Survivorship bias

Survivorship bias — the distortion created when failures disappear from the sample: only 42% of one decade’s equity funds even survived it, and the dead ones leave the advertised averages. The same bias powers guru marketing (you never hear from the wiped-out students) and makes any “proven track record” claim weaker than it looks. First tool of lesson 0.4, formalized in 1.5, made permanent by Taleb in 1.8’s reading.

First used in: 1.5 · Why the index wins (principles)