As those who frequent these pages are no doubt aware, I’m a big fan of Nassim Taleb.
I still maintain that “Fooled By Randomness” and “The Black Swan” should be required reading for any freshman level prob and stats course and probably for 100 level philosophy courses as well.
That said, I’m not enamored with Taleb’s intellectual pretentiousness nor am I as convinced as he seems to be of his merit as a philosopher and political scientist (in fact, his political commentary amuses me considering his professed disdain for political science).
I also question whether bragging about having “f*ck you money” (which Taleb does in his books) is the type of thing befitting of a man who aspires to a kind of intellectual high ground that he seems to think the rest of us can’t possibly attain no matter how many times we read his work.
So in light of the above, I present the following with no further comment (for now).
The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/832581734369730564
Interesting how many people who aspire to a noble cause can’t seem to figure out the Orange/julius. Look at it from surly a bias from my perspective, this is not a decent human no matter how much you want him to be the catalyst for change. He and his loyalists don’t give a sh*t about most rational people’s idea of change but loves his. Nirvana for O/j is disruption, chaos and confusion viewed from his penthouse (throne) with a healthy dose of disdain. No matter what you think, “I AM BETTER THAN ALL OF YOU”.
If “playing the press like a violin” involves leaving reporters too stunned by this President’s lack of coherent responses, his lies, mis-directions, and “alternative facts” to mount an immediate counter-argument against the man who can sic the full power of the Federal government against them, then I guess Trump is the new maestro (move over Greenspan).