Nassim Taleb popularized the phrase black swan in his book by that name. Taleb uses a black swan as a metaphor for rare events with significant impact. Europeans assumed that all swans were white until explorers reached Australia and saw black swans.
I took this photo at Albert Park in Melbourne this morning.
In case anyone is wondering what is going on with the collar…
http://www.myswan.org.au
Clearly man made. I can see the label.
I think it was Terry Pratchett who pointed out that black swans are just as useful as white ones.
I second the recommendation on the book.
Black Swan often refers to an event or occurrence that deviates beyond what is normally expected of a situation and that would be extremely difficult to predict: however which would have a major impact.