Shared by JohnH
Two C-Span videos from 2007 just popped up. I haven’t seen either of them! I don’t seem to be able to embed the video. I’ll also look for audio downloads and post the links if I find them.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb talked about his book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, published by Random House. In his book Mr. Taleb argues that people are too focused on what they already understand and reluctant to engage in what they don’t know. He described improbable events that have had a great effect on the world, from the September 11 terrorist attacks to the creation and success of Google. He contended that these “black swans” challenge our concept of randomness and the unknown. The guest interviewer was David Brooks.
Nassim Taleb is a former Sciences of Uncertainty professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He is the author of Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in the Markets and in Life.
David Brooks is a columnist at the New York Times. He has been a contributing editor at Newsweek and the Atlantic Monthly as well as a senior editor at The Weekly Standard. Mr. Brooks is the author of two books, Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There and On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (and Always Have) in the Future Tense.
Thanks John for finding this interesting discussion with Taleb And Brooks over the Black Swan. Alright I’ll admit media diet isn’t for everyone and lots of people do read NYT and other sophisticated publications. Although what Taleb was saying: that he finds relative events through social filter also works. Each person has to just find the right amount of information to be exposed to. Speaking of the Black Swan, the book, I find it interesting that in the book intellectual creative works is dicussed using Pareto-Zip laws, or what is usually said that the 2 percent create 80 percent of works, or as Taleb descrived it: the Soviets flatted the economic landscape yet created it’s own brand of ubermensch in intellectual life. Meaning: there is NO such thing as average when it comes to creativity and intellectual works and such, sad, but true, blame mother nature or something. Even Brooks speaks of this on his book “Bobos in paradise”, I mean really who wants to spend time reading books or watching interesting c-span videos, I do however. Also while listening I couldn’t stop thinking that Brooks was thinking: right, right, right, I need ideas for my next column, and Taleb: this is very very interesting stuff, I spend twenty years working on this book!
You’re welcome David. You’re on a media diet? Good idea. I had 5 days in Joshua Tree in the summer with only books. Not quite a fast, but no computers. Slept like a baby! And it was surprisingly easy. Took some long walks.