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The Black Swan on The Tim Ferriss Show

The Black Swan was mentioned 16 times on The Tim Ferriss Show in 16 episodes.

“So, he he uses a term called epistemological or yeah, epistemological arrogance, which is sort of overestimating how much you understand about anything as a human. And I think it's it's naive to think I've come to this conclusion anyway that you can that we would understand every element of what's in an apple for instance or what's in a slice of ribeye. Like we we just there's so much uncharted territory that it's naive to think we could take the four or five things we've isolated, put them in a pill, and and sort of confer the same nutritional benefit for instance. I mean, that's kind of point number one. But, um yeah, it's it's a very interesting it's very very fascinating subject, but I've I've I've gone completely in the in the whole food direction just trying to consume a spectrum of colors every day for instance. Um the um So, can can I I want to add something to that? I think that is on the nutritional side that that basic point and understanding of our limitations couldn't be more right. I mean, we've tried very hard to kind of reduce uh our health to one vitamin or fiber or this or that in a very reductionist way and utterly miss the interplay between all of these different vitamins, nutrients, fiber, protein. And also, by the way, completely miss how our body processes it. So, it's turning out that, you know, we have a hundred trillion bacteria in our gut. A hundred trillion, which really what we're doing is feeding that bacteria, which then in turn feeds us. And it's going to the evidence is emerging that the microbiome that the gut bacteria is going to be one of the most important things to focus on in terms of improving our health and that we've lost quite a bit of diversity in our gut. And we don't but there's you know, a couple hundred species of bacteria in our gut, a little less, and we are just trying to figure out what does what and how they interact and it's everybody's different. The complexities here are just overwhelming. Um, we know that they need to be fed a high diet of fiber, lots of fruits and vegetables, basically what they feed. And from birth, so like we for a long time there was parts of breast milk that we the babies couldn't digest and we didn't understand, we didn't think they were important. But it turns out actually all those elements in breast milk are feeding the emerging biome in the young in the babies gut, which is then gives it the deals with the immune system and and inflammation and all these vital things and and uh, digesting of food. So there's like the complexity is beyond anything that we can comprehend right now. And um, I think we've continually like over and over try to say it was oh, it's fat is the problem and like turns out okay, wait, fat's not the problem. Oh, it's a deficiency in omega this and then okay, well, that's good, but it's not certainly the panacea that it was made out to be, you know. Every time we do this, we get it wrong. And so I I agree with you. I mean, I think there's some things that have been tested over the millennia and um, which is that kind of balanced good diet of, you know, whole grains and lots of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins. And I think that's where um, we we we're safest is when we stay in that kind of uh, that kind of space. And I'm glad you mentioned safest because it's it's not just oops, I didn't cover all my bases. When you take a very reductionist approach, uh, for instance, when people uh, when the media got its hands on the so-called promises of beta carotene, and if started consuming massive amounts of beta carotene in isolation, it can actually cause a lot of problems when you're not sort of consuming it in its natural uh environment, so to speak. But, um I'd love to shift gears and ask some some rapid-fire questions. They don't have to have rapid answers, but when you think of the word successful, who is the first person who comes to mind and why? Mhm. Well, two people come to mind. Uh Barack Obama and my and my father, but for wildly different reasons. Uh I mean, Barack Obama's, you know, success to me I measure based on um impact and the amount of impact that um somebody's trying to have in a positive impact But, it's sort of what you do with the place that you've been given. And, you know, I'm there's lots of legitimate disagreements in in in politics. And, I'm sure there's legitimate disagreements with some of the things that the president has has done. But, he is, you know, I know um first hand on a daily basis that here's somebody who's trying to and has had a massive positive impact on the world around him. So, that that's something that um you know, I I very much look up to and admire and and you know, in my much much much smaller way try to figure out how I can have the the biggest positive impact on the world around me. And, I'd say But, on the flip side, you know, but that takes you know, there's a lot of mission that goes with that and all you know, disappointments when you fail. Um on the flip side, like success my father is um he is a he's a fifth grade teacher. Has he just retired after 25 years. Um uh he lives an incredibly humble life and, you know, was a you know, a union guy growing up and and and a and then a teacher in in a union guy and sort of in the school. And, he um he he's utterly content. Uh he he has a uh a good community of friends. He's you know has roof over his head and and and meals on his table. In fact, when I first looked at a restaurant in Chicago, he had never spent $20 on a meal for himself, which I only found out when I invited him in for a meal at the end of my summer time there. And so he's just very content in in like the simple pleasures in the sort of a simple life. And I and that's something that um uh is you know I I I also try to take into what success looks like is is is that kind of contentness and being appreciative of of of what you have. Right, having the appreciation not just the drive for achievement. Yeah. What's what book uh or what is a book that you've gifted most often or gifted very often to other people? Mm. That I've gifted. Uh I've been pushing around The Art of Fielding over the last year or two uh by Chad Harbach.”

Sam Kass Interview (Full Episode) | The Tim Ferriss Show (Podcast) · The Tim Ferriss Show

Listen at 53:43

See every podcast mention of The Black Swan and more books on The Tim Ferriss Show.