Shortform Books

How Do Social Class Hierarchies Develop?

How do social class hierarchies—such as the caste systems seen in America, India, and Nazi Germany—come into being? Why are castes so hard to abolish once they are established? A caste is a social class hierarchy that is formed based on arbitrary characteristics of difference (e.g. race, religion). According to Isabel Wilkerson, the author of Caste, there are eight tenets that form a caste system: 1) laws of divinity, 2) ingrained superiority, 3) dehumanization at the group level, 4) laws of heritage, 5) laws of love, 6) the purity of the dominant caste, 7) division of labor, and 8) terror

Why Modern Academia Fails to Practice Good Science

What does good science look like? What are the implications of scientific research being done in institutions that aren’t even involved in its implementation? In his book Skin in the Game, Nassim Taleb argues that modern academics fail to practice good science because they lack what he calls “skin in the game”—they are isolated from the real world in which their ideas are implemented. Taleb argues that areas of science and academia that lack skin in the game yield faulty, harmful ideas and theories that would cause major damage if implemented at a large scale. In this article, we’ll take

How to Be Persuasive and Always Get What You Want

What is the secret to mastering how to be persuasive? What is the danger in using psychological tricks to persuade people? You master how to be persuasive when you learn to use the psychological biases of people to get them to do what you want. This is how brands exploit the social proof bias of fans to get them to buy products promoted by their favorite celebrities. However, leveraging the psychological biases of people can backfire when it is done too transparently or it is used to achieve immoral ends. Read on master how to be persuasive and get people

Elizabeth Gilbert: What Kills Creativity

What kills creativity? Do you often put off your creative work because of the pressure to produce something groundbreaking? Many creatives, no matter the field, get stuck in their creative process because they believe their work should look a certain way or live up to some kind of standard they made up. Such prescriptive thoughts prevent you from fully exercising your creativity and ultimately only stymie you. Below are three common prescriptive thoughts that get in the way of your creativity and which you should dispel.

The Hero With a Thousand Faces: Book Overview

Why is Joseph Campbell’s book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces important? What was the role of mythologies in ancient societies? The book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces explores the existence of common themes and story elements in the mythologies of ancient societies, even though those cultures belonged to vastly different eras. Those myths served as the manifestations of the inner conflicts and desires of each society. They helped people make sense of their subconscious desires. Read on to discover how the book, The Hero With a Thousand Faces explains the functional template of hero myths in ancient societies.

How Mass Employment Causes Inefficiency at Work

Why does mass employment promote inefficiency? Do you think it’s possible to completely eliminate labor market inefficiency? According to Nassim Taleb, inefficiency at work is an unavoidable weakness of mass employment. Employees limit their freedom in order to maintain productive organizations for their employers, and what they get in return—the paycheck. However, it’s impossible to get employees totally invested in the company’s game. In this article, we’ll discuss why inefficiency is an inherent by-product of mass employment.

Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Lollapalooza Effect

The 25 Cognitive Biases: The Lollapalooza Effect

What is Charlie Munger’s lollapalooza effect? How do you know when this phenomenon is influencing your actions? The lollapalooza effect is triggered when more than one of the cognitive biases work together to influence your behavior. The cognitive biases reinforce each other, often leading to extreme consequences. You can recognize the phenomenon when you see extreme behaviors in individuals or a group. Read on to learn more about the impact of the lollapalooza effect.

Don’t Be a Jack of All Trades—Hire an Expert

Why should you hire an expert rather than trying to do everything yourself? In what three ways are you wasting time if you don’t hire an expert? Many business owners and managers struggle when it comes to giving up control—they strive to do everything on their own. However, rather than saving you time and money, doing everything yourself will often cost more money and waste your valuable time. Here is why you need to give up control and hire an expert.

What to Do If You Feel Like Giving Up on Your Dreams

What do successful people do when they feel like giving up? How can we re-inspire ourselves when pushing forward just feels like too much or worse—pointless? To achieve success, we must resist the urge to give up and our inclination towards losing faith. One way to keep pushing forward when you feel like giving up on your dreams is to amp up your levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Here is what to do when you feel like giving up.

Charlie Munger: The Reciprocation Tendency

The 25 Cognitive Biases: Reciprocation Tendency

What is the reciprocation tendency? How can reciprocity be harmful? The reciprocation tendency is the inclination of humans to reciprocate both favors and harm done to them. The reciprocation of favors enhances social cohesion and group cooperation, while the reciprocation of harm deters bad behavior in the future. Reciprocity can be harmful when the tendency is exploited by manipulators who use small concessions to demand big favors. Read on to learn more about the reciprocation tendency.