(highlight:: The Brain Instantly and Involuntarily Reacts to Whatever Information It Sees
Summary:
The human brain's instant reaction mechanism processes salient information in just a fraction of a second, which makes it susceptible to the toxic mix of rapid information dissemination through social media and the internet.
Without systematic mechanisms to discern good information from bad, reliable information from propaganda, society is at risk of suffering, as noted by Charle Munger at the Daily Journal meeting in Los Angeles.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Yes, it's, i mean, it's an incredibly toxic mix, because through twitter and facebook and all of social media and the internet. People now are more rapidly informed than at any time in human history. And the human brain is an instant reaction mechanis. And as soon as you see salient information, your brain has already processed it. I mean, a lot of experiments have shown alot, a lot of this process occurs in a tenth of a second, a third of the time it takes you to blink your eye. And if we don't have systematic mechanisms that enable people to idiscriminate good in ation from bad and reliable information from bogus or faulty reporting, or simply propaganda That is masquerading is reporting, society will really suffer. And charle munger told me last year when i was at the daily journal meeting in los angeles, that he really fears for the future of the republic.)
- Time 0:09:16
- information, information_diets, polarization, reactivity, snipddont-post,
- [note::This speaks to the importance of curating our news feeds.]

(highlight:: Write from the Perspective of Eternity
Summary:
Maintaining a long-term perspective is challenging in a short-term oriented world, especially for those providing advice to individual investors.
Making more points of contact with the wisdom of past ages can enable people to do so. Quoting Greek and Roman philosophers or thinkers like Spinoza allows for writing not from the perspective of current or past times, but from the perspective of eternity.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
Yes, you know, it's really, i think one of the challenges for somebody like me who writes for individual investors and tries to provide advice is it's extraordinarily difficult for People to maintain a long term perspective in a world that i think we would generously be describing as short term orented. And the best way to do that is with a yoow, enabling people to make more points of contact with, you know, the wisdom of past ages and benjamin graham has this extraordinary remark in one Of the interviews he gave late in his life, where somebody asks him, why are you always quoting greek and roman philosophers? And he's, he i'm really paraphrasing, but he said something along these lines, he said, well, not just greek and roman philosophers. He said, i i also quote spinoza a lot. And i he said, i guess it's because i'm trying to write not from the perspective of our time or past times, but from the perspective of eternity.)
- Time 0:12:50
- writing, snipddont-post, long-term_perspective,

(highlight:: Defining Risk
Summary:
Risk can be defined as the chance of not knowing what you are doing, leading to unexpected losses, the probability of an adverse outcome, or the extent to which extreme outcomes differ from the average.
It has also been described as the gap between what investors think they know and what they end up learning about their investments, the financial markets, and themselves. In essence, risk is the difference between perceived knowledge and eventual truth.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I kind of like the definit of risk in the devil's financial dictionary. I'll read it to you here. It comes risk n the chance that you don't know what you are doing when you think you do, the prerequisite for losing more money in a shorter period of time than you could ever have imagined. Possible risk can be formally defined as the odds of an adverse or undesirable outcome. When the forecast is for an 80 per chance of sunshine, for example, then the risk of rain is 20 %. Or as the extent to which extreme outcomes differ from the average. It has been philosophically defined by professor finance, professor elroy dimson of london business school this way, risk means more things can happen than will happen. In the end. Risk is the gap between what investors think they know and hat they end up learning about their investments, about the financial markets and about themselves. So, i mean, i think the best way to define risk is exactly that. It's the difference between what i think i know and what in himsit will have turned out to be true.)
- Time 0:28:18
- decision-making, risk, snipdpost-queue,

(highlight:: To Eliminate Undesirable Behavior, You Have to Eliminate The Stimuli That Precedes It
Summary:
Self-control problems require structuring life to avoid stimuli that tempt bad behavior, similar to avoiding walking past a tavern if you're an alcoholic.
Investors can improve mental hygiene by unfollowing negative sources and following those with a long-term perspective to reduce hyper reactivity to market fluctuations. Changing exposure helps in turning down the amplitude of emotions.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
But if you 're an alcoholic, you would be crazy to walk past the tavern and say, i will demonstrate the will power not to walk in. You can't do that, and you know you can't, so you walk on the other street. And that's the kind of governor that people need to put on their behavior. If you know that you have self control problems, you have to structure your life so that the things that tempt you into bad behavior don't get surfaced in your stimuli. And that's very easy for investors to do. If you, if you know you have a tendency toward hyper reactivity to, you know, red arrows pointing downward on stock market displays, then turn that web site off, un follow that person On twitter. Follow people who take a longer term perspective and aren't rattled by this kind of thing. Improve your mental hygiene. You can't turn yourself into someone who's unemotional, but you can turn down the amplitude of your own emotions if you change what your exposures are.)
- Time 0:38:37
- behavior_change, habits, snipdpost-queue,