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Margin of safety

12 Life Lessons From Mathematician and Philosopher Gian-Carlo Rota

The mathematician and philosopher Gian-Carlo Rota spent much of his career at MIT, where students adored him for his engaging, passionate lectures. In 1996, Rota gave a talk entitled “Ten Lessons I …

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Making the Most of Second Chances

We all get lucky. Once in a while we do something really stupid that could have resulted in death, but didn’t. Just the other day, I saw someone who was texting walk out into oncoming traffic, …

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Margin of Safety: An Introduction to the Mental Model

Previously on Farnam Street, we covered the idea of Redundancy — a central concept in both the world of engineering and in practical life. Today we’re going to explore a related concept: Margin of …

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Eric Drexler on taking action in the face of limited knowledge

Science pursues answers to questions, but not always the questions that engineering must ask. The founding father of nanotechnology, Eric Drexler, who aptly described the difference between science …

Continue readingEric Drexler on taking action in the face of limited knowledge

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