if you wonder what this is > author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb > Something central is missing in historical accounts of scientific and technological discovery. T

if you wonder what this is > author: Nassim Nicholas Taleb > Something central is missing in historical accounts of scientific and technological discovery. The discourse and controversies focus on the role of luck as opposed to teleological programs (from telos, "aim"), that is, ones that rely on pre-set direction from formal science. This is a faux-debate: luck cannot lead to formal research policies; one cannot systematize, formalize, and program randomness. The driver is neither luck nor direction, but in the convexity of payoffs, a simple mathematical property that has lied hidden from the discourse, and the understanding of which can lead to precise research principles and protocols.