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
fall men gym-rats
I've debated many economists who claim to specialize in risk and probability: when one takes them slightly outside their narrow focus, but within the discipline of probability, they fall apart, with the disconsolate face of a gym rat in front of a gangster hit man.
strong athlete men
A competitive athlete is painful to look at; trying hard to become an animal rather than a man, he will never be as fast as a cheetah or as strong as an ox.
intelligent men half
The traits I respect are erudition and the courage to stand up when half-men are afraid for their reputation. Any idiot can be intelligent.
men weak-man stronger
Weak men act to satisfy their needs, stronger men their duties.
fear men modern
The classical man's worst fear was inglorious death; the modern man's worst fear is just death
men dying age
A man without a heroic bent starts dying at the age of thirty.
men economics
Someone bemoaned that there were so few women in economics. But there are also very few men in economics.
serendipity luck
...maximize the serendipity around you.
weakness
It is a sign of weakness to avoid showing signs of weakness.
delay large members united
In the United States, large corporations control some members of Congress. All this does is delay the corporation's funeral at our expense.
happiness humanity replace trade
Corporations take the humanity out of trade - they take the happiness out and replace it with something that is ugly.
Capitalism has forced everyone to overoptimize in order to compete.
children
You know, children philosophize more than adults - and they are critical of adults.
There are two types of people: those who try to win and those who try to win arguments. They are never the same.