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
Nassim Nicholas Taleb quotes about
arrows understanding together
The narrative fallacy addresses our limited ability to look at sequences of facts without weaving an explanation into them, or, equivalently, forcing a logical link, an arrow of relationship, upon them. Explanations bind facts together. They make them all the more easily remembered; they help them make more sense. Where this propensity can go wrong is when it increases our impression of understanding.
fool wasting-time investment
What fools call "wasting time" is most often the best investment.
practice information theory
While in theory randomness is an intrinsic property, in practice, randomness is incomplete information.
greatness hatred replacements
Greatness starts with the replacement of hatred with polite disdain.
college nuclear-families social
Decomposition, for most, starts when they leave the free, social, and uncorrupted college life for the solitary confinement of professions and nuclear families.
pride talent shame
Only in recent history has "working hard" signaled pride rather than shame for lack of talent, finesse and, mostly, sprezzatura .
differences boss ottomans
The difference between slaves in Roman and Ottoman days and today's employees is that slaves did not need to flatter their boss.
anxiety citizens use
Economic life should be definancialised. We should learn not to use markets as storehouses of value: they do not harbour the certainties that normal citizens require. Citizens should experience anxiety about their own businesses (which they control), not their investments (which they do not control).
sunday clothes people
People used to wear ordinary clothes weekdays, and formal attire on Sunday. Today it is the exact reverse.
may causes belief
Rank beliefs not according to their plausibility but by the harm they may cause.
cases remains knows
But it remains the case that you know what is wrong with a lot more confidence than you know what is right.
historical mind deeds
History is opaque. You see what comes out, not the script that produces events, [...] The generator of historical events is different from the events themselves, much as the minds of the gods cannot be read just by witnessing their deeds.
needs stories
You need a story to displace a story.
comfort aging effects
Much of aging comes from a misunderstanding of the effect of comfort.