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Almost Every Time Nassim Taleb Told Someone to Fuck Off on the Twitter

Published 2018-02-27 by StartUp Daemon
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Maestro Nassim Taleb’s latest volume of the INCERTO “Skin in the Game” is released stateside today, so I compiled a list of almost every time the mellow fellow has told people to fuck off on the Twitter. Because it will make you laugh and buy a very useful and enlightening book.

1. The first dispensation, in chronological order, is directed at Matt MacInnis, founder of an SFO startup, who appears to be a big fan because he still thanks NNT after being told off. MacInnis asks whether NNT has ever had a nuanced opinion on something, which is an imbecilic question (or a cheeky troll) if you have understood anything from the INCERTO. Once a subject is “understood” all the relevant nuance is incorporated, by definition. The word “nuance” is commonly used by BS vendors to weaken or co-opt legitimate opponents or to sneak their Base rubbish into legitimate research. NNT has a zero-tolerance policy for spineless compromise because compromise is a surrender to BS vendors. Hence, Minority Rule.

2. Next, someone appears to be trolling NNT regarding a translation of a proverb from Levantine/Syriac? by implying it’s just broken Arabic. NNT has been crusading (pun intended) against Arabism – the pseudoscientific myth that Levantine Semitic speakers are Arabs (they are genetically and culturally Meds, and their language is likely descended from Aramaic or another pre-Muslim Semitic language, not Arabic). The Maestro says he doesn’t speak Arabic and sends the impostor to pound sand in the Nejd.

3. In a related tweet, NNT explains that the Eastern Mediterranean was part of the Roman world and separation from Europe didn’t come until after Islam. The imbecilic response is that his is a very Western European view of history. NNT concurs and tells the respondent to fuck off. I shan’t explain this one because this missive is not intended for idiots.

4. After the spectacular failure of all pundits, pollsters and other scientistics and astrologers in Election 2016, Steve Hanke tweeted NNT’s earlier missive about how dangerous IYI’s are and how to spot them in the wild. Some idiot attempted to categorize Taleb as part of the same crowd, which is obviously wrong. We have clear evidence that NNT has got drunk with Russians, multiple times. The idiot (who probably hasn’t even read the missive) is told to fuck off.

5. During the 2016 campaign, NNT had been giving reasons and repeatedly suggesting that Trump had a good (political and probabilistic) chance of winning. Soon enough, the low-IQ hallucinated that his risk-based perspective on voting decisions and street-smarts approach to understanding Trump is support for the candidate. In a flash of imbecility, an individual asked why Taleb is “in the tank” for Trump. He was told to fuck off because that is an utterly baseless categorization. Since the correspondent also replied to the fuck-off, we can assume he got the promised instablock as well.

6. Speaking of hallucinations, you have no responsibility for the hallucinations of others. When NNT explains that US intervention in Syria has rekt the Christian communities there, some soyboy “worries” that such comments can be interpreted as anti-Muslim rather than antiterrorist, although there is no mention of Islam in the Maestro’s tweet. If you have been paying attention, you are aware that Taleb is does not accept invitations to surrender to Minority Rule. Instead, he doubles down with it in the opposite direction. You know how this interaction ends.

7. If NNT considers anyone more dangerous and unpalatable than jihadis, it is his arch-enemy Monsanto (very educational thread). He explains that Monsanto hired an army of bots to silence online critics and sent 1,500 letters to NYU to have Taleb fired. He told them to fuck off.

8. The jihadis resurface in the next tweetstorm, where NNT explains that they are far more dangerous than the Alt-Right in the US, yet protected by the media. Someone attempts to attack him by inferring that he is making predictions (NNT consistently derides attempts at predicting the future). This shows the person hasn’t gone beyond the surface of the INCERTO. The decision-making mechanisms NNT’s ouvre sets up are about understanding optionality and risk expressed as possible outcomes (cost/benefit), not about prediction. NNT’s original point is based on this method. Even if worst possible outcomes are considered, jihadis in charge is MUCH worse than Alt-Right in charge; jihadis on the rise is MUCH worse than Alt-Right on the rise etc. The mentally challenged individual is advised to fuck off because his level of imbecility is clearly unacceptable.

9. NNT tweeted an interview in which he dragged through the dirt charlatan Ken Rogoff and other econophasters after the 2008 financial crisis. Taleb owns the room and the attention of the other participants with his big gestures and high energy. Yet, someone on Twitter says that NNT looks crazy and, worse, suggests that he should agree more with his opponents. This is not just bad advice but goes against everything NNT has shown himself to stand for. Fuck off.

10. However, the fuck-off award special contributions to imbecility probably goes to Dan Ehrlich, who manages not to get at least three central points of the INCERTO at the same time and then hallucinates that NNT is a Trump supporter as a bonus. The conversation begins with NNT noting that, although it is stacked with members of the superrich class, Trump’s cabinet at least have real-world skills instead of useless academic credentials. Dan picks on “Fooled by Randomness” to start a personal attack, stating that NNT’s past statements were chancy rather than attributable to skill. When exposed for not understanding the book, he shifts to claiming that his original comment was a critique of NNT’s assessment of Trump’s cabinet. Poor Dan doesn’t get that “Fooled by Randomness” never says all success is due to luck, doesn’t get that skin in the game (real-world success) is a signal for some competence and doesn’t get that NNT uses every tweet he can to assault the Ivory Tower and is immune to personal attacks. Dan finally adds the familiar “Trump supporter” hallucination by suggesting NNT should write a “Fooled by Trump” sequel to the original book. Danny boy is sent off to read other authors who will confirm his political agenda.

11. One of NNT’s pet topics is the incidence of war and the misunderstanding that rarer wars equal an overall decrease of (the probability of) war-related violence and death. The scaling up of the state and weapons systems imply that while wars may become rarer (smaller frequency), a large-scale war with tens of millions of deaths or even a terminal war is actually more likely than before (more likely to have a higher level of casualties/damage per event). NNT picks on former Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt’s ignorance of this fact and general lack of understanding of the balance of power in Europe. Someone attacks him for being impolite. To “assist” that point, the Maestro tells him to fuck off.

12. The latest winner of the accolade is Barry Rithholtz, who invited NNT for an interview as “Skin in the Game” is being released on the American market. Just before the invitation, Rithholtz also retweeted a parodic “SITG” review in the Guardian. The Maestro told him to fuck off without much in the way of overture. Another NNT comment on the thread suggests that bad blood goes further back: “Never ever bite the hand that fed you. Gabish?” Minority Rule and SITG in a neat little package, which drew cheers from most commenters on the thread, who slammed Rithholtz for being a vacuous blowhard. Once again NNT practices what he preaches: ZERO tolerance for BS.

Follow me on Twitter @startupdaemon because that’s where it’s happening.

StartUp Daemon

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