3 ms·

A focus on the exceptions that prove the rule (2006)

34 points by mercer 10y ago

jwilk 10y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule
gumby 10y ago
Amazingly by Benoit Mandelbrot and Nassim Talib. (This is from 2006 btw but quite relevant)
SomeStupidPoint 10y ago
Is there a good place to read up more on the "fractal" distribution idea? I assume at least some work has been done in the last 10 years.
- PhantomGremlin 10y ago
  They're not just about "fractal" distributions, but a few of Taleb's[1] books are more-or-less expansions of this article. Two which had wide acclaim for more-or-less predicting the financial crisis of 2008-2009 were Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan. But I happen to like his later Antifragile the best.[2] My biggest criticism of Taleb's books is that, while he tells us what can happen and why, he only has generalities on how to prepare and respond. I'd prefer more specifics. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragile
  - golemotron 10y ago
    It was only on rereading Antifragile that I realized that Scott Adams' book 'How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big' is practical Taleb. I don't think he's ever acknowledged the influence on the book directly, but he has said that he considers Taleb one of the smartest people he knows of.
teddyh 10y ago
> 30m kg That’s a weird notation. I would have preferred “30.000 metric tons”.
- kwhitefoot 10y ago
  Using kg makes more sense in two ways, one is that kg is the base SI unit for mass but the other, more relevant, is that this number is to be compared to the 300 kg mentioned earlier in the article. Of course it should be 30 M or perhaps 30 million not 30m. It's unfortunate that the SI mass unit has an embedded multiplier but we seem to be stuck with it.
bariumbitmap 9y ago
Halfway down the page there's a typo where a paragraph is duplicated: > of variables such as financial markets...

34 points by mercer 10y ago

jwilk 10y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule

gumby 10y ago

Amazingly by Benoit Mandelbrot and Nassim Talib. (This is from 2006 btw but quite relevant)

SomeStupidPoint 10y ago

Is there a good place to read up more on the "fractal" distribution idea? I assume at least some work has been done in the last 10 years.

PhantomGremlin 10y ago
They're not just about "fractal" distributions, but a few of Taleb's[1] books are more-or-less expansions of this article. Two which had wide acclaim for more-or-less predicting the financial crisis of 2008-2009 were Fooled by Randomness and The Black Swan. But I happen to like his later Antifragile the best.[2] My biggest criticism of Taleb's books is that, while he tells us what can happen and why, he only has generalities on how to prepare and respond. I'd prefer more specifics. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifragile
- golemotron 10y ago
  It was only on rereading Antifragile that I realized that Scott Adams' book 'How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big' is practical Taleb. I don't think he's ever acknowledged the influence on the book directly, but he has said that he considers Taleb one of the smartest people he knows of.

teddyh 10y ago

> 30m kg That’s a weird notation. I would have preferred “30.000 metric tons”.

kwhitefoot 10y ago
Using kg makes more sense in two ways, one is that kg is the base SI unit for mass but the other, more relevant, is that this number is to be compared to the 300 kg mentioned earlier in the article. Of course it should be 30 M or perhaps 30 million not 30m. It's unfortunate that the SI mass unit has an embedded multiplier but we seem to be stuck with it.

bariumbitmap 9y ago

Halfway down the page there's a typo where a paragraph is duplicated: > of variables such as financial markets...