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Those Taleb take-downs are well worth a read. Taleb makes for good media soundbites as a contrarian; but to me it seems more like anti-intellectualism for the e
by lukestevens 16y ago
Those Taleb take-downs are well worth a read. Taleb makes for good media soundbites as a contrarian; but to me it seems more like anti-intellectualism for the educated. I'm not sure why he deserves that platform he apparently has.
From the first piece:
"So why do people listen to this guy? Part of it is doubtless the “famous for being famous” effect. Taleb is witty and clever, and ruthlessly promoted himself as a public figure after his trading days were over. Not a bad strat for success in the modern media culture: grab the megaphone and declare yourself a genius. Everyone wants to think they’re more of a mental bigshot than the eggheads who run things. Plus, it’s not like Jim Simons has time to write Financial Times articles. He’s too busy making money more or less proving people like Taleb wrong."
- kiba 16y agoI dislike pyschoanaylsis. They're really neat explanation but they're well, lack explaining power. Plus they don't do much for learning about the truth, and they're more about attacking a person's character.
- houseabsolute 16y agoNot sure if psychoanalysis (a.k.a. Freudian psychology) has anything to do with the subject at hand. I think you mean to say you don't like comments that delve into a person's suspected motivations. But the comment you're replying to doesn't talk about motives at all. It just talks about the means this man has used to achieve fame and why they worked.
- kiba 16y agoI think you mean to say you don't like comments that delve into a person's suspected motivations. Yes, this is what I meant. But the comment you're replying to doesn't talk about motives at all. Then I have completely misinterpret what the comment say.
- lukestevens 16y agoYes, my comment was just that the quality of his ideas don't seem to match the size of his platform, if I can put it that way :)