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    • ABOUT TALEBIBLIA

    Talebiblia is a fan site devoted to Nassim Nicholas Taleb, created by Smiljana Skiba. It features a compilation of Taleb's most intriguing social media screenshots and interviews for readers to enjoy and explore. The website provides a resource for anyone looking to gain insights into Taleb's works, whether they are a dedicated reader or a curious newcomer.

    Please note that Talebiblia is an independent website and is not affiliated with Nassim Nicholas Taleb in any manner.

    Many thanks to Lucia Simeoni and Ashok Atluri for their invaluable assistance in creating and maintaining this website.

    To stay up to date with Talebiblia's latest developments, follow Smiljana on Twitter @MasaSkiba

    Asides

    GREED-PROOF NOT GREED-FREE: Two millennia ago, Sallust wrote the following: “When I was a callow young man, I plunged enthusiastically into public life. Instead of modesty, brazenness flourished; instead of self-restraint, bribery; instead of merit, avarice (…)my youthful weakness was corrupted and gripped by ambition. Although I refrained from the wicked ways of the rest, still the same craving for advancement that plagued them with ill-repute and jealousy plagued me too.”(Bell. Cat., III.3) — 22 centuries from now (if we make it), someone will be writing the same. Yet we hear utopianizing idiots (such as the maker of the movie “Inside Jobs”) bemoaning the “greed” of bankers, the bureaucratizing minds of bureaucrats, not realizing that these are embedded in human nature. Anyone who think we can correct humans is similar to those who think that they will get it right “the next time”… ANTIFRAGILE-The only strategy for us is to build a greed-resistant system… or go further benefit from the greed of humans. And build systems in which politicians are harmless. http://uq.edu.au/hprcflex/lt2310/sallust1.htm

    LARGE CITIES The adage “magna civitas magna solitudo” (big city, big solitude) started in Arcadia, referring to a “large” city that would be smaller than today’s small towns. Not Sao Paulo. — I grew up in Beirut and lived in big cities. Always depressed me to realize I was a number. For >20 years I have been living in a suburban village in the US and in a village in Lebanon. Haven’t slept in Beirut in 6 years. Nothing better than take a walk in the evening and running into faces you know every day. All my writings have been done in villages.

    People are natural skeptics, but speak in shortcuts that seem categorical but are not; when they say “bureaucrats don’t have courage” they mean “a high percentage of bureaucrats don’t have courage”, which is why proverbs and aphorisms are heuristic and economical, held to be imperfect approximations. On the other hand, when an academic writes the overly hedged statement “it appears that under some conditions, there have been historically a high percentage of bureaucrats who did not prove have courage”, he generally truly believes that “all bureaucrats don’t have courage”. —- I am writing this because Aaron Haspel and I noticed that when I write the aphorism “most bureaucrats don’t have courage” it is transmitted and repreated in its shorter version: “bureaucrats don’t have courage”. Many of the nitpickers on the web are after the straw man of “generalization” when a heuristic is not categorical.

    The Four Bs: Brain, Balls, Brawn, and Business Sense. — You can have 4 out of 4 (Thales), 3 out of 4 (Plato, who had poor practical sense), 2 out of 4 (most great scientists and great businesspersons), 1 out of 4 (the typical “incremental” modern academics, or people you tend to find in jail), or 0 out of 4 (journalists). (Exception for journalists who take personal risks, of course. Also the “balls” tends to be present in women at least as often as in men)

    Real life (vita beata) is when your choices correspond to your duties and vice versa. — Question: Mr. Taleb, while you advocate “Less is More “, you also suggest”insert redundancies (excessive inventory, extra time) into one’s life”. How could the idea not contradict each other? Answer: Excellent question. We need to simplify the model (or theories/heuristics) and have more redundancies, rather than complicate the model (or theories/heuristics) and have more so-called “efficiencies”. Clear? #Facebook

    Do not socialize with people much richer than you; but if you do, do it in your own territory (restaurants you can afford, wine, etc.) Nassim Nicholas Taleb The reason I am saying that is because I know of a few ultrarich people and avoid them. ALL of them lack the common sense to avoid discussing their private plane with me. — (Corollary) If you socialize with someone with a smaller bank account than yours, you are obligated to converse exactly as if you had the same means, eat in the places where he normally eats, at no point in time show the pictures of your vacation in Provence or anything that hints at the differential in means. #Facebook

    OPEN YOUR OWN STORE When (…) Lebanese entrepreneur Alex Massad— described by Fortune as one of America’s toughest businessmen— first accepted a position with Mobil Oil, Massad’s mother lamented, “[ W] hy don’t you go into business for yourself? Why don’t you open a store?” But Massad stayed on, rising quickly to become one of Mobil’s top executives. Finally, on one visit home, Alex . . . announced triumphantly, “Mama, I have bought a store.” Her elderly face brightened at the news. At last! Alex had taken her advice; her son would finally be judged a success in her community. . . . “I bought Montgomery Ward!” Her smile changed to a disappointed frown. She was unimpressed and said, with despair, “It’s not the same thing. I meant your own store!” In Chua, Amy & Rubenfeld, Jed, 2014 . The Triple Package: How Three Unlikely Traits Explain the Rise and Fall of Cultural Groups in America.