surprise.
2. Event has a major impact.
3. Event, after it has appeared, is 'explained' by human hindsight.

2 comments:

Shazz said...

Black Swan event!! Heard of it all the time on the job.

RR said...

lol patti i see u r nerding for the interviews!!!