The Times interviews Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of the wonderful book The Black Swan.
The interview contains investment theory, philosophy, futurism and, uh . . . diet and exercise tips:
But the biggest rule of all is his eccentric and punishing diet and exercise programme. He’s been on it for three months and he’s lost 20lb. He’s following the thinking of Arthur De Vany, an economist – of the acceptable type – turned fitness guru. The theory is that we eat and exercise according to our evolved natures. Early man did not eat carbs, so they’re out. He did not exercise regularly and he did not suffer long-term stress by having an annoying boss. Exercise must be irregular and ferocious – Taleb often does four hours in the gym or 360 press-ups and then nothing for 10 days. Jogging is useless; sprinting is good. He likes to knacker himself completely before a long flight. Stress should also be irregular and ferocious – early men did not have bad bosses, but they did occasionally run into lions.
How your life could be ruined by Taleb’s top life tips
1 Skepticism is effortful and costly. It is better to be skeptical about matters of large consequences, and be imperfect, foolish and human in the small and the aesthetic.
Damn right. Some corporations pays US$60,000 to hear this stuff about skepticism. If I were a CEO I would think: “One way we can save money is by not hiring speakers at $60,000 a pop to tell us – ‘you deal with it’.”
2 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 don’t have colleagues. Does he mean friends? I wonder if Buddha went to parties? Maybe Buddha was a loser.
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.
Right on! Get stuck into those losers who wear an accepted dress practice in Western business. I’d hate to think he was judging by appearances.
4 Wear your best for your execution and stand dignified. Your last recourse against randomness is how you act — if you can’t control outcomes, you can control the elegance of your behavior. You will always have the last word.
I’m going to get executed and he’s telling me to shave! F**k that. Anyway, who is exactly going to execute these ivory tower intellectuals in the West?
5 Don’t disturb complicated systems that have been around for a very long time. We don’t understand their logic. Don’t pollute the planet. Leave it the way we found it, regardless of scientific ‘evidence’.
Don’t pollute the planet? Genius. Unfortunately about 200 years too late.
6 Learn to fail with pride — and do so fast and cleanly. Maximize trial and error — by mastering the error part.
I guess Hitler was some kind of genius then. He definitely mastered the error part.
7 Avoid losers. If you hear someone use the words ‘impossible’, ‘never’, ‘too difficult’ too often, drop him or her from your social network. Never take ‘no’ for an answer (conversely, take most ‘yeses’ as ‘most probably’).
Nice. He must be a real hit at parties, sorry, social network opportunities. Mind you, he probably thinks I’m a loser.
8 Don’t read newspapers for the news (just for the gossip and, of course, profiles of authors). The best filter to know if the news matters is if you hear it in cafes, restaurants… or (again) parties.
This is probably the dumbest advice on the top ten. I don’t know what cafes he goes to but usually I hear things “have you had your hair cut?” and “this soup is nice” when I dine out.
9 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.
These things are of course of equal value.
10 Answer e-mails from junior people before more senior ones. Junior people have further to go and tend to remember who slighted them.
I’m going to send an email to this guy and see if he replies. Seriously.
Comment by JY — June 10, 2008 @ 11:37 am
I wonder if Buddha went to parties?
He partied pretty hard before he hit the road. And historical records are sketchy but the Deer Park could have been one big keg night.
I suspect Taleb is a little bit like Warhol or Marshall McLuhan and just spouts gibberish to journalists to see whether or not they’ll print it.
Comment by danylmc — June 10, 2008 @ 11:44 am
He certainly doesn’t spout gibberish. His writings on probability and randomness are pretty good, and his theories have been validated yet again with the subprime collapse…
Comment by writeups — June 10, 2008 @ 6:44 pm
Oh yeah, that prediction wsa genius: lending money to people who can’t repay it will eventually bite you in the arse. Wow! I’d pay 60k to hear that.
Comment by JY — June 15, 2008 @ 8:17 am
Yeah, I liked The Black Swan but thought the “positive advice” in it was pretty lame, compared to all the rants about why everyone else is wrong. I guess that’s how you sell books and speaking engagements though… if your pitch was “I’m going to tell you why you shouldn’t take advice from anyone” you wouldn’t get many bookings.
Comment by gazzaj — June 16, 2008 @ 7:07 pm