Loserthink, p.23
Loserthink,
p.23
and Adams Law of Slow-Moving Disasters, 139
based on analogies/patterns, 151–53, 232
based on causation, 151–52
based on entrepreneurial energies, 139–40
and climate change, 16, 172
and complexity paired with money, 13–14
and creative panic, 15
discarding of failed predictions, 12–13
of doom, 202
for finances/investments, 8–9, 133
and “history repeats” premise, 67–73
keeping track of your incorrect, 39, 231
as means of testing worldviews, 217, 219
necessity of, 138
as persuasion, 16
by the press, 202
and scam models, 12–13
and science, 8, 8, 12, 13, 15, 16
straight-line, 137–40
presidential election of 2016, 84–85
presidents and job performance polling, 128–30
press
and ability to measure audience reactions, 21–22
absurdity in, 202–3
and anecdotal evidence, 100
biases in, 202
and brainwashing, 216
branding political parties based on individual members, 103
business model of, 21–23, 49, 185, 187, 202, 225
context absent from stories in, 196–99, 201
on “crazy” international adversaries, 169
credibility issues of bad news from, 187
cult influence of, 218–19
distortion of famous people’s statements, 212
exaggeration of stories in, 23
failure of imagination in reporting of, 55–56, 56
and fake news, 20–21, 56–57, 61, 145, 201–3, 214
and focus on problems, 49
and following multiple outlets, 201, 203, 219
and Forty-Eight-Hour Rule, 210
and managing mental shelf space, 50
and one-variable illusion, 83–84
opinions about stories on, 197–98
and opinion stacking in news, 21
outrage manufactured by, 202
patterns manufactured by, 152
and political warming, 22
on race relations, 185, 187
small group of individuals in control of, 218
Trump’s criticisms of, 149–50
Trump’s presidency covered by, 185, 202
“in the weeds” stories of, 225–26
prioritizing, 193–95
privacy, overrated benefits of, 74–78
“problematic” label, 146–47
problems, 46–51, 80–83
professional jealousy, 79–80
progress vs. slippery slopes, 74
projection, diagnosing others with, 33–35
proxy wars, 170
psychologists, thinking like, 24–52
and ego problem (see ego)
and focusing on the negative, 46–51
and focusing on the positive, 50–52
and mass hysteria, 29
and mind reading illusion, 24–32, 34
and Occam’s razor, 32–33, 231
and projection diagnoses, 33–35
public speaking, fear of, 45–46
publishing and book sales, 67–68
Puerto Rico, 129–30
pundits and trolls, strategies of, 141–62
analogies used by, 149–53
on “being yourself,” 158–59
and confirmation bias, 157
cowardice accusations, 159–60
on doing one’s own research, 155–57
fairness argument, 148–49, 231
and friction’s ability to change behavior, 153–54
and hypocrisy defense, 147–48
and individuals controlling the press, 218
moral equivalency argument, 141–42
“why didn’t you do it sooner?” criticism, 161–62
and word-thinking, 143–47
Q hoax, 58–59, 103–4, 157
questions, asking, 37, 38
race relations, 185–87
racism and racists
and Barr’s gaffe, 211–12
and branding people as evil, 30
and dog whistles, 27, 57
failure of imagination regarding, 55–56
and intentions of others, 211–12
labeling others as, 32
and mind reading illusion, 26–28
and Republican Party, 55–57, 102
tools required to repair history of, 64–65
and Trump’s “fine people” hoax, 56–57
rationality, 66, 89, 203–5
real estate investments, 121–22, 134
Reiner, Rob, 34, 34
religion, 217
Republican Party (GOP)
and border control, 57
branding all Democrats based on individual members, 102–3
and climate change, 229
cult status of, 218
and healthcare reform, 183, 229
racist members of, 55–57, 102
research, doing one’s own, 155–57
responsibility, assigning, 81–83
Reykjavik Energy, 176
Robbins, Tony, 114
Santayana, George, 67
Saudi Arabia, 170
scam models, 12–13
Schiff, Adam, 150–51, 151
science and scientists, 95–104
and anecdotal evidence, 99–100
biases in, 15
and coincidences, 95–99, 232
and considering opposite outcomes, 101–2
and failures in research, 115–16
and fraud resulting from complexity paired with money, 13–14
and judging the group based on individuals, 102–3, 232
nutrition science, 14–15
and peer-reviewed studies, 9–10
and prediction models, 12, 13, 15
and proving a negative, 103–4
and scam models, 12, 13
simplest explanations in, 32–33
See also climate scientists/science
secrecy (privacy), overrated benefits of, 74–78
self-checkout systems, 45
selfishness, priority of, 195
self-talk, positive, 36, 38
senior citizens, 179
shelf space of the mind, managing, 50–51
short- vs. long-term decision making, 132–33
shy bladder (paruresis), 75–77, 189
simplest explanations (Occam’s razor), 32–33, 231
single-payer health insurance, 21
skill stack, 109–11
slavery, 64
sleep, managing, 206–7
“slippery slope” premise, 73–74, 231–32
small steps to larger goals, 106–9
smartphones, 167, 181
smiling, 37
socialism and socialists, 31, 82, 85
social media, 23, 26, 29, 210, 214
Southern Poverty Law Center, 186
spasmodic dysphonia, 156, 189
speaking career of author, 192
speeding tickets, avoiding, 120–21
staying in/leaving one’s lane, 109–11
stock market, 12–13, 69, 138
Strata Worldwide, 177
stupidity, differentiating genius from, 54
success in life
and action vs. inaction, 118
books that cultivate, 113–14
correlation of confidence with, 35–36, 116–17
and cultural gravity, 190–92
microsteps to, 113
and personal control, 111–12
persuasive power of, 64, 65
and “thinking like poor people,” 113
sunk costs fallacy, 2, 3
Swalwell, Eric, 90–92, 91, 103, 104
systems vs. goals, 93–94
talents, 2–3, 109–11
telemedicine, 180–81
terrorism, 171–72
Tesla, 4
testing assumptions, 118–19
testing small and tracking results, 94
Thinking, Fast and Slow (Kahneman), 204
Tillerson, Rex, 186
time value of money, 132–34
trolls. See pundits and trolls, strategies of
Trump, Donald
and border wall, 97, 228
and comparisons to despots, 149
criticisms of African American women, 185
criticisms of press, 149–50
and Deep State theory, 217
and “fine people” hoax, 56–57
and healthcare reform, 182
influence of, 109
and job performance polling, 129–30
and Kanye West, 63–64
and North Korea, 70
persuasion skills of, 63, 198
press coverage of, 185, 202
and Q hoax, 58–59
and Russian collusion theory, 217
Twitter attacks of, 185–86
truth, accuracy vs. direction of, 88–90
Turley, Jonathan, 217
Twenty-Year Rule, 214–15
Twitter, 93, 185–86, 197, 230
unemployment, 178–80
verbal gaffes, 26–29
victimhood, 112
video security cameras, 166–67
virtual reality (VR) technology, 165–66
wars, 168–72, 203
weirdos and kindred spirits, 77
West, Kanye, 63–65, 191–92
WhenHub, 98, 181
“why didn’t you do it sooner?” criticism, 161–62
Win Bigly (Adams), 18, 88, 197, 204
women, cultural gravity experienced by, 191
Woods, Tiger, 2–3
word-thinking, 143–47
world peace, 168–72
wrong, being
admitting to, 147
and complexity of the world, 116
keeping track of frequency in, 39, 59
and learning from mistakes, 70, 192–93
while expressing confidence, 59, 114–18, 219–20
Xerox, 138
Y2K bug predictions, 15, 139
Yemen, 170
Zuboff, Shoshana, 136
Zucker, Jeff, 185
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
About the Author
Scott Adams is the creator of Dilbert, one of the most popular comic strips of all time. He has been a full-time cartoonist since 1995, after 16 years as a technology worker for companies like Crocker National Bank and Pacific Bell. His many bestsellers include The Dilbert Principle, Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook, How To Fail At Almost Everything And Still Win Big, and Win Bigly. He is co-founder of WhenHub. He lives outside of San Francisco.
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* I think mosquitoes have nozzles. Possibly beaks. Or snouts. I don’t know a lot about bugs.
Scott Adams, Loserthink
