Ryan
Nothing exists as a block And cannot be parceled up. So if nothing’s ventured It’s not just talk; It’s the big wager – Kay Ryan
Sophocles
What you cannot enforce, do not command. -Sophocles
Blore
Given a choice between two theories, take the one which is funnier.
Blore’s Razor
Hand
I had rather take my chance that some traitors will escape detection than spread abroad a spirit of general suspicion and distrust, which accepts rumor and gossip in place of undismayed and unintimidated inquiry. -Learned Hand
Introduction
The Trust Manifesto is about calculated altruism. There is a place for regular altruism in this world; I am a big believer in karma.
However, for those people willing to dive deeper into economics, psychology, and statistics, there are plenty of other reasons to extend trust. By understanding, combining and applying these ideas, one can win more love, money, happiness and friendship than someone who does not practice calculated altruism.
A casino cannot predict how it will fare on any given transaction, but can predict with some certainty how it will do after 1,000 transactions. Those people that understand such ideas as true costs, the human tendency to overstate rare events. and other such things, can be like a casino and decide when it is rational to take risks that have a likely positive upside to their lives.
The Trust Manifesto is partly about the Golden Rule, but unlike some belief systems tries to also explain why the Golden Rule is a rational way to maximize happiness and wealth.
Poincare
“To doubt everything or to believe everything are two equally convenient solutions; both dispense with the necessity of reflection.”
- Henri Poincare
Keller
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of humankind as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or it is nothing at all.
- Helen Keller
Welcome
If this is your first time here, welcome. You should know that the entries are in reverse chronological
order, with the newest postings first. But you might want to start with the oldest postings for some
context, so take a look at this set of entries from November, 2005.
Reagan
I know in my heart that man is good
That what is right will always eventually triumph
And there is a purpose and worth to each and every life.
– Ronald Reagan
Hein
Knowing what / Thou knowest not / Is in a sense / Omniscience. -Piet Hein
Cosby
In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.
– Bill Cosby
Twain
We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it — and stop there — lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again, and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more. -Mark Twain,
Barnum
People have got to do as Cromwell said: “not only trust in Providence, but keep the powder dry.” Do your part of the work, or you cannot succeed. Mahomet, one night, while encamping in the desert, overheard one of his fatigued followers remark: “I will loose my camel, and trust it to God!” “No, no, not so,” said the prophet, “tie thy camel, and trust it to God!” Do all you can for yourselves, and then trust to Providence, or luck, or whatever you please to call it, for the rest.
- PT Barnum
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Bremer
People have generally three epochs in their confidence in man. In the first they believe him to be everything that is good, and they are lavish with their friendship and confidence. In the next, they have had experience, which has smitten down their confidence, and they then have to be careful not to mistrust every one, and to put the worst construction upon everything. Later in life, they learn that the greater number of men have much more good in them than bad, and that even when there is cause to blame, there is more reason to pity than condemn; and then a spirit of confidence again awakens within them. –FREDRIKA BREMER.
Colton
When young, we trust ourselves too much, and we trust others too little when old. Rashness is the error of youth, timid caution of age. Manhood is the isthmus between the two extremes; the ripe and fertile season of action, when alone we can hope to find the head to contrive, united with the hand to execute.–COLTON.
Immigration
Every week night, Lou Dobbs rants about the evils of illegal immigration, and many politicians also get mileage out of that.
However a recent study shows that one argument they use is simply wrong:
“Immigrants in [California], about 35 percent of adults, are far less likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes, according to a study by the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan research group. Among men ages 18 to 40, the group most likely to commit crimes, native-born Americans were 10 times more likely than immigrants to be incarcerated for crimes in California prisons and jails. The study included both legal and illegal immigrants, without focusing separately on illegal immigrants. But it found that native-born American men ages 18 to 40 were at least eight times more likely to be imprisoned for crimes than Mexican immigrants in that age range who were not naturalized citizens — a group likely to have a high percentage of illegal immigrants.” – New York Times.
Netflix
It’s conventional to say, “only the paranoid survive” but that’s not true. The paranoid die because the paranoid take all threats as serious and get very distracted.
– Reed Hastings, Netflix
Marti
You must have faith in the best of man and distrust the worst. If not, the worst will prevail.
- Jose Marti