“Randomness works well in search—sometimes better than humans.”

—  Nassim Nicholas Taleb , book Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder

Source: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (2012), p. 103

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Randomness works well in search—sometimes better than humans." by Nassim Nicholas Taleb?
Nassim Nicholas Taleb photo
Nassim Nicholas Taleb 196
Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, statistician, former t… 1960

Related quotes

Brandon Sanderson photo

“we're all freaks sometimes, Melody," he replied. "You're just… well, better at it than most.”

Brandon Sanderson (1975) American fantasy writer

Source: The Rithmatist

Studs Terkel photo

“Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying.”

Studs Terkel (1912–2008) American author, historian and broadcaster
Janusz Korwin-Mikke photo

“I suspect in Lenin's works there's everything, if you search well.”

Janusz Korwin-Mikke (1942) polish politician

Source: magazine Magazyn Trybuny, 20 April 2002

“It is better not to know and to know that one does not know, than presumptuously to attribute some random meaning to symbols.”

Malcolm Azania book The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad

Source: The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad (2004), Chapter 46 “Prelude to the Negative Confession” (p. 260)

Anne Lamott photo

“Sometimes this human stuff is slimy and pathetic… but better to feel it and talk about it and walk through it than to spend a lifetime being silently poisoned.”

Anne Lamott (1954) Novelist, essayist, memoirist, activist
John D. Barrow photo

“In general, the shorter the possible representation… the less random… On this view we recognize science to be the search for algorithmic compressions.”

John D. Barrow (1952–2020) British scientist

New Theories of Everything (2007)
Context: We say that the string is 'random' if there is no other representation of the string which is shorter than itself. But we will say that it is 'non-random' if there does exist such an abbreviated representation.... In general, the shorter the possible representation... the less random... On this view we recognize science to be the search for algorithmic compressions.<!--Ch. 1, p. 11

“Children see things very well sometimes — and idealists even better.”

Lorraine Hansberry A Raisin in the Sun

Asagai to Beneatha, Act III
A Raisin in the Sun (1959)

Benjamin Franklin photo

“Well done is better than well said.”

Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) American author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, …

Poor Richard's Almanack (1737)

Larry Page photo

“The Star Trek computer doesn't seem that interesting. They ask it random questions, it thinks for a while. I think we can do better than that.”

Larry Page (1973) American computer scientist and Internet entrepreneur

Quoted in Ben Elgin, "Google's Goal: "Understand Everything," http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_18/b3881010_mz001.htm BusinessWeek (2004-05-03).

Joe Trohman photo

“Those chimps and orangutans [in our music video] get treated better than the ones in zoos. They’re loved, and they’re taken care of much better and cleaned much better. And they’re only allowed to work a certain amount of time every day. Plus, we had someone from Animal Protection there the entire time, making sure everything was cool. It’s really weird that people got pissed off about that. Those animals were treated quite well, probably better than most humans, and definitely better than animals in the zoo.”

Joe Trohman (1984) American musician

My Heart Will Always Be The B-Side To My Tongue (2004), Ultimate Guitar Interview (2008)

Related topics