Tag Archives: Salafism

Cowen, Thaler, Deadlift, SaudiBarbaria, “think tanks”, Salafism | Twitter

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@nntaleb 3825 years later, economists haven’t yet figured out what Babylonians did: debt has systemic effects (hence on others), self-harm doesn’t.https://twitter.com/tylercowen/status/826613009132969984   Permalink 3:14 PM – 2 Feb 2017

@jnyangena Something @nntaleb has been saying for years nowhttps://twitter.com/BrentBeshore/status/827237359074684928   Permalink 1:17 PM – 2 Feb 2017

@nntaleb Do IYI economists & social “scientists” realize they will soon be cut from taxpayer money? The pseudo-research $$ scam is bound to end. Permalink 9:59 AM – 2 Feb 2017

@nntaleb New York Museum of Mathematics, @MoMath1 Matthew Richey pic.twitter.com/rC0hWazww1 Permalink 4:15 PM – 1 Feb 2017

@nntaleb Outside your shit papers, in the real world, risk-takers work with thresholds to simplify life. @R_Thaler @JamesMarsh79 Permalink 9:53 AM – 1 Feb 2017

@nntaleb Rodrik, like cheap Starbucks, engages in cheap virtue signaling, at the expense of sophistry. Bullshit is free. @CliffordAsness @rodrikdani Permalink 6:20 AM – 1 Feb 2017

@nntaleb We’ve know Syria news were fake almost from the beginning. Why did it take that long? Herding/lack of courage by journos fearful to deviate.https://twitter.com/EHSANI22/status/826582270777683968   Permalink 5:00 AM – 1 Feb 2017

@nntaleb (cont) Last time I set foot in Starbucks they were selling something called “ethical water”; with millennials falling for that scam. Permalink 2:29 AM – 1 Feb 2017

@nntaleb Nothing wrong in the classics in the elevation of your status. But you need to take risks for that, signal courage. @PrometheusAM Permalink 2:18 AM – 1 Feb 2017

@nntaleb Great Ed Thorpe’s memoir. @JamesMarsh79 alerted me that smokevendor @R_Thaler finds Kelly/Thorpe criterion a mistakehttps://medium.com/@nntaleb/foreword-to-ed-thorps-memoirs-a-man-for-all-markets-6beba78cd2b#.eo4b8yt9s   Permalink 2:17 AM – 1 Feb 2017

@nntaleb 4) “Bullshit vending” was present in the classics, as more politely “Smoke vending” “Vendere fumum” Compiled in Erasmus (Adagia, I, 3, 41 ) Permalink 2:06 AM – 1 Feb 2017

@nntaleb Blaming Starbucks for fake virtue signaling, hypocrisy, exploitation of the immigration ban, @kaveh_h I boycott Starbucks since GMO darkact Permalink 1:58 AM – 1 Feb 2017

@nntaleb 3) I am procrastinating w/ *Skin in the Game* as I can’t find *virtue signaling* in classics (#Lindy),nothing beyond hypocrisy. Is it new? Permalink 1:56 AM – 1 Feb 2017

@illacertus Just uploaded my animation of The Bed of Procrustes by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (@nntaleb) – https://youtu.be/lRN_KT17mNo   ” target=”_blank”>http://pic.twitter.com/2z9AyjC8MJ”>  pic.twitter.com/2z9AyjC8MJ Permalink 10:35 AM – 31 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Results are lift specific. Deadlift 5max rep dropped from weaknening of wrist. Rest between unchanged (squat) and slighly down (press). Thx!https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/825684555407511552   Permalink 9:26 AM – 31 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Voila @CutTheKnotMath pic.twitter.com/GQbASsQwII Permalink 4:51 AM – 31 Jan 2017

@nntaleb It takes courage to stand up to Saudi Arabia, none to virtue signal here. There is no virtue without risktaking & sacrifice #skininthegamehttps://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/826386249992830978   Permalink 3:41 AM – 31 Jan 2017

@nntaleb I boycott SaudiBarbaria. They should. @MrSeras @AlexJacksonKerr @Konstant_V Permalink 3:19 AM – 31 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Virtue signaling here and there! Pseudo left here, extreme right there. https://twitter.com/konstant_v/status/826251002592559109   Permalink 3:06 AM – 31 Jan 2017

@GreenRupertRead https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/29/barcelona-residents-protest-high-rents-fuelled-by-tourism?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other   – An encouraging development!: Barcelona marches against the harmfulness of tourism on the city. @g_kallis Pse RT Permalink 2:27 AM – 31 Jan 2017

@nntaleb The IYI pseudo-left is disgusting.https://twitter.com/rupasubramanya/status/823410948589416448   Permalink 1:11 AM – 31 Jan 2017

@nntaleb We Christians have been made uncomfortable & not at home in the Levant; we feel at home with Western values & want to keep it as such. Permalink 11:15 AM – 30 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Mr Abdulla I came here running away from intolerant Salafis like you & separation of ch & state. No chasing me here.https://twitter.com/saloul/status/826143889161613312   Permalink 11:06 AM – 30 Jan 2017

@nntaleb 3/People are not getting that it is under Obama that minorities fleeing Sunni persecution were not allowed !!! pic.twitter.com/pLcAooTXly Permalink 11:03 AM – 30 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Here is the answer to Mr Greene @bgreene: don’t use your “scientific” status to give policy advice about risk. pic.twitter.com/B0Cp7HfTCk Permalink 8:07 AM – 30 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Can someone answer the fellow abt comparing random variables? Thanks.https://twitter.com/bgreene/status/826080516256436224   Permalink 7:23 AM – 30 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Greene is CLUELESS abt risk/probblty.”Odds” are NOT past frequencies for fat tailed distributions ! Only thintailedhttps://twitter.com/bgreene/status/826066350619652098   Permalink 6:20 AM – 30 Jan 2017

@nntaleb A better link for the paper: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50282823/elections.pdf   Permalink 4:53 AM – 30 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Finally, first draft of my paper on how to forecast an election: forecast includes more volatility than success pr.https://www.dropbox.com/s/wfhm4q3w3k964y2/elections1.pdf?dl=0   Permalink 4:31 AM – 30 Jan 2017

@nntaleb No, retweets. I unfollowed those who retweeted this. @shootersix Permalink 3:42 AM – 30 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Alas, statistics w/o reasoning. P(hit by bus) < 10^-20 probability of quadrupling. Not terror. #FooledByRandomness !https://twitter.com/KimKardashian/status/825580660337283073   Permalink 3:39 AM – 30 Jan 2017

@nntaleb 1) Reasoning: if a Moroccan terrorist (hence Muslim) killed Muslim people in #QuebecCity, very high probability the victims are Shiites. Permalink 2:20 AM – 30 Jan 2017

@nntaleb For Baal’s sake, note that I am against the ban for Iran, Iraq & Yemen, but REQUIRING restrictions for Salafis .Kapish? @mtsw @rodrikdani Permalink 10:35 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@nntaleb And Salafism isn’t quite promoting the tolerant “diversity” that Mr Rodrik is looking for… @rodrikdani Permalink 10:30 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Had @rodrikdani made an effort to get the point instead of bullshitting: American value is not accepting assymmetric *intolerant* religion. Permalink 10:28 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Mr Rodrik, hope you understand that you are some BS-writing hack living on American charity. Not quite the American dream. @rodrikdani Permalink 9:32 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Asymmetric separation between church and state is leading to Halal public shools in France. @schmittpaula @zak_pullen Permalink 9:22 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@nntaleb A friend you lose was never a friend. @TheDefenderA Permalink 9:02 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@BBassem7 Christianity is under attack by ISIS & AlQaeda in the Middle East. This is no secret. This is a video of what ISIS did to churches in N Iraq pic.twitter.com/MpQshEct25 Permalink 9:01 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@schmittpaula @nntaleb Case in point:Somali taxi drivers in Minneapolis airport refusing to pick up passengers w alcohol, sending them to back of the line Permalink 8:36 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@nntaleb For those still confused about Salafi Islam & the Popper-Godel principle, let me again invoke the minority rule.https://medium.com/incerto/the-most-intolerant-wins-the-dictatorship-of-the-small-minority-3f1f83ce4e15#.iyxs6hpdm   Permalink 8:24 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@nntaleb I came as refugee from the Lebanese war, embraced American values,& vowed to defend them. I refuse immigrants who don’t embrace our values. Permalink 8:02 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@nntaleb 3) Shiites are also victims. In Saudi Arabia they are treated worse than dhimmis. Permalink 7:23 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@nntaleb 2) Iran is the only Islamic country that is truly robust in its tolerance towards Christians and Jews. Permalink 7:21 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Those railing abt temp ban are silent abt dhimmification & extermination by Sunnis Salafis in Near & Middle-East.https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/825721153142521858   Permalink 7:18 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@GreenRupertRead St Thomas Aquinas – ‘It is better that a blind horse is slow’. #PrecautionaryPrinciple pic.twitter.com/0K1Wz882VE Permalink 6:54 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Back to New York after ~4 weeks weightlifting hiatus, to let the body heal from injuries. What will happen to the maximum press/deadlift? Permalink 4:38 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Proper legal mechanism is to de-label Salafism as religion, treat it like a political party (say Nazis) then ban!https://medium.com/@nntaleb/we-dont-know-what-we-are-talking-about-when-we-talk-about-religion-3e65e6a3c44e#.8olh056n6   Permalink 12:43 AM – 29 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Bingo! It is fallacious to treat Salafis as religion or race, but as a violent viciously intolerant political party.https://twitter.com/kringelikrok/status/825600544559362048   Permalink 11:25 PM – 28 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Just as “political science” doesn’t have any science, “think tanks” are for people who don’t and can’t think. Permalink 3:21 PM – 28 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Salafism is CRIMINAL @singhponline @Medium Permalink 2:13 PM – 28 Jan 2017

@nntaleb A potent border test for Salafis: crack a joke and check their sense of humor. Salafis & literalists can’t get humor.https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/825430237643149315   Permalink 1:05 PM – 28 Jan 2017

@nntaleb We should ban indiv. Salafascists from entering U.S., not countries, not Yemenis & Shiite Iranians. (Popper-Godel)https://medium.com/incerto/the-most-intolerant-wins-the-dictatorship-of-the-small-minority-3f1f83ce4e15#.moo05xksc   Permalink 11:47 AM – 28 Jan 2017

@nntaleb No-nonsense Book on Fat Tails with @DrCirillo, looking increasingly like Dynamic Hedging in style. pic.twitter.com/SZFzKNiP8C Permalink 11:13 AM – 28 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Probability du Jour: Why correlation always finite and bounded in (-1, 1), when covariances are undefined. (final) pic.twitter.com/fgj3itJzEB Permalink 11:16 PM – 27 Jan 2017

@nntaleb While Trump’s”enemies take him literally not seriously & friends seriously not literally”, the wise looks at his acts & acts only. No words. Permalink 6:40 AM – 27 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Actually title is “Extreme Events and How to Live with Them” Permalink 6:26 AM – 27 Jan 2017

@nntaleb They aren’t aware that I will lecture on something related to the Ancient Mediterranean without anyone noticing.https://twitter.com/DarwinLectures/status/824985891840151552   Permalink 6:24 AM – 27 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Pedagogical slides explaining Fat Tails for my talk in Cambridge questa sera: Why under fat tails single events>sum pic.twitter.com/oXNzOUp9m6 Permalink 3:05 AM – 27 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Cambridge pic.twitter.com/UasiBmiIlK Permalink 11:26 PM – 26 Jan 2017

@nntaleb From discussion w/ @DrCirillo abt the mystery of why correlation exists but not covariance for very Fat Tailed dist pic.twitter.com/rz6cp0UDUc Permalink 10:45 PM – 26 Jan 2017

@nntaleb The problem with demonizing people instead of criticizing them is that truth eventually comes out in full force & the devil becomes a saint.https://twitter.com/daniellmcadams/status/824769366046732288   Permalink 10:24 PM – 26 Jan 2017

@nntaleb Bravo! There has never been a crowd that creates as much harm thinking they are doing good as pple in US State Dept.https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/824655496854564864   Permalink 9:05 AM – 26 Jan 2017

@nntaleb You cannot do statistics without logic. Otherwise you become a data fraud, or, worse, an economist.https://twitter.com/DrCirillo/status/824328271814868992   Permalink 3:07 AM – 26 Jan 2017

The Syrian War Condensed: A more Rigorous Way to Look at the Conflict | Medium

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Full article: The Syrian War Condensed: A more Rigorous Way to Look at the Conflict

Note 1. Assad father’s operatives blew up my house in Amioun when my grandfather, then MP, voted for Bashir. In Skin in the Game I discuss this as “acting against one’s interest” (the opposite of conflict of interest). So as a scientist and a humanist, I have been setting my grudge aside in considering the far, far, far, greater cancer of Salafism or Islamofascism.

IYI, Minority Rule, Tawk, Lindy Effect, 21, Academia, Dumb Enemies, Salafism | Facebook

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[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.

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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

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Found the picture of my 21y old self that I mentioned in the commencement address. 8/28/16

https://medium.com/…/commencement-address-american-universi…

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Academia is (nearly) zero-sum: every position, honor, promotion, rank, and reward is taken from someone else.

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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Evolution of the idea. 8/25/16
We Don’t Know What We Are Talking About When We talk about Religion
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 Anger is privilege for the strong, duty for the righteous, and self-harm for the weak. 8/23/16

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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.

***
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

 

Saudi Barbaria, Sunstein, B Quant Seminar, Erdogan, Salafism, FiveThirtyEight, Pareto 80/20 | Twitter

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Papers/articles by NNT  linked to in this tweet batch.
Where You Cannot Generalize from Knowledge of Parts (continuation of the Minority Rule)Stochastic Tail Exponent For Asymmetric Power Laws (pdf)
MATHEMATICAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE PREC PPLE (pdf)
PRE-ASYMPTOTIC BEHAVIOR AND FAT TAILEDNESS (pdf)

@nntaleb .@Nvania You are welcome to go follow and lecture someone else. There are a lot of journos on twitter. Permalink 3:27 PM – 11 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Coordinator for the defamation of Seralini, Henry I Miller,in charge of smearing me.4 articles. F**you money workshttps://twitter.com/madgeaustralia/status/774889523603845120   Permalink 2:42 PM – 11 Sep 2016

@nntaleb The right way to look at probability: how many 70 yo people w/heat strokes in % in East Coast today?https://twitter.com/pauld1981/status/775080526528978945   Permalink 2:19 PM – 11 Sep 2016

@nntaleb 2/ The other piece of evidence is that the bodyguards who caught Hillary Monsanto-AlSaud did not deadlift, or if they did, < 180 combined. Permalink 2:17 PM – 11 Sep 2016

@nntaleb The 3-5 daily prayers are Semitic: Judaism, Islam & early Christianity. Sa7ar both Hebrew 7 Arabic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_prayer   @vyoman @trscbrs Permalink 2:10 PM – 11 Sep 2016

@nntaleb This additional “nonhealth event” for Hillary Monsanto-Malmaison makes the probability that “nothing is wrong” less than 1/10,000. Finito. Permalink 2:06 PM – 11 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Thank you, Saudi Barbaria.https://twitter.com/HaraldDoornbos/status/774876068306092032   Permalink 3:27 AM – 11 Sep 2016

@nntaleb “Empirical” analyses = naive interpolation, Pinker-style, exactly what is not empirical.https://twitter.com/DrCirillo/status/774912361954209793   Permalink 3:24 AM – 11 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Just published “Where You Cannot Generalize from Knowledge of Parts (continuation of the Minority Rule)”https://medium.com/@nntaleb/where-you-cannot-generalize-from-knowledge-of-parts-continuation-to-the-minority-rule-ce96ca3c5739#.x8w2t93wk   Permalink 2:52 AM – 11 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Cialdini put me off w “scientific” abt psychology results to dress up #marketing. Psych not solid. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1603.07532.pdf   @ScottAdamsSays Permalink 1:45 AM – 11 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Lebanon: Discrimination against veils (later denied which in Lebanese means “confirmed”).pic.twitter.com/b8rLtTYvio Permalink 1:33 AM – 11 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Serendipitous Theology du Jour: the Zoroastrians had 101 names for Ahura Mazda, the Arabs 99 names of God. Similar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101_Names_of_God   Permalink 3:48 PM – 10 Sep 2016

@nntaleb We have to do something about Saudi Barbaria.https://twitter.com/hkx07/status/774735492415823872   Permalink 3:26 PM – 10 Sep 2016

@zerohedge The War Economy: CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Warns About Job Loss If US Stops Arming Saudi Arabiahttp://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-09/war-economy-cnns-wolf-blitzer-warns-about-job-loss-if-us-stops-arming-saudi-arabia   Permalink 5:01 PM – 9 Sep 2016

@leenur @nntaleb come to visit #Kazan. Our Islam allows churches next to mosques.pic.twitter.com/op7jXwIaB1 Permalink 1:27 PM – 9 Sep 2016

@nntaleb This article explains AntiFragility & problem of Syria http://www.michigansthumb.com/news/article/Defeating-terrorism-through-design-Think-souks-9211921.php   @gjbejjani @EHSANI22 Permalink 6:22 AM – 9 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Twitter, Did the agreement to streamline Russian visas for US citizens get stalled? Permalink 5:38 AM – 9 Sep 2016

@nntaleb On my way to Leiden (via Leb) to present 3 papers on tails at @DrCirillo ‘s conference on extremes. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1609.02369.pdf   Permalink 6:58 PM – 8 Sep 2016

@nntaleb IYI (Intellectual Yet Idiots) treat rest of population as idiots needing their supervision, upset when revealed as idiots! @swensn @PTetlock Permalink 10:31 AM – 7 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Levantine du jour: duplication, marriage, husb JawZe (from Aramaic) not Zawje (Arabic) from ‘Gawz =nut, duplication.pic.twitter.com/35ATW63srg Permalink 6:38 AM – 7 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Easy to understand the Putin-Erdogan connection when one is 1) Orthodox, 2) have Ottoman citizens ancestors (incl grandparents) for 439 y. Permalink 5:53 PM – 6 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Up until around Lepanto the Ottoman Empire was a weak continuation of the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire. Agree?https://twitter.com/peterfrankopan/status/773290424765124609   Permalink 5:25 PM – 6 Sep 2016

@nntaleb You ned to realize that municipal decentralization is compatible with centralized military: Switzerland, USA,Roman/Ottoman Empires@EHSANI22 Permalink 3:42 PM – 6 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Should I follow instructions (oranges) or treat it as some legal disclaimer?pic.twitter.com/b67jVvig6Y Permalink 1:59 PM – 6 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Thanks, made the statement more precise: Infinity Shminfinity @canpeyanpic.twitter.com/Fl5Hgf5Hty Permalink 11:17 AM – 6 Sep 2016

@nntaleb While I gladly take corrections on dentistry by dentists, out of disrespect, I pay no attention to psychologists. Kapish? @MurphPsych Permalink 11:05 AM – 6 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Sunstein is a BS vendor & psychologists too cluless to tell. Sadder fact to tell Tetlock to lay low on twitter. @Pseudoplotinus @PTetlock Permalink 10:20 AM – 6 Sep 2016

@nntaleb My 2 talks. One more technical, one more central for life: (debunking idiots like Sunstein) https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50282823/BloombergQuantSeminar1.pdf   https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50282823/BloombergQuantSeminar2.pdf   Permalink 8:12 AM – 6 Sep 2016

@nntaleb “Reductionist” often used by people (IYI) incapable by separating the necessary from the reduced. @SimaDiab @EHSANI22 Permalink 6:43 AM – 6 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Practicing Calabrez for 23 years.pic.twitter.com/W0spH32Wst Permalink 6:33 AM – 6 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Syria’s old problem has been Baathist centralization (#Antifragile). Simple re-municipalization removes the pressure. @SimaDiab @EHSANI22 Permalink 5:30 AM – 6 Sep 2016

@nntaleb My first talk today at the B Quant Seminar: “There is no such thing as infinity in the Real World”. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50282823/BloombergQuantSeminar1.pdf   Permalink 4:36 AM – 6 Sep 2016

@nntaleb The presidential debate will be …. interestinghttps://twitter.com/spectreforever/status/772963084906270720   Permalink 7:12 PM – 5 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Erdogan has the dream of every boss: loved by a majority, feared by the unanimity. Permalink 10:20 AM – 5 Sep 2016

@nntaleb What strikes me abt academics is that they keep comparing themselves to others. https://www.facebook.com/nntaleb/posts/10154116285273375  pic.twitter.com/zj45h9FJ95 Permalink 6:45 AM – 5 Sep 2016

@nntaleb The reality is that, while “analysts” & tawkingheads are barking, Erdogan is extremely popular in Turkey. So far.https://twitter.com/thevocaleurope/status/771632208171798529   Permalink 11:40 AM – 4 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Quants are invited to my Tuesday talk “Mathematical Foundations of Precaution”, BBG, with reception (wine). https://go.bloomberg.com/promo/invite/bloomberg-quant-seminar-series/   Permalink 10:42 AM – 4 Sep 2016

@nntaleb I am not writing Italian, but 1920s Kalabrez (Galabrez), a language some people call Calabrese, & Cavour assumed was Arabic. @jacopogio Permalink 11:47 AM – 3 Sep 2016

@nntaleb 2) and we can observe the volatility much more than the underlying. @rroyji @FiveThirtyEight Permalink 11:32 AM – 3 Sep 2016

@nntaleb For an option volatility often matters much, much more than underlying. @rroyji @FiveThirtyEight Permalink 11:26 AM – 3 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Posted paper on SSRN http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2834165   Permalink 11:17 AM – 3 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Simply an option has “time value” function of vol. For a binary, TV pushes it away from 1 or 0, closer to .5 Kapish?https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/771372006914846720   Permalink 11:00 AM – 3 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Who are you trying to fool? Saudi Barbaria recently beheaded a Shiite cleric. @luhidan7777 @Leb12er Permalink 7:05 AM – 3 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Western Govs realize A) Salafis are bad & B)Saudi Barbaria is Salafi; but these idiots proved unable to connect A&B.https://twitter.com/Defenestrator13/status/772065953311883264   Permalink 6:43 AM – 3 Sep 2016

@nntaleb This is Goooooooold. The prayer in Mecca to eradicate Shiites, Christians, and Jews. Who is Saudi Barbaria fooling?https://twitter.com/Leb12er/status/771916411388235776   Permalink 6:20 AM – 3 Sep 2016

@nntaleb There was never many Christians in “Middle East”, almost only in Near-East (Eastern Med) and Northern Mesopotamia.https://twitter.com/mMeyer62/status/772058063733792768   Permalink 6:16 AM – 3 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Talmud Bavli in… Arabic 20- volume translation.pic.twitter.com/Rgsu7h1MjE Permalink 5:01 AM – 3 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Damascenes (and other Urban Syrians) look Greek.https://twitter.com/RanaHarbi/status/767459238914453505   Permalink 2:08 PM – 2 Sep 2016

@nntaleb The odometer was broken, so he refrained from riding his bicycle. His cycling didn’t count towards his “goal”. “Modernized” systems metrify. Permalink 4:45 AM – 2 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Actually, just realized, *pirated* version in Italian! Permalink 4:41 AM – 2 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Minority Rule in Italiano I più intolleranti vincono sempre: la dittatura della minoranzahttps://it.insider.pro/opinion/2016-08-29/the_most_intolerant_wins-_the_dictatorship_of_the_small_minority_part_i_9154/   Permalink 4:40 AM – 2 Sep 2016

@nntaleb The ratio male/female hurricanes is monstrously random, Maestro Marco, @MAvellaneda55pic.twitter.com/SSviVczJO3 Permalink 6:32 PM – 1 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Mediocristan, sub-Mediocristan because bounded. @nalinmoniz @FiveThirtyEight Permalink 6:23 PM – 1 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Maestro Marco @MAvellaneda55 This is BS, Pinker Style,(i.e. BS a la @sapinker). Affaire close.pic.twitter.com/HGi99138pk Permalink 6:15 PM – 1 Sep 2016

@MaxAbrahms Al Qaeda Is Gaining Strength in Syria http://sports.yahoo.com/news/al-qaeda-gaining-strength-syria-213320031.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw   I’ve predicted this outcome from Day 1 because a semblance of moderation pays. Permalink 5:06 PM – 1 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Point is “how common is it to have both?” in % of 2nd condition not just if possible.https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/771426553725087748   Permalink 12:21 PM – 1 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Medical Quandaries: Can one have both low resting heart beat & hypertension low RHB & CVD? low RHB & insulin resist L RHB & metabolic s? Permalink 12:16 PM – 1 Sep 2016

@nntaleb How to price an election [DRAFT]; why @FiveThirtyEight should engage in some other business than prediction.pic.twitter.com/QfHYqE0DR5 Permalink 8:39 AM – 1 Sep 2016

@nntaleb Whaaaaaaat? Donald Trump went to Mexico?https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/771146302134423552   Permalink 5:44 PM – 31 Aug 2016

@GhassanDahhan Sometimes I miss the good old days when neo-conservative think tanks were called ‘neo-conservative think tanks’ instead of ‘non-partisan’. Permalink 12:52 PM – 31 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Our GMO discussion is here (updated) http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/PrecautionaryPrinciple.html   Permalink 6:04 AM – 31 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Llewelyn, @Charles_Lister is a fraud. @llewelyn_morgan Permalink 5:49 AM – 31 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Went from: IYIs (Intellectuals Yet Idiots) support GMOs to Those who support GMOs are IYIs. Why? IYIs can’t tell scientism from science. Permalink 5:47 AM – 31 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Christians in Syria. Those Shillary wants to ethnically cleanse for the benefit of Saudi Barbaria.https://twitter.com/LinaArabii/status/770270385254363138   Permalink 4:41 AM – 31 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Lindy effecthttps://twitter.com/peterfrankopan/status/770920349944938496   Permalink 4:37 AM – 31 Aug 2016

@nntaleb 6:30 but never before.pic.twitter.com/2evbvTGO5B Permalink 3:43 PM – 30 Aug 2016

@RonPaulInstitut The Real US Syria Scandal: Supporting Sectarian War http://bit.ly/2c9eLMO   Permalink 12:38 PM – 30 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Redoing: What fits best for an IYI? Permalink 12:40 PM – 30 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Worth learning Arabic just to read comment by Wahabis upset w/Putin’s conference promoting tolerant CentAsian/Ottoman Sunnism #مؤتمر_الشيشان Permalink 11:35 AM – 30 Aug 2016

@nntaleb What fits best for an IYI? Permalink 11:20 AM – 30 Aug 2016

@nntaleb The IYI (intellectual yet idiot) class are like English or psych majors arguing with speaker in advanced mathematics seminar. #Notevenwrong Permalink 7:08 AM – 30 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Bingo! @han0z @zerohedge Here is the derivation:pic.twitter.com/MQ9KH0tZLM Permalink 6:15 AM – 30 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Just published thanks to comments by Maestro @MAvellaneda55 “Stochastic Tail Exponent For Asymmetric Power Laws”https://www.academia.edu/28120847/Stochastic_Tail_Exponent_For_Asymmetric_Power_Laws?s=t   Permalink 5:56 AM – 30 Aug 2016

@nntaleb ANNONCE: Je cherche a publier mon article sur la dictature des minorités en France. Merci d’avance.https://medium.com/@nntaled/the-most-intolerant-wins-the-dictatorship-of-the-small-minority-3f1f83ce4e15#.nppetsqzg   Permalink 3:31 AM – 30 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Half of America owns 1% of America’s wealth => Pareto 80/20 (same inequality Pareto found in land ownership in Italy late 19th C) @zerohedge Permalink 7:30 PM – 29 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Quiz du jour: What is the tail exponent of the distribution, assuming it is power law (it is)?https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/770418048738164736   Permalink 5:52 PM – 29 Aug 2016

@nntaleb If one 1) is a libertarian & 2) Believes SHillary is ill Then shouldn’t one voting for someone incapacitated?https://twitter.com/segal_scott/status/770413381350064128   Permalink 5:25 PM – 29 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Obvious thing: to remove Salafis from Sunnism & revert to 1950s tolerant Sunnism. With #مؤتمر_الشيشان that’s what Putin is doing! Brilliant! Permalink 5:16 PM – 29 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Working with @DrCirillo on stats of violence we discovered media reports to be unreliable& pple unaware of it.https://twitter.com/alitahmizian/status/770268937024135168   Permalink 3:16 PM – 29 Aug 2016

@nntaleb It is *precisely* because companies fit products to weirdest buyers that we have the rule. https://medium.com/@nntaled/the-most-intolerant-wins-the-dictatorship-of-the-small-minority-3f1f83ce4e15#.fzsnj85i4  https://twitter.com/grumpyinnovator/status/770329758429220864   Permalink 1:16 PM – 29 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Why you can never trust employees to make the ethical decisions.https://medium.com/@nntaled/how-to-legally-own-another-person-4145a1802bf6#.7ytrbrb2o   Permalink 8:19 AM – 29 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Is it me or … nobody is noticing that the movement for nonSalafi Sunnism #مؤتمر_الشيشان is happening in… Russia! @aboabid @trscbrs Permalink 6:35 AM – 29 Aug 2016

@nntaleb 5/ Further difference betw academia and real life: Others will envy you for your knowledge less than they would for your credentials. Permalink 6:32 AM – 29 Aug 2016

@nntaleb So if Ashaari is the “real” Sunni Islam, we go back to the Ottoman brand, much much more tolerant @aboabid @trscbrs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maturidi   Permalink 5:54 AM – 29 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Torn My focus shoud be for 2017 + Finishing Skin in the Game or + Deadlifting 440 lbs (slowed by 2 lifting injuries) Permalink 1:47 PM – 28 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Salafism Isn’t Really a Religion https://committingsociology.com/2016/08/28/salafism-isnt-really-a-religion/   via @CommittingSociology Permalink 12:37 PM – 28 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Bethlehem was in Judea the idea of linking Jesus to Nazareth (INRI on the cross) was to emphasize his non Judean side @MrNathanRollins Permalink 11:23 AM – 28 Aug 2016

@nntaleb 4/ Tweets triggered by draft of bio of math/trader Ed Thorp who said his most difficult job ever was head of math department at UC Irvine. Permalink 8:03 AM – 28 Aug 2016

@naval Politics, academia and social status are all zero-sum games. Positive-sum games create positive people.https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/769867793214865408   Permalink 7:32 AM – 28 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Eastern Med was part of Rome as world was Med/nonMed and separation Europe came later post Islamhttps://twitter.com/_crackerfactory/status/769898374464151552   Permalink 7:10 AM – 28 Aug 2016

@nntaleb I tend to block pple who fail to get “~” (approx) means “not always true” and corrupt the conversation on twitter.https://twitter.com/guinerez/status/769892028004130816   Permalink 7:00 AM – 28 Aug 2016

@nntaleb 3/ The probability of getting a “tenure track” position for a new PhD has been getting closer & closer to 0. Permalink 6:01 AM – 28 Aug 2016

@nntaleb 2/ You can tell people who come from countries w/rent seeking; they think that business is zero-sum: wealth is money taken from others. Permalink 5:23 AM – 28 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Academia is ~ zero-sum: every position/honor/promotion/rank/reward is taken from someone else. Business on the other hand creates business. Permalink 5:02 AM – 28 Aug 2016

@QuintusCurtius Clinton ally Saudi Arabia deports 27 Lebanese Christians just for owning books. Is western media reporting this? No https://twitter.com/Nour_Samaha/status/769474275367645185   Permalink 4:17 PM – 27 Aug 2016

@seanrateck1 @beachvetlbc @cecilbadlands @wizardQi @RyEichler @YouTube @NYDailyNewspic.twitter.com/WbEcrRcy9G Permalink 12:46 PM – 27 Aug 2016

@nntaleb Improved on my paper on power laws thanks to the great maestro @MAvellaneda55pic.twitter.com/GSOR3CpgUx Permalink 1:10 PM – 27 Aug 2016

@jelo1317 The #GMO debate. One student’s experience of pro-GMO #Propaganda @Cornell University http://www.thelibertybeacon.com/gmo-debate-one-students-experience-pro-gmo-propaganda-cornell-university/   @GMOWTFpic.twitter.com/yNHmZJON5L Permalink 12:51 PM – 23 Aug 2016