The Black Swan Event

         The renowned thinker, Nassim Taleb has written a fantastic book called the Black Swan. In it he elaborates the concept that things that have never happened before, or Black Swan events will never ever happen. The Black Swan is based on historical observations by the British who had always assumed that swans were white in colour and were taken aback when one of their early explorers who visited Australia recorded that he witnessed a black swan.

        Donald Rumsfeld, the former Secretary of Defence for George H Bush as well as George W Bush once put it very eloquently. There are 3 things people are aware of :

1. The known knowns ('facts') - or what we deem (perceive) to be true

2. The known unknowns (The universe out there is largely visible, other life forms may exist not 
     yet found ; where does the Universe end ? Does it sit on a table ? )

3. The unknown unknowns (What we do not know or even cannot fathom)

      The dot com boom, the Facebook phenomenon, even the Fukushima accident can be described as Black Swan events.