Monthly Archives: December 2012

I cannot possibly buy the argument that people need weapons…

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I cannot possibly buy the argument that people need weapons in case the government fails them and democracy breaks down. If the narrative were true, someone over the past 5 years would have taken arms to express frustration with the banking establishment hijacking the political system for self-enrichment –one of the greatest iniquities ever, ever — and other similar lobbyists, instead of using weapons against schoolchildren and college students. The reason we have arms is gun lobby, period.

To repeat the argument against the long peace, a weirdo with a knife can’t go far. Just as I don’t want to be in a plane with an armed gumnan on board, I don’t want weirdos with guns in civil society. Via Negativa: gun control is perhaps one of the very few things the government should do.

via I cannot possibly….

Nassim Taleb on the Benefits of Uncertainty – Fool.com

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In this portion of the interview, we hear Nassim explore in-depth the reasons why uncertainty and volatility are beneficial in a number of financial situations, where having stressors that force continuous adaptation to current conditions is the healthiest situation one can have.

In this portion of the interview, we hear some of Nassim’s ideas for fixing the big banks’ ability to act irresponsibly and unethically, by making the executives more accountable to the taxpayers that bailed them out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6viHahvmXE

In this portion of the interview, Nassim discusses with us his own personal investments, and his hedging strategy for protecting himself from very uncertain inflation rates in the years to come

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy3rjfc5MoY

In this portion of the interview, Nassim discusses his thoughts on a current financial threat — the fiscal cliff. He talks about why it makes him uncomfortable to have the government solving the problem with legislation, rather than letting the market solve the problem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1vyjjxlk1A

In this portion of the interview, Nassim talks about his views on the importance of “skin in the game” — in other words, how much of a company is owned internally and, thus, how directly concerned executives are with shareholders’ interests.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzcmwlxkXJc

 

 

via Nassim Taleb on the Benefits of Uncertainty.

Nassim Taleb on the importance of embracing unpredictable events | South China Morning Post

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You clearly don’t think the system of academic education produces much of use. What would you put in its place?

Funding and research should go to the jockey, not the horse – to individuals, rather than to universities that don’t produce anything other than to justify their own existence. It’s quite simple: people don’t realise that most technology didn’t come from academic research. We can show mathematically that trial and error is 10 times more effective than knowledge.

via Nassim Taleb on the importance of embracing unpredictable events | South China Morning Post.

Antifragility: How disorder makes us stronger – Fortune Features

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FORTUNE — How did Switzerland become the most stable country in history? Its currency, unlike ours, keeps hitting new highs post-crisis, yet Switzerland doesn’t have a large central bank working behind the scenes. For that matter, it doesn’t have much of a central government. In Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder, Nassim Taleb jokes that the average Swiss citizen can name the presidents of France and the United States before they can name their own.

It turns out Switzerland perfectly captures Taleb’s idea of antifragility — the concept that certain things grow stronger with shock and turmoil, as opposed to fragile things, which just break down.

Taleb argues that Switzerland is a model of stability precisely because it doesn’t have a big central bank or national government. Instead, its dozens of sovereign mini-states squabble and fight constantly. This turmoil actually makes the country stronger because the Swiss get small problems out of the way before they can metastasize into something bigger like, say, a fiscal cliff.

via Antifragility: How disorder makes us stronger – Fortune Features.