The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms

Bed Of Procrustes

The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms

by: Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Central Theme:
A philosopher will make the obscure seem obscure, but the aphorist makes the obvious seem obvious.

Recommendation:
In Nassim Taleb’s next piece as part of The Incerto, he provides a collection of miscellaneous thoughts and heuristics. Ever-present in his teachings is an obvious frustration with salaried work and the inefficiencies provided by the 9-5 working style.

Summary:
“Every aphorism here is about a Procrustean bed of sorts – we humans, facing limits of knowledge, and things we do not observe, the unseen and the unknown, resolve the tension by squeezing life and the world into crisp commoditized ideas, reductive categories, specific vocabularies, and prepackaged narratives, which, on the occasion, has explosive consequences.”

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