Phases of a society

Ray Dalio outlines 5 phases of a sovereign state:

1) In phase 1, people are poor and they think they are poor.
2) In phase 2, people are getting rich but they still think they are poor.
3) In phase 3, people are rich and they think they are rich.
4) In phase 4, people are poorer but they still think they are rich.
5) In phase 5, the state is on the decline but people are slow to accept it.

Does this mean people's perspective tends to be behind reality?

What is value to the receiver?

Something captivates my senses. Should I decide based on the sensation given by my senses? Should I judge a book by its cover?

What is value to the provider?

I see value in my own way. Something is of great value to me if I feel uneasy without it.

Revisiting the story of the 3 little pigs

The first house is built with straw; the second house is built with wooden sticks; the third house built with bricks. In the end, the wolf manages to blow down the first 2 houses but not the third. Does this mean that if I don't do a shabby job, I am more able to ride through difficult period?

Size and frequency of earthquakes

There have been an average of 18 earthquakes of magnitude 7-8 and 1 earthquake of magnitude > 8 each year. Does this imply the bigger the size of an event, the less probable it is to happen?

What makes a person lucky?

Richard Wiseman finds that lucky people generate their own good fortune via four basic principles. They:

1) are skilled at creating and noticing opportunities.
2) make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition.
3) create self-fulfilling prohesies via positive expectations.
4) adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

To be lucky, I need to at least try and try persistently?

Relevance of lie

I can actually feel good when I live in ignorance. Knowing the truth can cause distraction and confusion. Lenin once said: "A lie told often enough becomes the truth".