Some practical and philosophical aphorisms from Nassim Nicholas Taleb

[Triple Zero]

Well, in one of his books he also wrote he vowed to never run for a bus or a train, because the most interesting things happen as you wait for the next one.

It sounded like a good idea, but I find that as I am really REALLY bad at being on-time in certain circumstances, not running for a bus, ever, definitely is a bad idea. Or maybe not. The end result would usually be that I'd be even more later than I was already going to be had I caught the bus.

Well, I dunno. It sounds like some things are maybe just for Taleb, or perhaps for how Taleb would like the world to be?

Taleb is also pretty financially secure, afaik. I'm willing to bet that changes his worldview a bit.

Yes, that's a big part of it too.

[Cramulus]

yeah I was just thinking about how Taleb recommends that you don't read the news, instead, try to absorb it from experts that you're friends with.

but like, a lot of the spags I am friends with barely know what day it is, let alone what's going on in the world 

[LMNO]

I get my news from CainChannel™.

[LMNO]

But honestly, I tried watching the "news" yesterday.  Holy shit.  It really isn't any better than Access Hollywood.  But that's capitalism for you: once they demanded that the news bow down to the Ratings/Ad Revenue overlords, everything went to shit.

[Triple Zero]

yeah I was just thinking about how Taleb recommends that you don't read the news, instead, try to absorb it from experts that you're friends with.

I find I need to check now and then as well. Mostly because my sources aren't diverse enough.

I mean, the stuff I read on PD is awesome and super-informative, but it's slightly US-centric (surprise! but not nearly as much as it could be, given the population here) and of course it hardly ever covers stuff happening in the Netherlands, because on a global scale it doesn't matter that much, but that sort of shit is still good to know if you happen to live there :-P

Speaking of (somewhat) local news, the German Pirate Party got 15 seats in the recent Berlin elections. FUCK YEAH. Both the German and the Swedish are the most awesome Pirate Parties IMO (the Dutch one is a bunch of camera-shy nerds that think it's a good idea to post about boobies on their blog). This is more than even they expected, because they put no more than 15 people on their list [meaning that if they had gotten even more votes, they'd have to give up a seat, because you can't just put someone there that wasn't on the list, because nobody could have voted for them, makes sense] Sorry /threadjack.

[Placid Dingo]

I get my news from CainChannel™.

In all seriousness I pretty much do too. I also research stuff my friends (I have a pretty international mob) experience on FB and fill the gaps with ABC or SBS news.

[Payne]

Some good thought provoking stuff from Taleb there. A couple make me want to expand upon/ debate/ distill in some way but perhaps another time.

Also, I never run for a bus because I'm generally 15 minutes early, and they're always at least 5 minutes late. I get the "interesting" stuff that happens waiting for the next one in by waiting for the first one.

Also also, I get my news watching BBC News 24 (or whatever they call it now). I watch it much like someone takes a ride on a rollercoaster. I also watch it cause one of the presenters looks like a thunderbird, and that can make anything entertaining and funny.

I should note that quite often I do not hear of big world shaking events until a week or so after they happen.

[Verbal Mike]

Another thing I'm finding off-putting here is all the stuff about economists. It may hold for mainstream economists but there is also some cutting-edge social science going on in economics, like what the Freakonomics gang does.
But all in all, there's a lot of good stuff here. Thanks, Cain!

EDIT: Oh and I have to note, what he says about "Semitic languages" is an over-generalization, in Hebrew they're two separate words. But then again, Arabic is by far the biggest and most important member of the family, so whatever.

[Cain]

It holds for most economists I've ever met or read, to be honest.

Also, doesn't Taleb live in London or NYC or somewhere?  If you miss a bus or train, another one will be along in five minutes anyway.

[Roly Poly Oly-Garch]

"There are two types of people: those who try to win make money and those who try to win arguments play right. They are never the same."

Abstract this slightly and you have absolutely everything you need to be a successful poker or pool gambler.

[Kai]

Most of the aphorisms were witty statements.

Some of them were interesting.

And a few made me actually consider the message.


For the most part, they strike me as the writings of a financially secure, witty bourgeoisie who has issues with economists and journalists, but mostly just likes to hear himself talk.