Top 5 examples of why Taleb is nuts

Well maybe calling Taleb nuts is a strong word. Perhaps eccentric is better as “nuts” may not be politically correct. But since Taleb is not politically correct at times, then let’s stick with nuts.

Here are some quotes from Nassim Nicholas Taleb that proove my point, most of which can be found in this article called Nassim Nicholas Taleb: the prophet of boom and doom from 2008 in the Sunday Times.

#5 “Why do I go to church? …I love the smell of candles.”

#4 “Go to parties. You can’t even start to know what you may find on the envelope of serendipity. If you suffer from agoraphobia, send colleagues.”

(I have no clue what this means either.)

#3 “It’s not a good idea to take a forecast from someone wearing a tie. If possible, tease people who take themselves and their knowledge too seriously.”

(I believe this is what I am doing right now.)

#2 Earlier this month in a Bloomberg interview, Taleb suggested people should sue the Nobel prize folks. He said: “If no one else sues them, I will.”

He suggests we sue the Swedish Central Bank – the organization who awarded the Nobel prize in Economics to guys like Harry Markowitz, Merton Miller and William Sharpe. According him, by awarding them the Nobel Prize, this legitimized their financial models which are to blame for the financial crisis.

Maybe we should sue the dead parents of the guys who wrote the models who won the Nobel Prize…

(Riskczar thinks Taleb is jealous that his manifesto didn’t earn him a Nobel Prize yet. He said once: “Hard work will get you a professorship or a BMW. You need both work and luck for a Booker, a Nobel or a private jet.”)

…and finally the #1 reason Taleb is nuts…

#1 He wrote a 480 page book called the Black Swan (8.6 x 4.5 x 1 inches) describing a topic which can be explained in 30 seconds and which should have been written as an 88-page Frank Miller comic book instead.