Link to article. Foreword to Ed Thorp’s Memoirs (A Man for All Markets)
Ed Thorp is the first modern mathematician who successfully used quantitative methods for risk taking –and most certainly the first mathematician who met financial success doing it. Since then there have been a cohort, such as the Stony Brook whiz kids –but Thorp is their dean.
@nntaleb Feeding children w/fallacious stat reasoning: 75% of all inmates are dropouts ⇏ 75% of all dropouts become inmates.https://twitter.com/Brilliant_Ads/status/785236664721473536 Permalink 3:10 PM – 9 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Like Gadhafi, like Saddam. Presidential candidate Clinton says removing Assad in Syria is No. 1 priorityhttp://reut.rs/1MaTg7s Permalink 11:01 AM – 9 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Where are the IYI “politically correct” warriors?https://twitter.com/holland_tom/status/785115749484494849 Permalink 7:05 AM – 9 Oct 2016
@nntaleb In Kiev, preparing to get drunk with Ukranians. Permalink 5:46 AM – 9 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Good point, but NYT has economists writing columns. That is far worse in BS than astrology.https://twitter.com/johnallenpaulos/status/784906881697316865 Permalink 5:25 PM – 8 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Imbecile Economist. Outing author who wants to stay private not the same as protecting citizens ag corporates/stateshttps://twitter.com/theeconomist/status/784648869640568832 Permalink 5:14 PM – 8 Oct 2016
@RaniaKhalek My favorite is Hillary Clinton calling anti-fracking environmental groups a Russian conspiracy #PodestaMailspic.twitter.com/FJaWauL7IH Permalink 12:11 AM – 8 Oct 2016
@nntaleb There is no possible way on earth I will have an intellectual exchange w/man in sandals w/socks. My right to be closed minded. @VernonGlobal Permalink 4:06 PM – 8 Oct 2016
@nntaleb RWRI 3 went great! Dense & humorous, w/ @yaneerbaryam @financequant RWRI 4 for Feb 6-10 http://www.realworldrisk.com pic.twitter.com/crdUFRxODk Permalink 4:03 PM – 8 Oct 2016
@nntaleb How I feel about IYIs: imagine nerdy professors in birkenstocks (with socks) playing mafiosi roles in a movie.https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/784844960726130688 Permalink 3:55 PM – 8 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Who is the most representative of the Intellectual Yet Idiot Class? Name names!https://medium.com/@nntaleb/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211e2d0577#.bmlfge57z Permalink 12:56 PM – 8 Oct 2016
@nntaleb “When she shouts that what you did is *unforgivable*,she has already started to forgive you”. Bed of Procrustes, p18https://twitter.com/asymmetricinfo/status/784805613922508800 Permalink 12:29 PM – 8 Oct 2016
@nntaleb You forget Fannie Mae. There has never been more incompetent (decorated) person in history than IYI @JosephEStiglitz . Never. @GreekAnalyst Permalink 12:25 PM – 8 Oct 2016
@nntaleb A generalized functions approach for distribution of sample correlations, Part 1. (Saturday relaxation after RWRI 3)pic.twitter.com/nWm5ByBf5O Permalink 10:22 AM – 8 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Thank you Saudi apologist neo-cons.https://twitter.com/BBCBreaking/status/784801357383499776 Permalink 10:15 AM – 8 Oct 2016
@nntaleb An option trader can easily understand the nonsense in @FiveThirtyEight’s: he prices options without time value.https://twitter.com/Chris_arnade/status/782242957940391936 Permalink 4:35 AM – 8 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Gary Johnson.https://twitter.com/MaxAbrahms/status/784705827110289408 Permalink 4:28 AM – 8 Oct 2016
@alphabetsuccess Resist trying to impress your enemies. – NNTaleb #quote #wisdom #ThursdayThoughtspic.twitter.com/c22XBBI4Wr Permalink 1:47 PM – 6 Oct 2016
@GarthGodsman @byzantinepower Not every day you see the word theosis in a tweet Permalink 2:09 AM – 7 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Cardano @davidliebersonpic.twitter.com/TUHoPnmxS6 Permalink 5:03 PM – 6 Oct 2016
@VergilDen “Statistics isn’t about discovering correlations, it’s about eliminating coincidence.” @nntaleb @financequant #RWRI Permalink 9:10 AM – 6 Oct 2016
@nntaleb RWRI 3, day 4: Data can be used for DIS-confirmation. Power laws can be seen as the REJECTION of all other classes of models. @financequant Permalink 9:05 AM – 6 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Profs of pol “sience” are so dumb (e.g. @dandrezner) that their argument ag. dumb people voting applies to themhttp://nymag.com/scienceofus/2016/10/dissecting-a-professors-argument-against-dumb-people-voting.html?mid=twitter-share-scienceofus Permalink 6:08 AM – 6 Oct 2016
@gravity_levity My attempt to illustrate the main idea behind the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition, central to today’s Nobel prize http://www.ribbonfarm.com/2015/09/24/samuel-becketts-guide-to-particles-and-antiparticles/ pic.twitter.com/fP3Ji4BZmy Permalink 11:17 AM – 4 Oct 2016
@nntaleb RWRI 3, Yaneer Bar Yam explaining how things don’t average in complex systems #Antifragilepic.twitter.com/pJdJ9Fg87N Permalink 12:57 PM – 5 Oct 2016
@nntaleb I meant Julius Bassianus. Permalink 7:29 AM – 5 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Domna is from the Emesian aristocracy (now Homs), like Steve Job’s ancestors. Jacobus Barnaus.https://twitter.com/ticiaverveer/status/783664099695656960 Permalink 7:23 AM – 5 Oct 2016
@nntaleb I just published “Foreword to Ed Thorp’s Memoirs (A Man for All Markets)”https://medium.com/p/foreword-to-ed-thorps-memoirs-a-man-for-all-markets-6beba78cd2b Permalink 5:47 PM – 4 Oct 2016
@nntaleb The “independence” of the media:https://youtu.be/E96lAHygeIU Permalink 5:03 PM – 4 Oct 2016
@nntaleb As Cato (elder) said, better be asked why there is no statue honoring you than the reversehttps://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/783251194915454976 Permalink 5:27 AM – 4 Oct 2016
@nntaleb I wish a Nobel Prize to one of my economist enemies so he feels the insecurity of a pedestal. Permalink 3:23 AM – 4 Oct 2016
@byzantinepower You will be civilised on the day you can spend a long period doing nothing without feeling the slightest amount of guilt NN Taleb Permalink 3:00 AM – 4 Oct 2016
@byzantinepower Over the long term, you are more likely to fool yourself than others. NN Taleb Permalink 3:04 AM – 4 Oct 2016
@byzantinepower For a classicist, a competitive athlete is painful to look at; trying too hard to become an animal NN Taleb Permalink 3:08 AM – 4 Oct 2016
@byzantinepower Mental clarity is the child of courage NN Taleb Permalink 3:17 AM – 4 Oct 2016
@nntaleb REWRI 3, Day 1 in our new space. Raphael lecturing (http://Www.realworldrisk.com )pic.twitter.com/7pUQYmxwNl Permalink 11:02 AM – 3 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Rederived from scratch distrib of correlation function for windows @WLTSchirano @DrCirillo @sapinker @alxpr1c3pic.twitter.com/2iDoBUW44i Permalink 6:19 PM – 2 Oct 2016
@nntaleb The Megali Doxologia (Great Doxology) in Greco-Syrian. المَجْدَلَة الكُبْرَى / يوناني ـ عربيhttps://youtu.be/znL0c5C0-jo Permalink 5:56 PM – 2 Oct 2016
@nntaleb The reason is that no charlatan would willingly do anything that harms his reputation. Marker is costly signaling.https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/782658001668870149 Permalink 4:01 PM – 2 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Point is: NO charlatan would do anything that harms his reputation. It is a marker, what’s called costly signaling. Kapish? @BrianePagel Permalink 3:56 PM – 2 Oct 2016
@IrritatedNimby @lord9h @nntaleb Hayek on Talebpic.twitter.com/FKkkMRwUUW Permalink 2:31 PM – 2 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Simple heuristic: treat public intellectuals as BSvendors except those who hold unpopular opinions,expose frauds, take risks, curse publicly Permalink 12:06 PM – 2 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Forward for Ed Thorp’s memoir. Comments/Corrections welcome. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50282823/Foreword%20Thorp.pdf Permalink 11:16 AM – 2 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Actually problem w/@sapinker is worse:paper shows that,if anything,we underestimated violence. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1609.02369.pdf @alxpr1c3 @DrCirillo Permalink 8:29 AM – 2 Oct 2016
@nntaleb LATEST: Prof Spagat has retracted his claim that F14a was wrong; he said he made an error. Pinker shd learn from him. @DrCirillo @sapinker Permalink 8:13 AM – 2 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Getting arithmetic wrong. Tax loss carryover means one has paid taxes in past for profits later lost/or reverse.https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/782569967933853696 Permalink 6:20 AM – 2 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Very inefficient. Can’t believe liberals could be pro-Saudi Arabia, pro-Wahabis, pro large corps/globabilization, anti artisans! @neilchriss Permalink 6:16 AM – 2 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Pasquale, the point is not about theories/data, but elementary stats. What would you w/someone who can’t read an…ACF?@DrCirillo @sapinker Permalink 6:14 AM – 2 Oct 2016
@Nour_Samaha Dear @katieforster, I’m assuming this is your first foray in the #Syria issue. I suggest you do some research firstpic.twitter.com/T45JhOjXOb Permalink 5:52 AM – 2 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Keep trying Pinker boy, keep trying! @sapinkerpic.twitter.com/cw4HslcED0 Permalink 5:05 AM – 2 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Get off twitter.https://twitter.com/Hanifkureishi/status/779951411538919424 Permalink 4:18 AM – 2 Oct 2016
@nntaleb John Durant has an explanation. Also explain Halal against eating pigs! @bitstein @johndurantpic.twitter.com/CShb8o6MXG Permalink 1:46 PM – 1 Oct 2016
@nntaleb (for mammals) Permalink 1:31 PM – 1 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Is there a rule that we humans eat almost exclusively herbivores? Is it the reason we domesticate cats, dogs, things we don’t eat? Curious. Permalink 1:30 PM – 1 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Much more colorful than my approach to bankers/economists.https://twitter.com/byzantinepower/status/782303266797330432 Permalink 12:41 PM – 1 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Why laws in societies come from the minority rule: A probabilistic argument.pic.twitter.com/nh3yALVZzu Permalink 7:04 AM – 1 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Another way to see it: Mix white w/dark blue. The result in any combination>2-5% is never light blue, but dark blue.https://medium.com/@nntaleb/the-most-intolerant-wins-the-dictatorship-of-the-small-minority-3f1f83ce4e15#.o50wvemav Permalink 6:04 AM – 1 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Neocons. More to come.https://twitter.com/MaxAbrahms/status/782202283849285632 Permalink 5:57 AM – 1 Oct 2016
@nntaleb If someone showed you articles abt Trump, you would have estimated that polls ~0% (just wife & butler voting for him). The press is dying. Permalink 5:56 AM – 1 Oct 2016
@nntaleb The cluelessness of @anneapplebaum: like a detail-oriented assistant-plumber expounding on statistical mechanics.https://twitter.com/BryanAppleyard/status/782182348498604032 Permalink 5:21 AM – 1 Oct 2016
@nntaleb Any cardiologist in the room? Is a *simple* test of volatility of heart rate powerful enough? Thanks! #Antifragilepic.twitter.com/ZdW7ojvfAq Permalink 11:36 AM – 30 Sep 2016
@nntaleb السلاح ب ايد الخرا بيجرح Permalink 10:25 AM – 30 Sep 2016
@nntaleb 2/Trump n’est qu’un marchand de pacotille; Hilarante une interventioniste belliqueuse Permalink 10:23 AM – 30 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Pas du tout vrai. Hilarante est avide de guerre, prete a déstabiliser le systeme, a causer des cygnes noirs.https://twitter.com/lemondefr/status/781086600549830656 Permalink 10:19 AM – 30 Sep 2016
@RonPaulInstitut Syria – The US Propaganda Shams Now Openly Fail http://bit.ly/2dx2nuO Permalink 9:05 AM – 30 Sep 2016
@nntaleb 3/ You cannot expect @Grurray points out a sect with suicide bombers to play tit-for-tat as in your textbooks! *Nuclear* suicide bombers… Permalink 6:00 AM – 30 Sep 2016
@nntaleb 2/ Something in Pakistan has been strange, as we know from the Bin Laden episode. In time, about every inconsistency becomes apparent. Permalink 5:51 AM – 30 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Is it me? This India-Pakistan thingy is a very serious. Countries just don’t have direct “skirmishes”. Permalink 5:36 AM – 30 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Skin in the game.https://twitter.com/byzantinepower/status/779901599170736128 Permalink 6:52 PM – 29 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Procrustes 2nd Edition, UK (Penguin)pic.twitter.com/E7f4XGaM4v Permalink 1:05 PM – 29 Sep 2016
@nntaleb I was not worried about the European banking system until a European finance minister said to not worry.https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/781545314347954176 Permalink 10:36 AM – 29 Sep 2016
@nntaleb The Reverse! Logistic is most elegant natural distribution, Normal is an adjustment to it. @ProbFactpic.twitter.com/00OKWbauMP Permalink 9:53 AM – 29 Sep 2016
@robertwrighter Enjoyed chatting w @MaxAbrahms on @bloggingheads about whether Hillary’s or Trump’s foreign policy is scarier: http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/43967?in=02:15&out=65:45 Permalink 6:20 PM – 28 Sep 2016
@nntaleb This is the real problem, compounded by an increase in age-conditional life expectancy.https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/781467564396449793 Permalink 5:20 AM – 29 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Huge step in @WolframResearch Mathematica 11: Expression of functions in terms of MeijerG https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meijer_G-function pic.twitter.com/L5eIFmRSh0 Permalink 4:29 AM – 29 Sep 2016
@nntaleb BTW, evidence that @michikokakutani is pathologically crazy.Not just incompetent; crazy. @MarkHarrisNYC @holland_tompic.twitter.com/WJmYRdxILz Permalink 4:01 AM – 29 Sep 2016
@nntaleb My point is that a nudger would make your “choice architecture” into helmets. Wrong norms. @han0z @paulmarsha @gaijinrage Permalink 3:24 AM – 29 Sep 2016
@nntaleb 2) In Lebanon the absence of president has been a great thing, shifting a bit of power to the municipalities. Permalink 3:19 AM – 29 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Another reason “nudging” is dangerous.https://twitter.com/gaijinrage/status/781389651886088192 Permalink 3:13 AM – 29 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Lesson from the 2016 election: an evolved decentralized country w/adults in it & developed legal machinery shouldn’t need a president. Permalink 3:09 AM – 29 Sep 2016
@nntaleb It is precisely because there is money that vultures will destroy Saudi Barbaria. @Jamal_A_Salem Permalink 2:49 AM – 29 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Thank you, the democratic system worked. Obama can be pre-bought by Saudi Barbaria, but we got enough.https://twitter.com/wadewire/status/781236629444894720 Permalink 2:46 PM – 28 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Paternalistic IYI: “Av citizen doesn’t know where Syria is”. To be compatible w/democracy don’t drag them into smthg thy aren’t curious abt. Permalink 5:59 AM – 28 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Also to test regress, n low, do residuals on beta dist since error bounded [(x,(1-x))-, +] @sbelak @DrCirillo @Petronas865 @NateSilver538 Permalink 5:15 AM – 28 Sep 2016
@nntaleb If @DrCirillo says data looks “funny”, then consider that data looks funny. @Petronas865 @NateSilver538 Permalink 3:58 AM – 28 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Yes the graph shows too much noise. From this & other stuff Silver patently fails to refine signal from noise.https://twitter.com/petronas865/status/780979459797217280 Permalink 3:32 AM – 28 Sep 2016
@nntaleb You can’t make this up. IYI ambassador to UNhttps://twitter.com/linaarabii/status/780937412419678212 Permalink 7:00 PM – 27 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Boris wants to swap UK for Turkey in EU.https://twitter.com/henrycporter/status/780890293520531457 Permalink 3:12 PM – 27 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Some results (with possible errors) for the Leiden paper. [Jet Lag, of course]pic.twitter.com/bokuv4iYPP Permalink 2:11 PM – 27 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Delenda Monsantohttps://twitter.com/FarmFairyCrafts/status/780682206171766784 Permalink 1:22 AM – 27 Sep 2016
@nntaleb *Most* Ancient Greeks ate meet only on festivals, after sacrificing to the gods, adding “most” for imbecile @davidgraeber nitpicking tweets Permalink 1:00 AM – 27 Sep 2016
@nntaleb My point is:limitation on meat eating in Greek Orthodoxy has *some* ancient origin, hence *some* forced variations.pic.twitter.com/P1IX4NbsWI Permalink 12:24 AM – 27 Sep 2016
@nntaleb David Graeber, if I call you imbecile, it is not without a reason. @davidgraeberpic.twitter.com/b7rfhnxcQa Permalink 11:55 PM – 26 Sep 2016
@night_review La dittatura delle minoranze: contro gli intolleranti ci vuole intolleranza, dice @nntalebhttp://bit.ly/2du123y Permalink 11:47 PM – 26 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Turned out @AmbassadorPower is wife of idiot @CassSunstein, protagonist of my piece on IYIs https://medium.com/@nntaleb/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211e2d0577#.xr2afnzeh https://twitter.com/snarwani/status/780145813573996544 Permalink 8:28 AM – 26 Sep 2016
@nntaleb History du jour: Shiism in Iran much earlier than Savafides, the 8th C. Khurramites mixed Shiism & Zoroastrianism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khurramiyyah Permalink 4:46 AM – 26 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Graeber is a LIAR. My point is that, empirically, an ACADEMIC job is not necessary to do research.cf #Antifragile @davidgraeber @Fedaykin98 Permalink 3:18 AM – 26 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Cor nitpickers, yes there were 4 male nonwaiters; ~10% Permalink 12:06 AM – 26 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Beirut restaurant: the only males are the waiters.pic.twitter.com/0kemqipHXJ Permalink 12:26 PM – 25 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Peter, @peterfrankopan beware: Al Arabiya is Saudi funded propaganda.https://twitter.com/alarabiya_eng/status/779969792266670080 Permalink 2:59 AM – 25 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Indeed Obama is protecting al Qaeda in Syria. This & the veto are unexplainable… his sympathy for Jihadis…https://twitter.com/28Pages/status/779822635009970176 Permalink 4:25 PM – 24 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Fat Tony attending a lecture.https://twitter.com/edefazio/status/779807743276359680 Permalink 4:18 PM – 24 Sep 2016
@nntaleb A business school professor lecturing on finance is like Hillary Clinton lecturing on deadlifting. Permalink 3:07 PM – 24 Sep 2016
@MaxAbrahms Coincidentally, earlier today I taught a whole class on realism by contrasting it with Hillary’s foreign policies:https://twitter.com/maxabrahms/status/779756341204320256 Permalink 12:04 PM – 24 Sep 2016
@nntaleb And the Companion Volume will be “Technical Incerto”. Permalink 7:09 AM – 24 Sep 2016
@nntaleb The Incerto finally became a single book. Don’t know when it will be sold.pic.twitter.com/1YUJrb4kFu Permalink 6:53 AM – 24 Sep 2016
@nntaleb La dittatura delle minoranze: Taleb mette in guardia dai rischi… contro gli intolleranti ci vuole intolleranza.http://www.pagina99.it/2016/09/24/perche-il-politicamente-corretto-e-una-minaccia-alla-liberta/ Permalink 3:27 AM – 24 Sep 2016
@nntaleb 10 old books feel very aged, out of place, out of sync. 200 year old books feel contemporary. 2000 year old bks feel fresh. #LindyEffect Permalink 6:02 PM – 23 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Mark, not complaining about the smear… I proved immune. I am complaining about showing me in an old picture! @CoachRippetoe @PennyKilkenny Permalink 5:46 PM – 23 Sep 2016
@nntaleb I don’t mind Monsanto’s smear campaign bt they show weightligting pics from 2015, before coaching by @CoachRippetoe!https://twitter.com/PennyKilkenny/status/779426138112360448 Permalink 5:24 PM – 23 Sep 2016
@nntaleb I blocked @MehreenKhn who is both a Jihadi advocate & ….appears to works for the FT! BTW never engage Salafis. Just jail them. Permalink 4:55 PM – 23 Sep 2016
@nntaleb On way to Lebanon for a few days. I insist I feel safer than in Europe, as there is ZERO tolerance of Salafis. Zero. Permalink 1:55 PM – 23 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Me too.https://twitter.com/thekrissharma/status/779342902421917696 Permalink 8:57 AM – 23 Sep 2016
@nntaleb “Airport Reading” you liar. Why are you lying, little parasite? http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/FatTails.html https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8nhAlfIk3QIR1o1dnk5ZmRaaGs/view @florianederer @WGoetzmann Permalink 6:47 AM – 23 Sep 2016
@nntaleb He doesn’t pronounce 3ayn & 7et like natives & exaggerate diff Syriac-Aramaic. Hear the diff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRwzJJmt1A8 pic.twitter.com/0ezVvCSqLR Permalink 7:18 PM – 22 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Small correction: Wstrn Syria spoke close to Galilean Aramaic; Syriac is Eastern. “Our Father” in Jewish Aramaic.https://youtu.be/i8IJOgMVE1Q Permalink 6:37 PM – 22 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Shame. Shame.https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/779010868583497728 Permalink 2:19 PM – 22 Sep 2016
@nntaleb I view science as a ruthless collision of originality & rigor; social science as the meeting of imitation & sloppiness. Permalink 9:39 AM – 22 Sep 2016
@nntaleb I view science as a ruthless collision of originality & rigor; (Much of social science fails on, not one, but both counts). Permalink 9:36 AM – 22 Sep 2016
@nntaleb I meant meat @drjasonfung @IDMProgram Permalink 9:32 AM – 22 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Ancient Greeks ate meet only on festivals, after sacrificing portion to the gods. Same for Semites. @drjasonfung @IDMProgram Permalink 7:23 AM – 22 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Just consider that carnivores have very stochastic intake compared to herbivores. @drjasonfung @IDMProgrampic.twitter.com/VblQKwJDMX Permalink 5:57 AM – 22 Sep 2016
@nntaleb I suspect that under variability in protein intake, the required quantities drop https://www.academia.edu/26660005/_Anti_Fragility_and_Convex_Responses_in_Medicine @drjasonfung @IDMProgram Permalink 5:54 AM – 22 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Imbecile, ALL my tweets autodelete every 5 months. @davidgraeber Permalink 4:58 AM – 22 Sep 2016
@nntaleb David Graeber @davidgraeber tries to disqualify me from discussion because I had wealthy ancestors. Institutionalized envy. @Fedaykin98 Permalink 3:12 PM – 21 Sep 2016
@nntaleb إذا أتتك مذمتي من ناقص فهي الشهادة لي بأني كامل: Mutanabbi @funtime_bobby Permalink 2:08 PM – 21 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Doorman calls you arrogant: you are an a**hole. Academic IYI calls you arrogant: certifies he can’t debunk your workhttps://twitter.com/davidgraeber/status/773598438915276800 Permalink 2:04 PM – 21 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Indeed. There are 650 pages (including this) in Antifragile, its topic. @funtime_bobby @EmanuelDerman @R_Thaler @cdipaola62 @CassSunstein Permalink 1:14 PM – 21 Sep 2016
@nntaleb To put it in their terms,on top of other pbms, we are showing their “normative” (benchmarks) are fundamentally wronghttps://twitter.com/EmanuelDerman/status/777507246116855808 Permalink 12:38 PM – 21 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Is it me or Monsanto is trading as if the deal had ~20% chances of failing? Permalink 10:37 AM – 21 Sep 2016
@nntaleb … Which explains the bias-variance problem: 538 is noisy (and biased) the other is less noisy but more biased. Permalink 10:13 AM – 21 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Predictwise is high for H but his updating is consistent & seems >rigorous vs statisticophaster @FIveTHirtyEighthttps://twitter.com/DavMicRot/status/778543535545053184 Permalink 8:17 AM – 21 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Our paper “Expected Shortfall Estimation for Apparently Infinite-Mean Models of Operational Risk” now in print.https://twitter.com/DrCirillo/status/778538693334368256 Permalink 4:44 AM – 21 Sep 2016
@nntaleb The @FiveThirtyEight unrigorous dynamic updating & how it should be: the outer blue line is how not to change proba.pic.twitter.com/RHTMsK1EDc Permalink 4:41 AM – 21 Sep 2016
@nntaleb This is why Silver is ignorant of probability.https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/771372006914846720 Permalink 7:08 PM – 20 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Ha! Round turn. Trump 48%? @FiveThirtyEight proved again a few weeks later CLUELESS abt dynamics of probability.https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/762032883414556674 Permalink 7:05 PM – 20 Sep 2016
@nntaleb This is pure nonsense, statistically.https://twitter.com/ByRosenberg/status/778084204881940480 Permalink 1:06 PM – 20 Sep 2016
@nntaleb New edition of Procrustes, 50% longer. But, for Baal’s sake, shd only be read by pple who know what an aphorism is.https://www.amazon.com/Bed-Procrustes-Philosophical-Practical-Aphorisms/dp/0812982401/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Permalink 6:25 AM – 20 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Cheap tawk: Apologies never exist. You pay: money tawks and BS walks.https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/778193424877060097 Permalink 5:58 AM – 20 Sep 2016
@nntaleb A page frm @peterfrankopan that justifies my doubts w/@dottorpax about historical casualties, exaggerated for impactpic.twitter.com/uXWHTVw4tP Permalink 5:09 AM – 20 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Could the Maaloula Aramaic “Baddak” come from same root as “David” DWD (B-widdak => “You would like?”) ?pic.twitter.com/keTfIgWY7H Permalink 5:01 AM – 20 Sep 2016
@nntaleb 2/”Doesn’t even know the difference between Hecate and Hecuba”:Search for “Hecuba” jumps every pub of my piece(3 x)pic.twitter.com/O31CUZAeei Permalink 11:33 AM – 19 Sep 2016
@nntaleb From reactions to piece, discovered the IYI can’t tell the satirical from the literal. https://medium.com/@nntaleb/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211e2d0577#.6bjx10lta pic.twitter.com/rJCOKTpyxX Permalink 11:15 AM – 19 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Lobbying is much, much cheaper than advertising or R&D to improve product, & has great payoff. Lobbying is immoral.https://twitter.com/GMWatch/status/777168168951382017 Permalink 8:30 AM – 19 Sep 2016
@nntaleb From my scratchpad: Beware of Richard Thaler’s results. Beware. @EmanuelDerman @R_Thaler @cdipaola62 @CassSunsteinpic.twitter.com/ajo7mjZl6b Permalink 3:02 PM – 18 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Nestlé Just Suffered a Major Defeat as Community Blocks Water Privatizationhttp://usuncut.com/resistance/nestle-fails-in-kunkletown/ Permalink 11:24 AM – 18 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Aramaic du jour: Baddak in Levantine doesn’t seem to come from Arabic but Aramaic; Ma3loula Western Aramaic.pic.twitter.com/TVLzW6dMwo Permalink 9:37 AM – 18 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Via negativahttps://twitter.com/TolstoySays/status/777525509445914624 Permalink 9:24 AM – 18 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Like prevent GMO labeling & steer choices? How long can these psychosophasters manage to fool us?https://twitter.com/R_Thaler/status/777273108927508482 Permalink 4:54 AM – 18 Sep 2016
@nntaleb I grew up w/Jesuits & @R_Thaler is amateur in casuistry.(Changed txt to “=deviation frm desired/prescribed protocol)https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/777216119761428480 Permalink 2:08 PM – 17 Sep 2016
@bparispoker @nntaleb my belated apologies to @SenSanders and @TimReillyPoker for being an IYI on GMO’s a couple months back Permalink 7:42 AM – 17 Sep 2016
@nntaleb “The Intellectual Yet Idiot” Added The IYI has been wrong on Stalinism, GMOs, Iraq, Libya, Syria, lobotomies,https://medium.com/@nntaleb/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211e2d0577?source=twitterShare-f138bf5466fe-1474115652 Permalink 5:35 AM – 17 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Problem du jour: find general form from sequence for \alpha ={1,2,…,n}pic.twitter.com/Bcn65yvGRE Permalink 3:48 AM – 17 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Max is good. Very good.https://twitter.com/MaxAbrahms/status/776896248200724480 Permalink 2:38 PM – 16 Sep 2016
@nntaleb I thank @DrCirillo & others for 4-d depth into Extreme Tails w/ pioneers: de Haan,Balkema,Huesler,Eimahl, & chance to discuss my 2 papers. Permalink 2:05 PM – 16 Sep 2016
@alexcmeyer The best technology is the one you don’t even know is there. @nntaleb hits it on the headpic.twitter.com/17IO9g76YC Permalink 10:51 AM – 16 Sep 2016
@nntaleb I am on a plane deriving guilty pleasure reading comments by IYIs (Intellectual Yet Idiots) on the piece abt IYIs.https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/776791885155332096 Permalink 10:54 AM – 16 Sep 2016
@nntaleb I just published “The Intellectual Yet Idiot”https://medium.com/p/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211e2d0577 Permalink 7:36 AM – 16 Sep 2016
@nntaleb The ideological and financial roots of Jihadi terrorism are in Saudi Barbaria.https://twitter.com/Dave_Hardwick/status/776758010332839936 Permalink 5:34 AM – 16 Sep 2016
@nntaleb The agro lobby is explicitly targeting researchers. Destroy the lives of lobbyists!https://twitter.com/jeanguisnel/status/776722914037080064 Permalink 3:27 AM – 16 Sep 2016
@nntaleb ימח שמו וזכרו @GhassanDahhan يمحي اسموا و زكروا Permalink 3:23 AM – 16 Sep 2016
@nntaleb You should only hit terrorism when the aim is eradication, not mitigation; otherwise they get stronger.https://twitter.com/space_nosleep/status/776663510881296384 Permalink 12:59 AM – 16 Sep 2016
@nntaleb If I know something about mergers, it is that they kill the companies, both the acquirer and the acquired.https://twitter.com/NonGMOProject/status/776427291635093504 Permalink 7:30 AM – 15 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Our turn to make them pay,@thackerpd, w/dividend. Revenge is to be eaten cold. Will help you get shill @keithkloor for the rest of his life. Permalink 2:06 PM – 14 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Voila: The beginning of the end for GMOs. If you have to shill so much, something is wrong.http://on.wsj.com/2cVUhLI Permalink 1:55 PM – 14 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Put on 15lbs weightlifting .https://twitter.com/drcirillo/status/775971925642313728 Permalink 7:43 AM – 14 Sep 2016
@DrCirillo #ERHD Workshop Day 3. Einmahl, Taleb @nntaleb and the statistics of extremes. Permalink 11:46 PM – 13 Sep 2016
@nntaleb It is as irrational to reject all conspiracy theories as it is to accept them. Permalink 2:13 PM – 13 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Better picture as @DrCirillo the organizer was hidden in the previous one.pic.twitter.com/DKmdCs8vVE Permalink 1:57 PM – 13 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Trappist “blond” beer Affligem, something else, 1000 years experience.pic.twitter.com/uOFxEAr3Af Permalink 10:45 AM – 13 Sep 2016
@nntaleb 70% of the Extreme Value mathematics flaneuring in Leiden by a canal. De Haan asked: “who are the other 30%?”pic.twitter.com/n9xgjY8ggW Permalink 10:12 AM – 13 Sep 2016
@BowenBBC Father Elias Adass, Maronite priest in Aleppo Old City stands in ruins of his church, destroyed by rebel fire.pic.twitter.com/95aLWmoOTR Permalink 8:27 AM – 13 Sep 2016
@nntaleb Balkema and de Haan, pillars of Extreme Value Theory, chatting at the Leiden workshop. https://www.google.nl/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=balkema+de+haan&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=tc_XV4H2L-uGwAL8266QAw#q=pickands+balkema+de+haan pic.twitter.com/Lar1lG9jCR Permalink 3:13 AM – 13 Sep 2016
@nntaleb This explains why I call her Hillary Monsanto-Malmaison, now AlSaud-Malmaison. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Château_de_Malmaison https://twitter.com/pallaviwrites/status/775589402974224384 Permalink 2:43 AM – 13 Sep 2016
@singularityunl Borrowing a concept from @nntaleb, @carlovdweijer tells us about the #futureofmobility at #SUNLsummitpic.twitter.com/Pp47pkBiot Permalink 1:20 AM – 13 Sep 2016
@nntaleb The dirtiest man: @henryimiller a failed scientist you can hire to defame scientists. http://usrtk.org/hall-of-shame/why-you-cant-trust-henry-miller-on-gmos/ https://twitter.com/GMWatch/status/774880861137297408 Permalink 5:08 PM – 12 Sep 2016
@nntaleb The classical idea is to build mental, physical & moral fortitude to face the world #Antifragile Modern one is to change it technologically. Permalink 4:05 PM – 12 Sep 2016
Alpari Sponsors Seminars With “Black Swan” Author Nassim Taleb
The seminars, titled “Black Swan: predicting and winning in a world of chaos”, will be held in the capital of Ukraine, Kiev, on the 10th of October, and in the Russian capital, Moscow, on the 12th of the same month.
[New Version] 9/16/16
The Intellectual Yet Idiot
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It is as irrational to reject all conspiracy theories as it is to accept them. 9/13/16
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The classical idea is to build mental capacity, physical strength, and moral fortitude to face the world (Antifragile).
The modern one is to technologically change the world. 9/12/16
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https://medium.com/…/where-you-cannot-generalize-from-knowl… 9/11/16
Where You Cannot Generalize from Knowledge of Parts (continuation of the Minority Rule)
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THREATS THAT ARE NOT JUST TAWK 9/10/16
There is this formidable scene in the Godfather when the Hollywood executive wakes up with a dead horse in his bed. It was a threat, and not an empty threat.
Threats reveal weakness, except when they are real. The method of conveying real threats was perfected by the sect of the Assassins, an 11th-14th C. sect that specialized in political assassination (they always spared civilians and people who were not directly targeted). Just as with the Godfather scene, legend has it that the head of an army moving against them woke up to find a dagger and a message near his head. It was a “recommendation” to stop the war (he promptly took the advice). They could have killed him, but they were too strong for that and proved it. They supposedly did the same with Saladin, informing him that the cake he was about to eat was poisoned… by them.
The Assassins were often associated with the Templars as they fought frequently on the side of the crusaders –they were part of a branch of Shiite Islam that was violently anti-Sunni.
The method of putting skin-in-the-game in political leaders started with the sicarii who used similar method of targeted assassination by means of a dagger (as opposed to the sword which entails battles).
They were exactly the opposite of Salafi terrorists: as I said, they killed leaders, not civilians, hence unlike wars their methods focusing on precision avoid the civilian “colateral damage”. Comparisons with Jihadis get it backward: they were targeted (Salafis are not discriminating, going after anything that moves, even their own). Much of what we read about the Assassins can be smear by their enemies (including their name linked to Hashish).
And the dagger-near-the-pillow scene is signaling at its best: the most effective way to deal with an enemy is to prove to him that you own him. You are so strong that you keep him alive.
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LINDY EFFECT: PLACENAMES ARE STICKY 9/7/16
The New York Municipality has been trying for 70 years to change 6th Avenue to “Avenue of the Americas”, unsuccessfully.
Place names are sticky, we should be able to get back 6000 year old languages… from the names. Or the timing of the settlement. I speculate that the placename is likely to correspond to the time of the first settlement and sticks throughout. Cartagena in Spain was a Carthaginian settlement (itself from Kart-7adash). All villages in the Levant bear either ancient Semitic (Canaanite or Aramaic) or Greek names (“Kfar-something”, “Beit-something”). It is when a new settlement is made, such as Laodikeia (during the Seleucids, 3-4th C BC) that a new name appears, or when one part near a small town is rebuilt as a government center such as Caesarea. When the Romans give a placename, it is usually a corruption of the originial: Berytus to Beirut (small well in Canaanite), Apamea from 7ama (though it is not in the same location), etc.
Now let us speculate. Knossos, the Minoan center, maps most certainly to to a Semitic root (meaning gathering, like Knesseth, Knisse, etc.), so I conjecture whether Linear B=>Canaanite or reverse.
I also speculate that there is a deep connection of pre-Canaanite for my ancestral village Amioun: 3am Yawan “the Ionian people’s settlement” in Canaanite (we have same genes and genetic diseases as Cretans).
And Marseilles, in France, while its inhabitants claim a Phocaean origin (Greeks of Asia Minor), makes me suspect a Phoenician connection, since “Marsa” means port in Canaanite and a nearby hilltop village is called Ramatuelle, from “Ramat El”, Hill of God, which is certainly Phoenician placename.
The more you use a metric (“metrify”), the more you will compare yourself to others.
The more you compare yourself to others, whether favorably or unfavorably, the worse off you will be.
(This continues the odometer story). 9/4/16
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Someone I know refrained from riding his bicycle because the odometer was broken. He felt that his cycling didn’t count towards his “goal”.
This is what happens with systems that becomes “modernized”. 9/2/16
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By the Lindy Effect, you should know 20 times more about history of the past 2000 years than that of the past 100 years.
In fact, not only most people know more about the past 100 years, but they knew even more about the past 100 days.
Further, history is not geopolitics (who met whom) or wars, but an understanding of what people used, ate, produced, thought, and argued about. 9/1/16
https://medium.com/…/commencement-address-american-universi…
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Business on the other hand creates business.
That’s the only career advice I feel compelled to give. 8/28/16
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I speculate that the constant internecine and tribal fights in the absence of external dangers made armies stronger. Which is perhaps why the Greek city states were able to fend off the Persian attacks, but Egypt, with its central order, fell apart when Western Asians came down to invade.
This applies to all scales: Sicilians, Maronites, Cretans, and Corsican families, with their culture of vendetta, fight one another when they run out of enemies. 8/19/16
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Dumb enemies are a problem as they can be very hard to predict. 8/19/16
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Those who say “I feel sorry for you” mean “I feel envy”. Those who really feel sorry for you don’t say anything. 8/17/16
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Refine your mind, keep avoiding BS vendors, journos, & statistical noise to the point when logical flaws and nonsense sound like a jarring notes to a musical ear in a middle of a concert. 8/16/16
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The more ritualistic your business life is, the more likely you are to go out of business. Many people just go to the office to go to the office, partake of the rituals of the office, get coffee from the coffee machine, then return home. Some, in order to fill the alloted time, partake of something very structured commonly called a meeting.
So, if you are self employed, the discipline is to be in your office if and only if you have something very, very specific to do. If you are employed, the same works indirectly: the more ritualistic your function, the more probable is your eventual redundancy.
There is another dimension: noise. The shorter the time-scale of information, the more noise you will be getting in the office (or online), relative to the signal. Reducing the physical presence is protective in that sense. 5/15/16
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The Most Intolerant Wins 8/14/16
https://medium.com/…/the-most-intolerant-wins-the-dictators…
[Trying a new venue to post chapters. ]
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In every undertaking, the more humans try to be demi-gods, the more they become half-monsters 8/13/16
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THE OLYMPICS 8/13/16
There used to be a distinction between an athlete representing virtus (human-ness*) and ἀρετή (the quality of being what you are made to be) on one hand, and, on the other the circus acrobat selling uniqueness and deformity. Mediterranean ideals, as opposed to the Egypto-Babylonian ones, were about scale and balance: even the Gods were brought down to human scale. (Yet homines sumus, non dei: we are men, not gods)
Today’s Olympics, by dint of specialization and overoptimization, thanks to the media and the huge financing involved, have transformed the athlete into a circus acrobat, a mutant selling deformities.
Let me insist: anything overoptimized, or even barely optimized, is no longer human.
Hominem te esse memento!
* manliness in PC terms.
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I never imagined that, in 2016, people selfdefined on the “left” would be in favor of repression, censorship, cronyism, Monsantoism, lobbies, elitism, military interventionsim, and … Salafism ! 8/11/16
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That Thing We Call Religion [SKIN IN THE GAME] 8/5/16
The problem of the verbalistic (and the journalistic) is expressed in an aphorism earlier in the Incerto: mathematicians think in (well precisely defined and mapped) objects, philosophers in concepts, jurists in constructs, logicians in operators (…), and idiots in words. We saw that risk and tail risk are mathematically separate objects, conflated by the IYI (intellectual yet idiot) crowd. Two people can be using the same word, meaning different things, yet continue the conversation, which is fine for coffee, but not when making decisions, particularly policy decisions affecting others. But it is easy to trip them, as Socrates did, simply by asking them what they mean by what they said –hence philosophy was born as rigor in discourse and disentanglement of mixed up notions, in precise opposition to the sophist’s promotion of rhetoric. But, since Socrates we have had a long tradition of mathematical science and contract law driven by precision in mapping terms. But we also have had many pronouncements by idiots using labels.
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People rarely mean the same thing when they say “religion”, nor do they realize that they don’t mean the same thing. For early Jews and Muslims, religion was law. Din means law in Hebrew and religion in Arabic. For early Jews, religion was also tribal; for early Muslims, it was universal. For the Romans, religion was social events, rituals, and festivals –the word religio was opposition to superstitio, and while present in the Roman zeitgeist had no equivalent concept in the Greek-Byzantine East . Law was procedurally and mechanically its own thing, and early Christianity, thanks to Saint Augustine, stayed relatively away from the law, and, later, remembering its foundations, had an uneasy relation with it. The difference is marked in that Christian Aramaic uses a different word: din for religion and nomous (from the Greek) for law. Jesus, with his imperative “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar”, separated the holy and the profane: Christianity was for another domain, “the kingdom to come”, only merged with this one in the eschaton. Neither Islam nor Judaism have a marked separation between holy and profane. And of course Christianity moved away from the solely-spiritual domain to embrace the ceremonial and ritualistic, integrating much of the pagan rites of the Levant and Asia Minor.
For Jews today, religion became ethnocultural, without the law –and for many, a nation. Same for Syriacs, Chaldeans, Armenians, Copts, and Maronites. For Orthodox and Catholic Christians religion is aesthetics, pomp and rituals. For Protestants, religion is belief with no aesthetics, pomp or law. Further East, for Buddhists, Shintoists and Hindus, religion is practical and spiritual philosophy, with a code of ethics (and for some, cosmogony). So when Hindu talk about the Hindu “religion” they don’t mean the same thing to a Pakistani as it would to a Hindu, and certainly something different for a Persian.
When the nation-state idea came about, things got more, much more complicated. When an Arab now says “Jew” he largely means something about a creed; to Arabs, a converted Jew is no longer a Jew. But for a Jew, a Jew is someone whose mother is a Jew. But it somewhat merged into nation-state and now means a nation.
In Serbia-Croatia and Lebanon, religion means something at times of peace, and something quite different at times of war.
When someone discusses the “Christian minority” in the Levant, it doesn’t mean (as Arabs tend to think) promoting a Christian theocracy (full theocracies were very few in Christian history, just Byzantium and a short attempt by Calvin). He just means “secular” or wants a marked separation of church and state. Same for the gnostics (Druids, Druze, Mandeans, Alawis).
The problem with the European Union is that the naive IYI bureaucrats (these idiots who can’t find a coconut on Coconut island) are fooled by the label. They treat Salafism as just a religion –with its houses of “worship”—when in fact it is just an intolerant political system, which promotes (or allows) violence and refuses the institutions of the West –those that allow them to operate. As we saw with the minority rule, the intolerant will run over the tolerant; cancer requires being stopped before it becomes metastatic.
We will see in the next chapter that “belief” can be epistemic, or simply procedural (pisteic) –leading to confusions about what sort of beliefs, are religious beliefs and which ones are not, disentangled through signaling. For, on top of the “religion” problem, there is a problem with belief. Some beliefs are largely decorative , some are functional (they help in survival); others are literal. And to revert to our metastatic Salafi problem: when one of these fundamentalists talks to a Christian, he is convinced that the Christian is literal, while the Christian is convinced that the Salafi has the same oft-metaphorical concepts to be taken seriously but not literally –and, often, not very seriously. Religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, and, to some extent Shiite Islam, evolved (or let their members evolve in developing a sophisticated society) precisely by moving away from the literal –in addition to the functional aspect of the metaphorical, the literal doesn’t leave any room for adaptation .
PS We classicists can invoke Graeco-Roman ethics, that is, virtue ethics, and claim wisdom of the ancestors, or distillation of 3000 years of Mediterranean wisdom and benefit from the Lindy effect. The Salafis are trying the same thing (Salafi means ancestral) –and failing to do anything … actually going backward as we keep advancing. Why? Because Graeco-Roman ethics was never literal, but about principles