Hm..My review phrased in another way..
I think the people who most needed to listen and understand his message/book, are the very people he is criticizing. I also think it was his intention to try and effect change and hope that these people would have a come to Jesus moment and repent in their ways.
But that will not happen, because these people will either not read the book, or won't get through it, because the presentation is so condescending to them that I don't think one's ego can take it.
I.E. If someone is trying to help you, but first calls you an idiot, and then proceeds to deliver you a very good objective truth, but again calls you an idiot (every five minutes), its very hard to get past the personal insults.
The fact he doesn't understand this basic tact of human nature (or thinks its unnecessary) again makes me feel his credibility is undermined.
For example, a lot of his negative theories are actually named after people he hates/disagrees with, more or less intellectually crucifying them.
Almost every anecdote to provide examples to his ideas, there is almost always a personal bash, either named specifically, or can be reverse engineered to figure out who is slighting (i.e I was sitting on a plane with a Nobel prize winner who etc, etc..followed up by insult...).
It reads kind of like trashy intellectual gossip, rather than the really really bright, smart guy he is.
So then, the effect of the book is, that it only preaches to the choir, like us ERE folk for example.
His thesis is very sound. His knowledge is very sound. He obviously put a lot of thought into the book. I think through a different presentation he could have actually reached out and had an effect where he wanted to instead of just merely preaching to the choir.
Perhaps that is his intention and he does want to preach only to the choir and be controversial to sell more books while he is at it?
Well, in that case, it's quite easy for the other side to pass him off as the male Ann Coulter of the intellectual world because of his tact.
I am definitely more enlightened for having read the book. Again, despite my criticisms I liked it very much and recommend it, especially for people who are ERE or aspiring to. It has wrapped up quite nicely and succinctly several pre-existing abstract concepts and behaviours and did a good job 're-branded' it as antifragile. (And I don't mean this sarcastically.)
On a side note, I think the tension of practitioners and academia exists in quite a lot of fields!
Antifragile
I think Taleb is just socially inept. If you have ever seen him in public he always looks uncomfortable. And I've always wondered what a Freudian analysis of Taleb would look like and reveal.
@jacob
"In Kahneman's words, Fat Tony appeals to System 1. Nero Tulip (Taleb's alter ego) appeals to System 2.
Methinks few people naturally gravitate to System 2, so ultimately the majority is doomed. This leaves a minority to ultimately profit over and over again, while another minority gets crucified for questioning dogma. <-- I believe this describes the history of humankind. Yes?"
Round heres, we usually just say "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink". Yet another way of looking at it is that only a few people are going to expend the System 2 effort to reprogram their System 1's to react more probablistically to their environment. Otherwise known as "discipline".
I see this same idea expressed over and over again, particularly in the better presented self-help literature. The ideas presented in that "Mastery" book by Greene that you recommended come to mind, althugh Greene should have acknowledged that he was undertaking essentially the same task as Napoleon Hill did in the 1920s. Earle Nightingale's observations that "we become what we think about most of the time" and that only about 5% of people achieve FI by retirement age. Jim Rohn's observation that only 3% of the people have library cards and that "Affirmation without discipline is the beginnning of delusion" (i.e., don't fall for "The Secret"). And Franklin's autobiography (which Taleb needs to spend more time with to get over his social confrontation issues).
But now I'm beginning to babble like James Burke in the "Connections" series.
@jacob
"In Kahneman's words, Fat Tony appeals to System 1. Nero Tulip (Taleb's alter ego) appeals to System 2.
Methinks few people naturally gravitate to System 2, so ultimately the majority is doomed. This leaves a minority to ultimately profit over and over again, while another minority gets crucified for questioning dogma. <-- I believe this describes the history of humankind. Yes?"
Round heres, we usually just say "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink". Yet another way of looking at it is that only a few people are going to expend the System 2 effort to reprogram their System 1's to react more probablistically to their environment. Otherwise known as "discipline".
I see this same idea expressed over and over again, particularly in the better presented self-help literature. The ideas presented in that "Mastery" book by Greene that you recommended come to mind, althugh Greene should have acknowledged that he was undertaking essentially the same task as Napoleon Hill did in the 1920s. Earle Nightingale's observations that "we become what we think about most of the time" and that only about 5% of people achieve FI by retirement age. Jim Rohn's observation that only 3% of the people have library cards and that "Affirmation without discipline is the beginnning of delusion" (i.e., don't fall for "The Secret"). And Franklin's autobiography (which Taleb needs to spend more time with to get over his social confrontation issues).
But now I'm beginning to babble like James Burke in the "Connections" series.
Taleb tipped his hand with the title, two negative words mashed together, anti and fragile.
Opportunity: Repackage the message with a positive new-age title, turn the negative anecdotes on their positive head (I was sitting on a plane with a recent Oprah guest), add a few references to Eckhart Tolle, Cosmic Ordering and shorten it to less than 220 pages. Can't miss.
Opportunity: Repackage the message with a positive new-age title, turn the negative anecdotes on their positive head (I was sitting on a plane with a recent Oprah guest), add a few references to Eckhart Tolle, Cosmic Ordering and shorten it to less than 220 pages. Can't miss.
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jennypenny
- Posts: 6858
- Joined: Sun Jul 03, 2011 2:20 pm
The more I watch Taleb in interviews, the more I think he's just painfully insecure. He seems desperate not to be misunderstood, or to seem like he hasn't at least considered every possibility. I don't mind it so much (maybe because I sympathize since I have the social skills of a turnip). I just wish he'd switch to decaf.
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LOL Ego, I had coffee with a very successful person last week (thankfully I didn't remember who he was until afterward or I wouldn't have been so open with him). When he asked what I was working on, I told him and said I wasn't happy with it because it still sounded too logical. He laughed and said he understood my dilemma. We agreed that most people perceive the logical as emotionless, and emotionless is seen as something negative. He then suggested some things like you suggest. He also suggested dropping in the word "power" frequently. He winked and said even the sophisticated ones can't resist that word.
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LOL Ego, I had coffee with a very successful person last week (thankfully I didn't remember who he was until afterward or I wouldn't have been so open with him). When he asked what I was working on, I told him and said I wasn't happy with it because it still sounded too logical. He laughed and said he understood my dilemma. We agreed that most people perceive the logical as emotionless, and emotionless is seen as something negative. He then suggested some things like you suggest. He also suggested dropping in the word "power" frequently. He winked and said even the sophisticated ones can't resist that word.
Here's the latest on the math behind Taleb's antifragility from his draft textbook (for those who like their maths):
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_31K_M ... 1&sle=true
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_31K_M ... 1&sle=true