I'm obsessed with cognitive biases.

A "cognitive bias" is a systematic error in thinking that destroys decision-making.

11 most powerful (and dangerous) cognitive biases I've found: 🧵

1. Parkinson's Law:

Yesterday, 3M people found my weird obsession with cognitive biases.

A "cognitive bias" is a systematic error in thinking that destroys decision-making.

7 more of the most powerful (and dangerous) cognitive biases I've found: 🧵

1. Confirmation Bias:

In 1238, Granada's engineers pulled off the biggest feat in medieval history:

They built a self-sustaining water system 200 meters up a mountain.

No pumps. No electricity. No downtime. But what they created next nearly destroyed physics forever.

Here's the full story: 🧵

In the 1940s, Australia built a town on the deadliest dust in history:

They built a mine on newly discovered “blue gold.”

But what they created turned Wittenoom into the most toxic ghost town on Earth.

Welcome to Australia's Secret Chernobyl: 🧵

In 1969, this jet broke every rule of aviation.

• Faster than a rifle bullet.
• More luxurious than a palace.
• Everyone called it the future of traveling.

But disaster was written in its design from day one...

Here's the untold story of Concorde: 🧵

Historians buried this story for centuries.

In 1518, an entire city lost control of their bodies...

The cause? Something far more mysterious than any disease.

Welcome to the Dancing Plague and its 500-year-old mystery: 🧵

He was the unkillable soldier.

Lost an eye, a hand, and threw grenades with his teeth.

He took 11 bullets across 3 wars, and Churchill called him "the bravest man I ever met."

Here's the forgotten real-life Terminator you have never heard of... 🧵

In 1944, the U.S. Los Alamos atomic bomb project faced a security nightmare.

It wasn't a German spy or Soviet agent, but from one of their most trusted leader...

In 5 minutes, here's how Richard Feynman exposed over 20 years of fatal loopholes in the US security: 🧵

In 1955, Einstein died in Princeton Hospital.

7 hours later, his brain was stolen.

For 40 years, Einstein's brain sat in a cedar box under a beer cooler.

Here's the bizarre journey and 5 biggest discoveries behind Einstein's brain: 🧵

This is Arthur Conan Doyle.

Author of Sherlock Holmes.

Everyone thought the spy techniques used were fictional...

But for decades, they were studied by the CIA, MI6, and spies.

Here's the story behind the world's greatest detective
—with examples: 🧵

I used to think people were rational.

Then I found FBI files on Hanns Scharff's "weaponized kindness" technique.

He extracted secrets from 480 Allied pilots without breaking a sweat.

Learn his mind-boggling techniques (they're the ultimate lesson in human nature):

I'm obsessed with cognitive biases.

A "cognitive bias" is a systematic error in thinking that destroys decision-making.

11 most powerful (and dangerous) cognitive biases I've found: 🧵

1. Survivorship Bias:

In 1980, when 6 Americans were trapped in Iran the CIA had a crazy idea:

Send in a CIA agent posing as a Hollywood producer to create a Star Wars ripoff called "Argo."

I swear this has to be the wildest rescue operation in espionage history: 🧵

At 16, she was forced to become Queen of England.

In just 9 days, she lost her crown.
her freedom.
her life.

This is the forgotten rise and fall of Lady Jane Grey: (THREAD)🧵

He was Japan's first and only Black samurai.

Outranking lifelong retainers, this 6'2" African warrior served the nation's most powerful warlord.

His story was hidden for 400 years.

The story of Yasuke will shatter everything you know about samurai: 🧵

In 1980, when 6 Americans were trapped in Iran the CIA had a crazy idea:

Send in a CIA agent posing as a Hollywood producer to create a Star Wars ripoff called "Argo."

I swear this has to be the wildest rescue operation in espionage history: 🧵

The Nazis' most effective WWII weapon wasn't tanks, guns, or bombs.

It was their infamous uniform.

Here's the psychology behind how fashion became the deadliest propaganda weapon...🧵

John von Neumann (190 IQ) was smarter than Einstein (160 IQ)

Einstein called him "the smartest person I know."

Yet most people have never heard his name.

Here's the forgotten story of John von Neumann, one of history's most important geniuses: 🧵

This 2-year-old kid once ruled 1/3 of the world's population...

• Kidnapped at 2.
• Worshipped as a living god
• Controlled an empire of 400 million people.

This is not clickbait. Not a metaphor. Not exaggerated.

Here's the bizarre story of China's last emperor:🧵

In 1945, the US started kidnapping scientists from defeated Germany.

They were war criminals who built Hitler's rockets...

But overnight, they became America's heroes helping NASA put men on the moon.

Here's the full story: 🧵

Mental models are rules of thumb that simplify decisions.

Elon Musk is a big believer in Mental Models.

Not only Musk, but also Charlie Munger, Jeff Bezos, and Steve Jobs.

I've collected 7 of the most powerful mental models from history's greatest thinkers: 🧵

Elon Musk is a big believer in Mental Models for Thinking.

Not only Musk, but also Albert Einstein, Marcus Aurelius, Charlie Munger, and Steve Jobs too

I've collected 20 of the most powerful mental models from the greatest thinkers in history: 🧵

This has to be one of the strangest moments in history...

Inside a hidden warehouse, the CEO of Heineken was kidnapped in a soundproof cell.

Cut off from the world for 21 days, this became Europe's most infamous crime.

Welcome to the Heineken Kidnapping...🧵

In 2014, one kid hacked Xbox Live from his bedroom.

What started as a joke turned into a $200 million heist of top secrets and even CIA military system breaches.

Then the Xbox Underground went too far... 🧵

In 1965, Vietnamese engineers pulled off the biggest feat in engineering history:

They built a 250 km underground city that withstands the US's army, B52 planes, and Mark 77 bombs.

But what they created next nearly destroyed physics forever.

Here's the full story: 🧵

This is 1983.

Soviet radars detected 5 US nuclear missiles heading to Moscow.

Humanity was SECONDS from extinction.

All Soviet protocols demanded immediate retaliation.

But then Stanislav Petrov noticed something strange: 🧵

The U.S. Army weaponized the dead in the Vietnam War.

They hired actors to voice tortured souls, added a child crying "Come home, Daddy!" and broadcast it from helicopters at midnight.

Ghost Tape Number 10 was so terrifying, soldiers were traumatized. Here's the story... 🧵

They called him the smartest con artist...

• Forged $2.5M before 21.
• Outsmarted the FBI for 4 years.
• Faked being a pilot, doctor, & lawyer.

Hollywood told his story to millions, but left out the best part...

These are his 3 best strategies to break any system: 🧵

400+ cartoons.
3 years in the US secret military unit.
11 million soldiers manipulated for WWII.

Before teaching kids to read,
Dr. Seuss was training soldiers to kill.

This is how one man changed how America saw war, power, and influence: 🧵

This is John Nash.
He's the genius behind Game Theory.

His ideas influenced Einstein, Russell, and won him a Nobel Prize in 1994.

Sadly, his legacy is a heartbreaking tragedy.
Here's his story... 🧵

The most important skill to master for 2026:

Learning How to Learn.

Here's a 60-second system to learn and remember anything 10x faster (from a Nobel Prize-winning physicist)

The Feynman Technique: 🧵

A "cognitive bias" is a systematic error in thinking that destroys decision-making.

11 most powerful (and dangerous) cognitive biases I've found: 🧵

1. Parkinson's Law:

Osama bin Laden disappeared completely after 9/11.

No phone calls. No emails. No footprint.

While hiding from the CIA's most sophisticated surveillance ever, he made one horrible mistake...

[THREAD] 🧵

70 years ago, a woman discovered nuclear fission.

But her male colleague stole her work and won the Nobel Prize.

She fled Nazi Germany empty handed and died without a word.

Here's how the biggest theft in science buried Lise Meitner's name in history: 🧵

Napoleon discovered how to win wars before they start.

Every military academy still teaches this 200-year-old strategy:

West Point. Sandhurst. Saint-Cyr.

They all study his plabook.

Here's the principle that changed warfare forever: 🧵

Britain’s most powerful WWII weapon—and its best-kept secret:

Bletchley Park.

10,000 minds gathered in freezing huts to outthink Hitler.

They shorten WWII by 4 years. But then erased from history for years.

This is the story they couldn’t tell for 30 years: 🧵

In 1990, the woman with history's highest IQ (228) made a "stupid mistake" in the Monty Hall problem.

Everyone laughed and mocked her.

But she was right and everyone was wrong.

Once you understand what she saw, you can't unsee it: 🧵

They said this man can't be human...

• Spoke 6 languages fluently by age 6
• Remembered every word he ever read
• Genius behind the Manhattan atomic bomb

If you think Einstein was smart, John von Neumann would blow your mind: 🧵

Historians buried this story for centuries.

In 1518, an entire city lost control of their bodies...

The cause? Something far more mysterious than any disease.

Welcome to the Dancing Plague and its 500-year-old mystery: 🧵

The most important but also most controversial archaeological discovery by far:

The Dead Sea Scrolls.

They've started wars, rewrote history books, and challenged humanity's deepest beliefs.

Here's what these ancient texts reveal: 🧵

Rich people collect fancy watches.

I collect useful mental models—timeless rules of thumb that simplify decisions.

12 most powerful (and dangerous) mental models I've found:

1. The Power of Walking

In 1905, a female scientist discovered the XX XY Chromosomes.

But a man stole her work and won all the acclaim.

She died in forgotten obscurity at just 50.

Here's how Nettie Stevens' discovery was stolen in daylight... 🧵

A "cognitive bias" is a systematic error in thinking that destroys decision-making.

11 most powerful (and dangerous) cognitive biases I've found:

1. Parkinson's Law:

Everyone talks about the same geniuses:

Einstein, Tesla and Hawking...

But this forgotten man was the Da Vinci of his mathematics and was highly admired by Einstein, Hawking, and Feynman.

Sadly, his legacy was a true heartbreaking tragedy... (thread)

America faced an impossible choice in 1945:

• Let the Soviets grab Germany's top WWII scientists.
• Or hire them ourselves and bury their past.

Result? 1,600 war criminals got new American identities.

Here's what they didn't teach you about the space race: 🧵

I used to think people were rational.

Then I found FBI files on Hanns Scharff's "weaponized kindness" technique.

He extracted secrets from 480 Allied pilots without breaking a sweat.

Learn his mind-boggling techniques (it's the ultimate lesson in human nature):

In 1462, a ruler faced 400,000 Ottoman soldiers with just 30,000 peasants.

Everyone knew he'd be crushed in days.

Instead, he terrorized the conqueror of Constantinople so badly, the Sultan retreated.

Here's how Vlad the Impaler rewrote military history: 🧵

The CIA is the top intelligence organization in the world.

But in 2015, ONE prank call from a 15-year-old kid in his bedroom almost made them trigger a global cyberwar.

Here's how it happened...🧵

The most courageous officer in military history:

Stanislav Petrov.

He defied Soviet protocol, ignored 5 missile alerts, and prevented WW3 with a single decision.

Here's how one man's judgment saved billions of lives:🧵

In 1994, archaeologists found a 7,000-year-old temple so strange they almost buried it again.

The Göbekli Tepe was by prehistoric hunter-gatherers without metal, tools, or language.

If you think the Pyramid was impressive, this would blow your mind: 🧵