Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Nassim Nicholas Talebis a Lebanese-American essayist, scholar, statistician, former trader, and risk analyst, whose work focuses on problems of randomness, probability, and uncertainty. His 2007 book The Black Swan was described in a review by the Sunday Times as one of the twelve most influential books since World War II...
NationalityLebanese
ProfessionScientist
CountryLebanon
mistake suffering debt
Debt is a mistake between lender and borrower, and both should suffer.
weight injury heavy
I lift heavy weights and sprint, but I am so bad at it that I develop severe injuries.
computer clicks disclosure
Nobody reads the disclosures that roll down your computer screen. You click 'I agree' but you don't know what you're agreeing to.
philosopher walking
To become a philosopher, start by walking very slowly.
swans long black
In economic life and history more generally, just about everything of consequence comes from black swans; ordinary events have paltry effects in the long term.
outcomes lasts execution
Wear your best for your execution and stand dignified. Your last recourse against randomness is how you act - if you can't control outcomes, you can control the elegance of your behaviour. You will always have the last word.
portfolios opinion recommendations
Never ask anyone for their opinion, forecast, or recommendation. Just ask them what they have—or don’t have—in their portfolio.
serendipity luck
...maximize the serendipity around you.
intellectual
I'm a private intellectual, not a public one.
ifs-and narrative dictatorship
You exist if and only if you are free to do things without a visible objective, with no justification and, above all, outside the dictatorship of someone else's narrative.
technology opposites cowardice
The opposite of manliness isn't cowardice; it's technology.
policy-making anxiety relief
Forecasting by bureaucrats tends to be used for anxiety relief rather than for adequate policy making.
mistake people harm
Capitalism is about adventurers who get harmed by their mistakes, not people who harm others with their mistakes.
mistake pay-the-price benefits
Bankers, they're not harmed by their mistakes. They benefit when things go right, and the society pays the price.