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Showing posts from August, 2013

The Herd Instinct

You are on your way to a concert. At an intersection , you encounter a group of people , all staring at the sky. Without even thinking about it, you peer upwards too. Why? Social proof. In the middle of the concert, when the soloist is displaying absolute mastery, someone begins to clap and suddenly the whole room joins in. You do too. Why?  Social proof. After the concert is over, you see people in front place a coin on a plate, even though, officially, the service is included in ticket price. What do you do? You probably leave a tip as well. Social proof, sometimes roughly termed as Herd Instinct , dictates that individuals feel they are behaving when act as the same as other people. In other words, more people who follow a certain idea, better we deem the idea to be.  Social proof is evil behind bubbles and stock market panic. It exists in fashion, management techniques, hobbies, religion and diets. It can paralyse whole cultures, such as when sects commit collective...

The Mask

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"It was one of the worst winters back then, a small bird was flying in this cold weather. The snow fall started. It couldn't sustain the weather and fell down on the ground awaiting death. After few minutes a bull came by and dropped its dung on that bird. The bird felt disgusted by that act but the warmth of the dung made the bird survive. It started screeching for help. A nearby cat heard it, removed the bird from the mess, cleaned it, and ATE IT."  That is how life is .. The unexpected happens time and again. We learn two things from this story. 1) Not everything that disgusts you is bad for you. 2) Not everyone that helps is your friend. We have entered the era of " THE MASK ". There is a mask on every face around you. A very few examples are below. Rest, I believe you will have to figure out yourself and identify which mask suits you and which mask you should be wearing. Sometimes people fake faces in order to gain their desire. They smile ...