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HN doesn't like Taleb because he dunks on a demographic particularly prevalent on here: well-educated laymen, or the less charitable 'intellectuals yet idiots'.

HN doesn't like Taleb because he dunks on a demographic particularly prevalent on here: well-educated laymen, or the less charitable 'intellectuals yet idiots'. I'd be lying if I didn't also feel targeted by him but I think it is also a core hacker value to grow thick skin and learn instead of getting offended and whining. That, and of course he also wrote a take-down of IQ (and psychology in general) that pissed off a lot of IQ-fetishists on here. He also made a bunch of money, knows a lot of advanced and ultrarigorous (read: French-educated) math and reads in a bunch of languages so even though he's a colossal asshole no one can exactly dismiss him as a hack, so he just kind of sticks there like an annoying wart in the face of "the discourse" that just won't go away. Personally, and in case it wasn't obvious, I sort of like him. Edit: I forgot to mention he sometimes blocks people who give the wrong answer to the integral solving problems he posts on Twitter. I don't expect you to understand but I really respect that.

radomysisky 6y ago
Taleb isn't targeting well-educated laymen when he talks of IYIs. He's speaking of intellectuals who are divorced from reality. As he puts it, "No skin in the game", e.g. economists, journalists, forecasters, career academics, social "scientists", etc.
- throwaway4666 6y ago
  Sure, and how does this not describe out-of-field tech workers and PhD havers pontificating over a bunch of questions where their job and/or reputation isn't on the line? I see plenty of people on here doing it in my field, and a cursory look at my post history will easily show I do the same in others (and with a throwaway account at that). It's just a thing we do, it seems ;-) nothing wrong with that as long as we're aware it's more of a self-indulgence than any kind of intellectual posturing. In that Taleb is useful as he keeps us honest, even if he's an asshole about it.
focus2020 6y ago
The only thing that bugs me about him is his take on religion. He claims he is not muslim but on multiple occasions he defends Islam and also he is mildly anti Jewish. He is against Richard Dawkins stating his math is wrong. I could not find the source of the problem that Richard Dawkins made an error in calculating. If somebodycan point out to math problem preferably if the problem is in python notebook for verification,that would be great
- tomhoward 6y ago
  He's Orthodox Christian [1], but he defends all peaceful religious practice against the attacks from celebrity atheists like Dawkins and Sam Harris. But he also attacks violent religious extremists like Wahabis. I don't know about him being anti-Jewish. That doesn't sound right to me. Can you point to anything? I also don't know about him attacking Dawkins' math; I don't know of any significant math Dawkins has ever published. You may be referring to Taleb's defence of E.O. Wilson, Nowak et al [2], which was attacked by Dawkins and Steven Pinker, without disproving the math in the paper, which Taleb claims to have verified. [1] https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1177630356327075841 https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1177630356327075841 [2] https://www.facebook.com/nntaleb/posts/eo-wilson-nowak-et-al-wrote-a-paper-on-altruism-that-triggered-a-huge-angry-reac/10152921768278375/ https://www.facebook.com/nntaleb/posts/eo-wilson-nowak-et-al...
hokkos 6y ago
NNT is the ultimate intellectual yet horribly idiot, its all-in on Chloroquine with fancy math, which appeared the tool for dictators to force the poor mass to continue taking risks for them, was an ungrounded effort, he only have been swindled by Raoult another UIYI like him. Also there is nobody with less skin on himself as NNT, he blocks everybody that disagree with him, and carefully cultivate replies of yes-men, and cultist, who are ridiculous stans.

radomysisky 6y ago

Taleb isn't targeting well-educated laymen when he talks of IYIs. He's speaking of intellectuals who are divorced from reality. As he puts it, "No skin in the game", e.g. economists, journalists, forecasters, career academics, social "scientists", etc.

throwaway4666 6y ago
Sure, and how does this not describe out-of-field tech workers and PhD havers pontificating over a bunch of questions where their job and/or reputation isn't on the line? I see plenty of people on here doing it in my field, and a cursory look at my post history will easily show I do the same in others (and with a throwaway account at that). It's just a thing we do, it seems ;-) nothing wrong with that as long as we're aware it's more of a self-indulgence than any kind of intellectual posturing. In that Taleb is useful as he keeps us honest, even if he's an asshole about it.

focus2020 6y ago

The only thing that bugs me about him is his take on religion. He claims he is not muslim but on multiple occasions he defends Islam and also he is mildly anti Jewish. He is against Richard Dawkins stating his math is wrong. I could not find the source of the problem that Richard Dawkins made an error in calculating. If somebodycan point out to math problem preferably if the problem is in python notebook for verification,that would be great

tomhoward 6y ago
He's Orthodox Christian [1], but he defends all peaceful religious practice against the attacks from celebrity atheists like Dawkins and Sam Harris. But he also attacks violent religious extremists like Wahabis. I don't know about him being anti-Jewish. That doesn't sound right to me. Can you point to anything? I also don't know about him attacking Dawkins' math; I don't know of any significant math Dawkins has ever published. You may be referring to Taleb's defence of E.O. Wilson, Nowak et al [2], which was attacked by Dawkins and Steven Pinker, without disproving the math in the paper, which Taleb claims to have verified. [1] https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1177630356327075841 https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1177630356327075841 [2] https://www.facebook.com/nntaleb/posts/eo-wilson-nowak-et-al-wrote-a-paper-on-altruism-that-triggered-a-huge-angry-reac/10152921768278375/ https://www.facebook.com/nntaleb/posts/eo-wilson-nowak-et-al...

hokkos 6y ago

NNT is the ultimate intellectual yet horribly idiot, its all-in on Chloroquine with fancy math, which appeared the tool for dictators to force the poor mass to continue taking risks for them, was an ungrounded effort, he only have been swindled by Raoult another UIYI like him. Also there is nobody with less skin on himself as NNT, he blocks everybody that disagree with him, and carefully cultivate replies of yes-men, and cultist, who are ridiculous stans.