“We are victims of the post-Enlightenment view that the world functions...” — Nassim Nicholas Taleb Quote

“We are victims of the post-Enlightenment view that the world functions like a sophisticated machine, to be understood like a textbook engineering problem and run by wonks. In other words, like a home appliance, not like the human body.”

“The best philosophers were not academics, but had another job, so their philosophy was not corrupted by careerism.”

“I select a very small number of things to be sceptical about, such as markets, and on these I am hypersceptic. But I want to be fooled by randomness in art. I want the ceremonial of religion; we are made for it.”

“There are days when any electrical appliance in the house, including the vacuum cleaner, seems to offer more entertainment possibilities than the television set.”

“I'm quitting the business today. I'm going to open up an appliance store, I've always really been into toasters. I'm giving it all up.”

“If I were to produce a kitchen appliance, I have to do more safety testing and go through more compliance procedures to create a toaster than to create Facebook.”