Press "Enter" to skip to content

Posts published by “StartUp Daemon”

How to Be a Superhuman

1

It’s been around 25 years since I started skipping food. Usually for days at a time. Recently, I went on an open-ended doxastic fast, which lasted over 18 days and turned out to be one of the most enjoyable things I’ve ever done (I tweeted about it over here). In this missive, I will share some of my experience fasting, but – as always – this is NOT advice.

I began my experiments with fasting when I was barely a teenager. Some of it was about building discipline and proofing myself with blood in the game, but I was primarily motivated by getting my physical fitness at a level where I could get girls. Then, as now, I experimented with a variety of diets and workouts. Some weeks I ate only after getting home from martial arts (just before midnight) and only pommes-frites with piles of cheese on top (roughly 1 kg of fried potatoes each dinner). Other times I would cut out fats completely and go all-vegetable. And so on. But let’s keep this strictly about not eating food and leave macronutrients and healthy eating for another time.

What Is Fasting?

To me, intermittent fasting isn’t fasting. Anything under 24 hours isn’t fasting. Intermittent fasting is just a fancy name for what a natural human diet ought to be like based on evolutionary principles. I would take that even further: no breakfast, no snacking or drink calories, and best just eating a big dinner before bedtime – at whatever time of day that would be. Extended periods of food restriction such as Orthodox lent and as found in yoga practice would probably qualify as well, but for this missive let’s just take fasting to mean ingesting no calories.

My Experience of Fasting

My typical fast lasts three days and I’ve never had a regular schedule of doing it. (Although I’m considering one as an experiment, right now I’m more interested in fasting as a doxastic practice.) I never even began to count them, but I may have done these 3-day fasts over a hundred times. The baseline is only to drink water midnight-to-midnight for three days. Sometimes I also take aspirin and creatin, but that is unrelated to the fast itself, and most of the time I’ve done it without anything but water. No appetite suppressants and typically no other supplements. I’d put my success rate (not quitting the fast before the 3-day period has ended) at about 90%.

The one critical ingredient of a successful – and healthful – fast is water. One of the first high-value discoveries I made because of fasting was about the tremendous importance of water for performance and wellbeing. Dehydration is a common cause of sleepiness and lack of energy. Getting those four liters of water every day (sometimes in the form of unsweetened tea) is essential, especially while fasting, when you lose food as a source of hydration (you get water from food both directly and as part of the metabolism). My guess is that people who experience weakness, dizziness or other adverse effects during an extended fast, typically do so because they get dehydrated. Or because they don’t have the right mental frame going into and during the fasting period.

The Fasting Frame: Getting to It

Most people are seriously daunted by the idea of not eating. I can’t possibly overstate how much of a successful and enjoyable fast – or a miserable failure of one – is about the idea, the psychology of it, than any other physiological process. Throughout life, especially in the developed world, people are bombarded with food options and a mythology that you need to eat at regular intervals. There is zero evidence in my experience that periodic meals, let alone snacking all the time, is necessary. If anything, my overall energy level, life satisfaction and performance improve significantly if I eat only once a day or not at all.

Surely, if you’ve never done it and you’re hooked on sugar and refined carbohydrates (RCs), you might experience discomfort and even early-onset withdrawal (pre-ketotic withdrawal usually doesn’t come until day 4-6 of getting off the RC addiction). Chronic diseases such as diabetes may also have an impact, as will your unique metabolism, so beginner beware. My take is that if you don’t do something extreme while fasting (a 10-day desert retreat) and trust your instincts, you’ll be just fine if you tried your own fasting regimen. My formula is simple: start small and trust your instincts.

If you have trouble committing even to not eating for 24 hours, you can use your gluttony to overcome your fear. Plan out a disgustingly lavish feast of whatever you desire for right after the fast and use that as an incentive to stop eating for a while. It is best to pick something rare, expensive or an infrequent indulgence of best results. Beginners, especially those who are overweight or have other diseases, should be extra careful not to overeat too much when they get off the fast – just until your metabolism gets used to the variance. And chew that bloody stake!

Some of you may want to try public commitments as a way to shame themselves into doing a fast. That’s never worked for me because I don’t care about approval. In the early days, fasting didn’t come that easy, but it wasn’t a matter of being hungry. I craved food as a comfort and an escape from being stressed and anxious. Those unhealthy drives fell away as I figured out what to do with myself and fasting itself was a big part of that journey. With practice, I simply came to want – even need – to fast. Nowadays, if I go a couple of weeks without fasting, I start feeling physically uncomfortable because I sense I’m below my top performance level (although I still feel great). Fasting is its own reward.

What Does Fasting Do?

In the early days of my life, before I started my fasting practice, I would get ill very frequently. I often got sick on purpose so I could skip school because it was mind-numbingly boring. I’d have colds and flu 7-8 times a year, plus the occasional midsummer pneumonia. Antibiotics were a staple in my diet. Even when I wasn’t sick, I’d sleep a lot and spend a lot of time in bed just because I didn’t want to get out of it. I was moody, had infrequent panic attacks and would get depressed for weeks on end. It’s hard to claim that fasting changed all that, but it doesn’t seem to have hurt because none of those pathologies are part of my life now and haven’t been for a very long time. I’m deeply engaged in life and haven’t had so much as a cold in at least a couple of years. I would say that the long-term effects of fasting surpass those of any other practice or lifestyle change one can make. And it saves you money!

I’m not making such claims on the basis of the budding medical literature about the benefits of fasting – as a cancer treatment, among other applications. My direct experience of the fast screams healthfulness in its own right. I will report here only the effects of my recent 18-day doxastic fast because they are the freshest and it’s the most “extreme” fast I’ve done to date. I must admit, even after so many years of practice, I was absolutely shocked by the experience. The only noticeable discomfort was the mild RC withdrawal as my metabolism switched onto ketosis around the fifth and sixth day. The following two weeks, I felt nothing short of SUPERHUMAN. When I decided to call it and eat some, I physically did not want to.

What is it like to be superhuman? High-energy as I am, I have never been so activated in my entire life. My brain was ON – and with a razor-sharp focus and deliberateness. While I typically sleep about five-six hours a day, I cut down to about four, often in the form of several short naps, simply because I couldn’t stand the idea of sleep. I was bursting with mental and physical energy and craved action and engagement and productivity. This was ketotic ecstasy. I even developed a habit of sleeping on the couch in my workspace because I felt borderline disgusted about lying in a bed. So much did I hunger - not for food, but to get to it and get things done. Physically, I felt better than ever and even went for a run one day, but refrained from further HIT exercise as a precaution to losing muscle tissue.

No nootropic I have tried has brought me even close to such a high of sustained hectic productivity and deliberate concentration for days and days and days. And I can’t wait to do it again, and for longer.

CANCEL ALL ORDERS !!! CANCEL ALL ORDERS !!! Your Crash Course on Credit-Driven Reversals

0

(This is not investment advice. It's only provided as a mental exposure to complexity in the financial markets.)

A lot of market participants have been obsessing over “unsual” volatility in the first quarter of 2018. Of course, volatility is the wrong metric to follow, especially after the ETN volapocalypse earlier this year. And no, there wasn’t any huge shift in market sentiment or political risk. All that is pure rationalization – and you should know better unless you are an entry-level Wall Street analyst who’s spent the last three nights in the office. There had been no macro-level surprises and, if you are about to mention Q1 earnings jitters, that’s probably not a sense of humor most would appreciate. What’s been going on then?

Well, it’s all quite embarrassingly straightforward.

But before we take off the wrapper, a quick inventory of the piñata of real market events that broke in 2018Q1:

  • LIBOR embarked on a steep and “puzzling” (not at all) climb.
  • The Fed continued on its preannounced and “pre-digested” (it wasn’t) path of rate hikes and balance-sheet contraction.
  • Retail shocked (not really) by withdrawing from equity ETFs.
  • Gold (mostly unsecured IOUs) finally broke out of its channel and made solid, if unimpressive, gains.
  • US Treasury auctions were underwhelming (unless you were paying attention) relative to recent experience of yields & oversubscription.
  • Hedge funds continued to get clobbered despite the “favorable” environment (OK, OK, this is not entirely news yet, but it will be).
  • The USD was beaten down and stayed there because tweets (actually, nothing to do with them).

Confusing? Not if you consider the possibility that all of these are in fact the same event. To make that notion manifest, all you need is a very basic understanding of global macro, monetary cycles and market structure.

Getting Real

Policymakers’ half-hearted narrative of Global Synchronized Growth was met with laughter from the galley. Because even central bankers didn’t believe themselves. Every market participant with a brain knew that “growth” (it was mostly inflation and fuzzy accounting) and asset prices were driven by:

  • Asset purchases & liquidity operations by central banks.
  • Fixed investment in China (and of Chinese corporates overseas).
  • Real-estate reflation in the US and other developed markets.
  • Subprime & consumer lending in the US.
  • Record borrowing by US corporates.
  • Momentum-driven leveraging of US financial assets.

Because these drivers were mutually reinforcing and induced second- and third-order credit expansion, debt acceleration (and, consequently, asset inflation) globally continued even after major central banks started reducing the growth rate of their balance sheets.

Turning of the Tide (Do NOT Attempt to Eat It!)

What did the same drivers of monetary expansion look like over the past couple of quarters?

  • Only PBoC, ECB, BoJ and SNB are still expanding their balance sheets, but the market operations of the first two are decelerating, while the BoJ is running out of things to buy and the SNB of leverage to buy with. The Fed is contracting its balance sheet (although the PPT stepped in to prop up asset prices in Q1) and raising interest rates. The BoE and RBA are out of the game, too, because of rising inflation.
  • Although no good data on Chinese fixed investment are available, after a decade of rampant overbuilding and overinvestment, it probably cannot continue to accelerate henceforth.
  • Real-estate prices have been decelerating markedly in many US markets.
  • The US consumer is tapped out and the savings rate has inched up for the first time in years, in part due to tightening lending conditions.
  • US corporates are levered up to the hilt and have been going off the buyback binge.
  • Momentum in market leaders such as large-cap equities and low-quality fixed income (Tesla paper, anyone?) is dead.

Consequences have consequences, just as they did during the debt acceleration period. That giant sucking sound you’re hearing is the (temporary) end of the global synchronized growth of money supply acceleration through credit creation. The money supply may still be growing, but it is the acceleration rate that matters. Asset prices get wobbly after money growth slows, they don’t wait for it to turn negative. Wobbliness begets wobbliness (acceleration events like the ETN blowups, margin contraction etc.), and so the MOMO train turns. It is THAT simple.

Will the Real Minsky Moment Please Stand Up?

So how does a potential Minsky moment make the first-quarter surprises unsurprising?

  • LIBOR I shan’t explain because it ought to be obvious by now. Just remember how insanely overleveraged European banks are.
  • The Fed has been in panic mode for about a year already, and the only reason they didn’t start tightening earlier was the change of the guard in the White House and the Eccles Building. Even if they are ignorant of real-world monetary economics, they know a recession is overdue and want to have an interest rate to cut when that happens. The jitters in the markets are only going to solidify this process, as you may have noticed from the last Fed meeting. The monetary deceleration is now causing Fed policy because reflexivity. The Fed will not (overtly) reverse course until a “policy mistake” is obvious. Literally look for that phrase in the Fake News Media before the Fed intervenes again.
  • Retail investors are not getting suckered into inflated assets as much as expected because they are tapped out on the credit front and spooked by rising volatility.
  • Paper gold is rising because of margin contraction.
  • The US Treasury is dumping record issuance on the markets in the first half of the year (a lot of it short-term, which adds to pressure on short-horizon rates) while the Fed is winding down assets. People were loath to hold the short end of the stick when everyone was assuming yields were to go up (they will come down again soon enough) and other financial assets are going bonkers. When financial conditions are tightening, especially during a reversal, cash is king.
  • So-called hedge funds are getting killed because most of them are just leveraged MOMO chasers and quants, who can’t handle tail events and market discontinuities. Volatility acceleration hits hardest at the tail end of both momentum and volatility exposures, which is where “hedge” funds had been parked – while margin interest was rising steeply. So they got clobbered like baby seals.
  • The USD beatdown is the most curious aspect of this Minsky moment and the only one that requires any degree of more sophisticated knowledge. The key to understanding it is across the Pacific. There were mumblings that the Chinese authorities intervened repeatedly with liquidity injections in both the banking and the shadow-banking sector (because deceleration exposes insolvency). Official Chinese government data and records of Belgian holdings of USTs suggest that in 2018Q1 the Chinese sold off significant amounts of USD-denominated bonds. The also clamped down hard on capital flight through bitcoin and other channels. It stands to reason that both of these costly measures were motivated by the need to neutralize domestic credit expansion in order to maintain the USDCNY peg amid rampant import-led inflation of consumer prices. Both of these measures would have put significant downward pressure on the dollar – one on the supply side, the other on the demand side.

Every market top that I know something about has taken place amid parallel acceleration, where equity volatility rises alongside momentum driven by small-cap stocks. This has been accompanied by a divergence in the credit markets, where yields subject to short-horizon bias (junk, overnight, credit-card, margin etc.) rise while long-horizon yields (UST30Y, JGB50Y etc.) fall or remain flat, leading to the moth-eaten inversion of the yield curve. Neither of these signals has yet been completed this market cycle. And they may never be, although my default scenario continues to be contrarian – that we will see new ATHs in US equities before this market cycle is completed.

This Time IS Different

History rhymes, but never repeats itself. Because this probably is the most epic thinning of the US equity market as far back as broad data are available. Daily volume has been dropping since QE started some decades ago, but it gets even better. Volume in drawdown periods has been falling as well.

Bank assets, leverage and every other horror metric imaginable around the world is at record levels. Central-bank interest rates are close to the zero bound and CBs are running out of assets to buy despite massive government borrowing. The global financial system is fragilized by orders of magnitude more than it was in 2008. This spells acceleration events may become the norm rather than the tail.

On that cheerful note, I shall leave you with a classic worth pondering.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c52R46E3vLk]

How to Manifest Authentic Gratitude

0

This exercise must show you the power of authentic praxis is and how difficult it is to translate it to another person through a semantic system (in this case, the English language).

If you do this right, you will be shocked that it took so many words to describe – no, to program you to do! – something very, very simple and very rewarding. (Don’t believe anything, but this is not Deepak Chopra BS, so drop the imbecilic comment you are making to yourself. Verify – repeatedly, and to your intuitive satisfaction.)

Visualize a person whom you are grateful to or for. One person. Begin with only one and do it right. To get the learning from this, not just the pleasant experience, it is important to pick someone to whom you can be very grateful without much effort. That way the authenticity of your gratitude is not a technical obstacle and does not interfere with the practice itself.

Write the selected person a note (the easiest medium to start). Use pen and paper to create it, even if you ultimately send by other means. In that note, do not “say thanks” or “express gratitude”. Instead, make gratitude become manifest.

Remember that you are the grateful one, so the gratitude is not what the other person is supposed to feel – it is you. No grammar error there. You are the gratitude. As you write, reach deeply into yourself and find the greatest sense of gratitude that you can feel for that person. Now put that into words. Do not forget that the gratitude is becoming manifest in you, not in the fucking words!

This sounds like nonsense, and there is a good reason for that: the dukkha/misfit between the semantic system and the action-decision, the “authenticity” of it. The more words you add, the more difficult it becomes to avoid increasing the dukkha. For example, there is a much greater semantic misfit between your gratitude and “expressing gratitude” because the gratitude is an authentic mind-state of yours (assuming you are not deluding yourself) and words (“expression”) do not have mind-states. You dilute if you “express” gratitude. The same applies to “giving thanks”. What is a “thank” and how do you give it to someone? But you know what gratitude is, don’t you?

Read the words you have written to make sure that they feel “right” to the gratitude that you are experiencing. Keep editing until you are intuitively satisfied with the result. Yes, that means you have to be grateful every time you edit until you get it right. Better yet, be grateful throughout until you are done. If your feeling of gratitude fluctuates, the practice will not work. Trust your instincts, not your analydiot “rationality” or superego appropriateness. Be appropriate only to your intuition and the actual gratitude you are feeling, nothing else. Leave all else aside and just experience it thoroughly. Send the note. See what happens.

If you do this as instructed, you will have taken authentic action. When the response comes (there will almost certainly be one), you will know experientially that you have committed an act of authenticity. You will know that instinctively more than “rationally”. Your thinking (which uses words and other “symbols” – another misfit word) will agree with your instincts, not the other way around. You will also notice that the person’s response has amplified/reinforced your gratitude or, if you were in a different mind-state at the moment of its arrival, invoked it again.

Remember: there is no formula other than the practice itself. Your gratitude must be authentic to you (“feel right” as you experience it) and the words must be authentic to the gratitude (“feel right” to that experience). That’s it! If you were paying attention so far (did you, or did you get distracted with your stupiphone again?), you will know that perhaps the only universal injunction is to use as few words as possible. Indeed, you can find ways to “send” gratitude that don’t use words at all.

Pourquoi je ne suis pas un végétarien (et vous pourriez considérer n’être pas un idiot aussi)

0

« Jouer sa peau est à propos de l’honneur, le courage et le sacrifice. S’on ne risque rien en ce qu’on fait, on n’est rien. » – Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Vous voudrez lire et relire chaque mot de cette missive parce que

L’ÉCHEC EST NOTRE SEULE CONNEXION À LA RÉALITÉ.

Et en abolissant l’échec, nous rendons notre monde de moins en moins authentique. Notre immortalité imminente complétera notre Truquage.

INCERTO au-dessus des cimes de la forêt

Bien que j'aie suivi ses missives et l'INCERTO, je ne vais pas lire le nouveau livre de Nassim Taleb « Jouer sa peau » avant d'avoir publié cet anti-révision. L'objectif principal de l'anti-révision est de mettre certaines des idées de haut niveau de « JSP » et l'INCERTO à travers un test empirique pour « connaissance authentique » (accessible principalement aux non-idiots), pour savoir si un esprit peut « saisir » un autre de plus en action et en décision et de moins à travers la brume des systèmes sémantiques. L'anti-révision s'appuyer sur les écrits, apparitions publiques et activités sur et hors de l’Internet de NNT dans la mésure où il a parlé à et a pratiqué JSP pendant de nombreuses années. J'ai seulement entrevu ce que certains ont dit sur Twitter à propos de « JSP » (pas de critiques de médias ou des choses de longue forme) et un survol des pages du contenu du livre. Vous verrez la méthode à cette folie pendant que vous lisez. Comme un praxis antisémantique, je publie l’anti-révision en français et en anglais, afin que les lecteurs bilingues puissent faire l’expérience de la Brue pour eux-mêmes.

Bien que je ne doutais pas que « JSP » soit remarquablement bon, je n'attendais pas à ce qu'il dépasse « Le hasard sauvage » comme travail le plus bouleversant de Maître Taleb. J'avais tort. TELLEMENT TORT.

Voici une poignée de sujets que JSP touche et transforme comme la baguette d’un grand maître sorcier:

  • Pourquoi vous décidez avant de décider
  • Ce que nous sommes et comment nous sommes arrivés à l’être
  • Pourquoi l’analyse est la paralysie et l’action est la libération
  • Pourquoi les grands médias sont une mauvaise source d’information
  • Pourquoi la science est devenue de plus en plus scientistique et charlatane à mesure qu’elle devient plus complexe et centralisée
  • Pourquoi soumettre votre vie et votre travail à un battement sauvage dans le forum public le rend plus robuste et plus crédible
  • Pourquoi les grands organisations et gouvernements sous-performent les plus petits
  • Pourquoi les formes de propriété « à responsabilité limitée » étouffent l’innovation et la prospérité
  • Pourquoi la sauvagerie est meilleure à tous égards que la « décence » forcée
  • Ce que « l’intelligence » et l’AI sont
  • Pourquoi voudriez-vous être Authentik (pouvez-vous?)

Ne croyez pas ce qui est dit ici. Ne même pas croyez rien. Il suffit de lire avec un esprit ouvert tout en portent de l’attention particulière. Tout deviendra manifeste dans votre esprit. Vous verrez l'INCERTO de Nassim Taleb avec une nouvelle clarté, instinctivement complète et cohérente avec votre expérience quotidienne. Et s'il vous plaît ne prenez pas de tout cela « sérieusement ». Libérez votre esprit et voyez où cela vous mène. Si cette missive échoue, laissez-la échouer pour mes délires et non pas les vôtres.

Comment j’ai échoué

Et j’ai connu l’échec tant de fois que je ne peux même pas commencer à les compter. J’ai échoué le plus misérablement lorsque mes actions étaient motivées par l’évitement de l’échec:

  • Je n’ai pas pris suffisamment de risques dans mes jeunes années par peur et stupidité.
  • Je n’ai pas réussi à perturber la relation autodestructrice de mes parents, même lorsque j’avais le pouvoir de le faire.
  • J’ai échoué comme trader sur les marchés financiers, gagnant et perdant beaucoup d’argent.
  • J’ai échoué à tester mes idées dans l’action, gaspillant des années de pensée improductive.
  • Je n’ai pas compris l’importance de manger sainement – et d’y investir d’argent – pendant de nombreuses années, même si j’ai commencé des expériences sur la nutrition à partir d'un âge précoce.
  • Je n’ai pas pu aller jusqu’au bout pour aider une amie violée à faire face à la paranoïa et la psychose, même si j’avais les compétences de sorcier pour y arriver.
  • Je n’ai pas quitté l’université dès que j’ai réalisé que ce n’était pas pour moi à cause du confort.

J’ai aussi échoué à comprendre Platon.

Platon l’idiot marmottant

Au lycée, j’ai pris la philosophie comme un choix facultatif juste parce que j’avais épuisé des choses utiles à prendre (géographie, mathématiques, histoire etc.). La plupart de ça n’était pas tout à fait ennuyeuse, mais je ne peux pas dire qu’elle a amélioré beaucoup ma façon de penser. Cependant, il y avait un auteur qui a fait une marque. C’était Platon.

Platon était devenu une obsession momentanée pour deux raisons. Il y avait quelque chose de transcendant dans son écriture et ses idées, bien que je les trouvais obtus, inaccessibles et culturellement étroites (cela était en grande partie en raison de la brume sémantique créée par les interprètes académiques, les enseignants et les traducteurs, mais la responsabilité de comprendre était finalement la mienne). Platon m’a fasciné et m’a frustré en même temps, et je ne savais pas pourquoi. Je l’ai attribué à mon obsession de l’histoire – un penseur obsolète qui n’avait piqué ma curiosité que pour son éloquence supposée et la distance du temps, mais sans beaucoup de pertinence pratique dans le présent. L’analydiot par excellence, je ne savais pas faire confiance à mes instincts plus qu’à la « pensée rationnelle ».

Le grand crochet pour ma fascination était le dérangement de la caverne de Platon. « L’allégorie de la caverne » intriguait et agaçait. Chaque interprétation de la grotte platonicienne que j’ai encore vue se résume à une parabole de cerveau-dans-une-cuve au sujet de l'illusoireté de ce que les sens livrent. Pourtant, l’appareil de Platon est détaillé et élaboré, on pourrait même dire vicieusement ludique. Pourquoi mettre un feu dans la caverne et faire en sorte que les gens se déplacent avec des figures derrière un mur au lieu de simplement utiliser la lumière du soleil et les ombres qu’elle projette? Et pourquoi enchaîner les prisonniers dans une grotte au lieu de simplement leur faire regarder les reflets aux eaux d’un lac? Si la « réalité » (le monde extérieur) est inaccessible, pourquoi spéculer sur l’un des prisonniers enchaînés aux murs de la grotte qui s’échappe et est aveuglé par le Soleil? Pourquoi parler de cette personne éclairée étant ostracisée et considérée comme un fou à son retour? Pourquoi utiliser une telle sottise pour illustrer la différence entre le monde que nous en vivons et le vrai « monde des idées » ? Rien de tout ça n’a du sens. Il ressemblait à la bave dérangée d’un philosophe inutile d’une imagination débraillée et trop de temps sur ses mains.

Je pensais que Platon était un universitaire hallucinant faussé dans son propre esprit. Je pensais qu’il était un idiot. Je vois maintenant que l’idiot c’était moi.

L’artifice de l’intelligence

Se voir comme un idiot est encourageant parce que l’intelligence est basée sur une forme d’idiotie (il y a donc de l’espoir!). Pour que cette idée se manifeste, considérez-vous en sortant le matin. Quand vous marchez à côté d’un arbre, votre cerveau change si l’arbre est dans votre champ de vision, même si vous êtes distrait regardant votre stupiphone et que l’arbre n’entre jamais dans votre « conscience ». Appelons la différence entre votre « état » cérébral avant et après (n’)observer (pas) l’arbre une représentation sensorielle. Il n’est pas déraisonnable que d’autres animaux cérébraux soient affectés de la même manière par leur environnement dans le présent. Basé sur l’observation, des nombreux animaux doivent également avoir de la « mémoire » – la capacité de stocker / rappeler des parties importantes des représentations sensorielles ou au moins les utiliser pour prendre des meilleures décisions (à savoir, éviter un trou d’eau où des prédateurs ont été repérés précédemment). Pour le non-idiot, il est évident que telles facultés auraient évolué par la survie. Parce que notre neurophysiologie a été façonnée de la manière la plus directe par la machinerie sauvage de la survie, il n’est pas non plus déraisonnable que ces représentations sensorielles soient aussi « authentiques » quant au monde extérieur que notre cognition puisse obtenir.

Mais les cerveaux humains peuvent faire beaucoup plus que de stocker de vagues représentations sensorielles. Dans le traitement natif de votre cerveau (ce n’est pas traitement, c’est mémoirement), il n’y avait pas de mots, juste des représentations d’objets. Par conséquent, le cerveau doit avoir été capable de créer des représentations artificielles de représentations – telles que des catégories (une forme d’analogie). L’arbre suivant que vous voyez dans votre promenade du matin est plus différent que similaire au premier, mais vous y pensez toujours et vous l’appelez un arbre. Dans le monde que nous percevons, il n’y a pas d’arbre générique – chaque arbre est unique – et la catégorisation est simplement une forme de tromperie que nous appelons « signification ». Mais elle est utile. La représentation-arbre de l’arbre spécifique que vous avez vu génère des économies énormes en omettant beaucoup de détails (parfaitement visibles). La représentation générique des arbres augmente ces économies en supprimant encore plus de détails, qui économise à la fois de l’énergie et de la « capacité de stockage » dans le cerveau. La signification de « arbre » est donc extrêmement dilutive par rapport à n’importe quel arbre que vous voyez. Il devient encore pire quand vous essayez de transmettre celle signification à quelqu’un d’autre.

Le cerveau était assez plastique pour représenter des mots (groupes de sons) mais même pour représenter des choses qui n’ont jamais été rencontrées (la « signification de 486 »). Nous savons ça parce qu’il n’y avait pas de mots avant que les mots aient été créés et il n’y avait pas de nombres avant que les nombres aient été créés. La langue (gesticulaire, parlée, écrite) a rendus les représentations dérivées (la signification) encore plus précieuses. La parole permettait de connecter un ensemble ordonné de sons à une représentation catégorielle telle qu’un arbre pour la communiquer rapidement et efficacement aux autres membres du groupe.

Ces inventions ont ajouté des avantages de survie à la fois pour l’individu et le groupe dans son ensemble. Bien qu’il soit tout à fait certain que la représentation-arbre dans votre cerveau soit différente de celle de votre voisin, la survie aurait encouragé une certaine convergence fonctionnelle entre ces représentations afin que vous sachiez que les arbres peuvent être abattus et brûlés. La convergence pourrait aussi être possible à travers les générations (non pas seulement les vies individuelles) parce que la survie pourrait prédisposer les cerveaux à développer des représentations d’arbres utiles et cohérentes par la coévolution sociale.

Observez que cette convergence de signification (sémantiques) serait plus forte quand vous avez une exposition à l’objet et sa pertinence fonctionnelle pour votre survie personelle (JSP). Le plus que vous êtes dépendant du groupe pour les activités liées aux arbres (vous restez à l’écart de l’exploitation forestière et de la menuiserie) et les arbres sont moins importants pour votre survie personnelle (vous habitez dans une hutte en argile et utilisez de l’huile pour chauffer et cuisiner plutôt que bois), le moins qu’il est probable que votre représentation-arbre convergera fonctionnellement avec les autres. Par exemple, vous n’avez peut-être jamais eu besoin de participer aux travaux de menuiserie, mais vous pouviez gagner votre vie en vendant de la corde aux bûcherons. Dans ce cas, vous jouez peu de votre peau dans la sécurité des bûcherons parce que vous ne pouvez pas être tué par un arbre qui tombe à cause de votre corde défectueuse. JSP doit être introduit dans la transaction dans le style de Hammurabi afin d'aligner les objectifs du vendeur des cordes avec ceux du bûcheron.

JSP est la façon dont vous avez appris la langue comme enfant, et pourquoi l’apprentissage des langues des adultes est différent. Les enfants apprennent la langue par l’expérience: « obtenir » des mots en les filtrant par l’efficacité des réactions ultérieures et « sélectionner » les mots selon qu’ils obtiennent de leurs parents le résultat souhaité. Si le résultat ne se produit pas (par exemple, une alimentation), le cerveau produit simplement un autre mot d’essai (folie / imbécilité) jusqu’à ce qu’il fonctionne. De toute évidence, les cerveaux qui n’abordent pas bien ce processus auront une plus faible probabilité de survie et de reproduction. Quand vous apprenez une langue comme adulte, vous devez conjurer le filtrage JSP (cette personne m’a-t-elle compris, ai-je dit quelque chose d’embarrassant, est-ce que j’obtiens le résultat que je cherchais?) et le pari est beaucoup plus différent.

Nous n’avons aucun moyen de savoir avec certitude si le discours, les gestes ou les images ont été le premier système sémantique à émerger de ces bénéfices de survie. Mais au cours des derniers millénaires, l’invention de nouveaux systèmes sémantiques par l’humanité s’est accélérée. L’un des systèmes sémantiques les plus importants que nous utilisons est les mathématiques (oui, ça va être absolument un troll pour les mathématiciens parmi vous). Pourtant, les mathématiques sont complétement retirées de la perception sensorielle. Toute personne ayant un cerveau reconnaîtrait qu’il n’y a pas de lignes droites ou de cercles parfaits dans le monde que nous voyons, mais ce sont des objets fondamentaux pour la géométrie. La même chose s’applique aux nombres. Néanmoins, et malgré la difficulté d’apprendre ses niveaux plus élevés, l’utilisation des mathématiques a grandi et s’est propagée dans d’autres domaines (appliqués) tels que la chimie, l’ingénierie et l’informatique. Parce que, lorsqu’elle est appliquée correctement, cette fiction utile permet de transmettre des informations à travers les géographies, les langues et les générations, et de transmettre des compétences qui seraient très coûteuses à acquérir à l’expérience encore et encore.

Le cerveau, cependant, ne peut pas être contenu seulement à ce qui est utile parce que l’utilité peut seulement être déterminée après le fait et par des essais répétés. Avant de tester, toute nouvelle signification est, par définition, un délire. La signification contre-productive peut s’accrocher et survivre pendant de nombreuses générations parce que JSP personnel n’est pas le seul mécanisme de survie. Les délires (et leurs hôtes) peuvent aussi survivre par consensus – si suffisamment de membres du groupe acceptent le délire et le nourrissent à côté de son hôte. Plus le groupe est important et centralisé, plus il est facile pour les délires non testés de se propager et de persister, surtout du haut vers le bas. Les implications sont graves lorsque les événements qui vont à l’encontre du délire ne se produisent que dans les queues et sur des périodes prolongées. Dans ce cas, le groupe entier pourrait périr lorsque le délire est « testé » par un événement Cygne Noir. Le JSP dans toute la société est le seul moyen de minimiser le risque de tels délires à persister et de leurs hôtes à parasiter sur la communauté en général.

Parce que la signification est impossible si le délire est impossible, l’intelligence exige la capacité d’être délirant. Au moins en ce qui concerne les cerveaux humains. Un lion pourrait probablement halluciner (avoir des perceptions sensorielles inconsistantes) mais il ne pourrait pas avoir un délire simplement parce qu’il ne peut pas produire de systèmes sémantiques. La même chose est vraie pour l’informatique. L’IA ne deviendra possible qu’avec la possibilité de délire. L’informatique contemporaine est discrète et basée sur la précision numérique, ce qui exclut presque automatiquement la création de signification. Tout système d’IA doit être capable de créer de la signification (quelle que cette signification soit relative au monde perceptible, à un environnement logiciel environnant ou à quelque chose d’autre). L’IA doit pouvoir s’autoprogrammer car c’est l’essence de ce que nous appelons intelligence. Une telle capacité rend l’IA intrinsèquement dangereuse à cause de ce qui est arrivé aux hommes des cavernes.

La brume sémantique

Il était une fois, un homme des cavernes a vu un grand arbre, qui était plus important et précieux pour sa survie et celle de sa famille que les autres arbres (pour sa sève nutritive, ou sa fructification profuse, ou son bois pliable). Et il l’a appelé un Grannarbre. Il a fait sens à la survie de faire la distinction entre lui et les autres arbres, de sorte que le meme s’est établi. Alors l’homme des cavernes s’est aventuré sur un gros poisson, qui était plus important pour sa survie et celle de sa famille que les autres poissons (pour sa viande nutritive pouvant être fumée et stockée pendant des mois, ou sa taille pouvant nourrir quelques-uns pendant des jours, ou pour ses os souples qui faisaient des bons hameçons et aiguilles). Et il l’a appelé un Grannoisson. Il a fait sens de survie pour distinguer entre lui et les autres poissons, de sorte que le meme s’est établi. Alors l’homme des cavernes a expliqué le Grannoisson à ses fils: « Le Grannoisson est des poissons comme le Grannarbre est des arbres. » Et ils se sont tous perdus dans la brume sémantique. Vous pourriez abattre un Grannarbre avec du feu et des haches comme n’importe quel autre arbre, mais vous ne pourriez pas attraper un Grannoisson comme n’importe quel autre poisson parce qu’il casserait votre lance et déchirerait votre filet.

L'analogie est la connerie d'origine. Vous pouvez utiliser l'analogie pour accélérer l'introduction d'un nouveau concept, mais vous ne vous arrêterez à l'analogie que si vous êtes un vendeur de connerie. Vous ne pouvez pas vous arrêter là parce que le nouveau concept que vous illuminez est un nouveau concept foutu. L'économie est devenue une discipline marchante des conneries en grande partie parce qu'elle appliquait par analogie des instruments (théorie des jeux, optimisation linéaire) utiles dans d'autres domaines (biologie de l'évolution, ingénierie) pour résoudre différents problèmes (souvent inexistants). Parfois, les économistes imaginaient même des problèmes (créaient de la signification) simplement parce qu'ils avaient des outils à transférer d'autres domaines qui nécessitaient un problème à résoudre. Les lances ont été cassées et les filets ont été déchirés à plusieurs reprises, mais d'autres ont dû payer pour eux parce que les économistes ne jouaient rien de peau. En conséquence, l'économie académique et son « examen » par les pairs sont le terreau idéal pour les délires collectifs, l'hystérie collective (à la Krusty Krugs), la scientistique et la vente des conneries. Le crédit le plus important pour cette floraison va à Milton Friedman (de manière révélatrice, un « prix Nobel » en économie) qui a propagé activement le non-sens selon lequel les hypothèses (pertinence du domaine, étirement sémantique) importent peu.

La théorie des probabilités (comme les mathématiques) ne peut pas être testée aussi authentiquement qu'une lance peut être testée pour la rupture. Son utilité (survie) ne peut être testée qu'indirectement par des applications dans d'autres domaines qui ont un contact authentique avec le monde « réel » et sont soumis à jouer la peau (par exemple, le jeu de pari, l'ingénierie). Ce problème d'étirement sémantique a conduit à la prolifération de l'infidélité dans les sciences sociales et l'économie financière parce qu'aucun de ces domaines n'est soumis à JSP (les universitaires obtiennent la permanence et les banques obtiennent des renflouements). Ce n'est pas par hasard que Nassim Taleb distingue sur son profil Twitter entre probabilité (philosophie), probabilité (mathématiques), probabilité (logique), probabilité (réalité) et la soulevé de terre. Différents principes s'appliquent dans différents domaines et le cadre de « probabilité » n'est qu'un raccourci utile qui doit être adapté, testé et engendrant des résultats différents pour chacun de ces domaines. Le JSP est la seule arme dont nous disposons pour garantir que les tests ont lieu dans tous les coins de la société humaine, et que la possibilité de délire et de parasitisme est minimisée. L'antithèse de JSP est le Bas - le parasite déliré.

L'étirement sémantique s'applique à tout autre système sémantique, y compris les mathématiques, les langages et la programmation. Lorsque vous tentez de résoudre un problème « similaire » dans une application de programmation différente, vous cassez votre code ou vous constatez que le langage de programmation que vous utilisez ne permet pas l'approche qui a fonctionné ailleurs. Même si vous n'avez aucune connaissance expérientielle d'un domaine STGM, vous pouvez observer un étirement sémantique en traduction entre des langues parlées. La Brue épaissit lorsque vous essayez de porter un idiome ou une parabole d'une langue à l'autre. Souvent, vous trouvez que le problème n'est pas l'absence d'une traduction de mots accrocheuse mais simplement que les connaissances authentiques sous-jacentes ne se transfèrent pas à une autre culture et une autre géographie. Parce que l'adage a émergé et survécu dans le contexte d'un système sémantique particulier, évolué pour servir une culture spécifique dans une géographie spécifique. Dans la nouvelle langue, la connaissance authentique soutenant la survie de l'idiome dans la langue originale simplement n'existe tout pas, de sorte que l'idiome ne peut pas être compris même s'il rime bien. Il se traduit sans se traduire.

La grande malconvenance

L'incongruence sémantique est dukkha et dukkha est partout. Le concept vient du bouddhisme (philosophie) et est fréquemment traduit par « souffrance » (ou, pire, par « peine »), qui est extrêmement inutile pour quiconque ne parle pas le pali (à peu près l'exemple parfait de dukkha, comme vous verrez). Dukkha signifie simplement un « mauvais ajustement » - le décalage entre ce qui est et vos attentes, souhaits ou toute autre chose dont vous vous identifiez. C'est la meilleure définition de la souffrance que j'ai rencontrée, mais je ne l'avais jamais entendue (dans aucune langue) avant de découvrir la philosophie bouddhiste. Il est immédiatement évident ce que dukkha signifie lorsqu'il est défini comme un manque d'ajustement. La même malconvenience se produit entre le monde que nous recontrons et les systèmes sémantiques que nous utilisons pour fonctionner en son sein, y compris pour programmer les uns les autres. La signification est éloignée de l'expérience authentique parce que la signification n'est qu'un substitut, par définition. Plus de « signification » dans la vie, moins d'authenticité, plus de souffrance.

Vous avez peut-être remarqué que les gens cherchent le plus souvent une signification à leur identité. Mais dans de nombreux cas, sinon dans la plupart des cas, les identités ne sont que des signaux de consensus de groupe plutôt que des engagements authentiques à agir. Consensus (peu importe que faux) peut fournir de la validation pour l'imbécile signalisant sans l'authenticité de jouer sa peau. Les individus ont trop souvent plus de pari pour rester en harmonie avec le groupe que pour tester de l'action authentique contre les caprices de l'expérience. Le problème s'aggrave à mesure que le groupe (organisation, société, état, etc.) s'agrandit et que le temps passe (parce que l'uniformité et la répression de la dissidence s'augmentent). Jusqu'à ce que le groupe implose le plus spectaculairement à cause de sa tromperie. Une grande raison de ces événements terminaux est que la signalisation d'identité détourne les individus de l'action et le test authentiques, qui a pour effet d'euthanasier l'innovation et la prise de risques pour le groupe dans son ensemble. C'est pourquoi je ne suis pas végétarien.

Ce qui suit va surprendre beaucoup d'entre vous qui sont familiers avec mon travail et il n'y a aucun moyen d'adoucir le coup, alors je vais y aller directement. Je ne mange pas de viande. Si vous avez lu Jouer son sang, vous savez que j'ai passé une grande partie de mon enfance dans une ferme et que je n'avais pas peur du sang. Mais un jour, j'ai pensé que je ne pouvais pas tuer les animaux que je mangeais parce que je n'en avais pas besoin. On manges ce qu'on tue, alors je ne le fais pas. Il y a beaucoup d'autres raisons desquelles je pourrais parler, mais finalement, il n'y a qu'une seule explication à tout ce que nous faisons: « parce que je peux » . Parce que le contraire ne serait pas authentique pour moi. Aussi simple que ça.

Etre végétarien signifierait être associé à une litanie de sojadiots prétentieux et personnes au règime à la mode. La même chose s'appliquerait bientôt si je joindrais le mouvement carnivore (ou autre). Ces catégories et identités sont des béquilles et des économiseurs pour les faibles par QI et les indécis, pour ceux qui n'ont pas pris la peine de comprendre ce que leur vie est de la seule façon dont nous pouvons - par action risquée. Je n'ai pas besoin de béquille parce que ça ne devient plus simple: je ne mange pas de viande. C'est tout. Je l'ai testé pendant des décennies et il fonctionne - pour moi. Vous faites ce qui fonctionne pour vous, mais n'oubliez pas de prendre des risques soigneusement et de tester à plusieurs reprises, de sorte que vous ne devenez pas des filets de dinde ou ne suivez le troupeau au bord d'une falaise. C'est tout dont JSP est à propos.

Pourquoi vous prenez des décisions avant de les prendre

JSP est profondément important parce que penser n'est pas ce que la plupart pensent qu'il est. Les pensées dont vous prenez conscience sont le produit des processus inconscients dont vous avez peu de contrôle. Vous ne pouvez pas penser à quelque chose avant d'y avoir pensé. Ce que l'on appelle généralement « penser » est principalement rationalisation et traitement, un retour sur ce qui a déjà été ressenti inconsciemment. Il y a beaucoup de preuves neurophysiologiques expérimentales que nous prenons des décisions avant de les prendre, avant que nous en prenions conscience. Comme l'INCERTO, votre microprogramme de prise de décision est tout à propos des heuristiques et des biais, et ce n'est pas par hasard.

Le mème des « heuristiques et biais » est devenu proéminent dans le travail d'Amos Tversky et Danny Kahneman. Dans sa « Pensée: rapide et lente » résumant des décennies d'études et d'expériences, Kahneman a articulé un modèle binaire de cognition composé d'un Système 1 rapide, inconscient et n'exigeant ni « effort » ni « volonté », et un Système 2 qui est lent et exigéant de l'effort, dont les résultats se manifestent dans la « conscience » et qui peut être dirigé vers l'accomplissement de tâches spécifiques. (Non, imbécile, cela ne se réfère pas aux deux hémisphères ni à aucune autre division du cerveau, c'est un modèle de cognition.)

Le Système 1 semble être le système le plus puissant. Si la vraie prise de décision est inconsciente, elle doit résider là par la construction du modèle. Il y a des bonnes raisons de considérer ça très probable. Le Système 1 est presque certainement celui qui a évolué en premier et qui gère nos données sensorielles - notre lien le plus authentique avec le perceptible. Par conséquent, le Système 1 devrait avoir été testé beaucoup plus longtemps et est exposé au monde plus directement. Il est peu logique que la survie remette tout à coup les rênes au Système 2, le plus récent, lent et délirant, qui traite la signification et l'analyse (bien que la technologie puisse ça changer). Comme dit David Hume: « La raison n'est, et ne devrait être, que l'esclave des passions et ne peut prétendre à aucune autre fonction que de leur servir et obéir ».

Le Système 1 gère le « savoir authentique » - ces sont les tripes proverbialles. Le Système 2 traite du « savoir sémantique » - analytique, lente et embrouillée par le reflet déformé de la brume sémantique. Le Système 1 est « irrationnel » en termes de scientistiques économiques et l'authentique dans la perspective de l'INCERTO. Appelez-la Barbella parce qu'elle produit généralement des décisions en forme d'haltère, adaptées à la redondance optimale pour survivre et aux risques asymétriques. L'ardente Barbella est inaccessible pour nous, mais elle est la seule qui illumine le « perceptible » parce qu'elle est celle qui en a survenu le plus authentiquement. Elle est aussi celle qui contrôle vos sorties dans le monde - les mouvements de vos muscles et les « pensées » qui sortent de votre bouche, même si elles apparaissent motivées par la « délibération » dans le Système 2. Cependant, Barbella est mal préparée à gérer la complexité et l'amplification des systèmes sociaux.

La jeune sœur de Barbella, le Système 2, est un système « agrégateur » ou « synthétiseur » mieux orienté vers le consensus et la conformité. Car elle traite la moyenne de la foule et la signification, appelons-la Minnella. Alors que Barbella est orientée vers la survie individuelle « dans la nature », Minnella est efficace pour optimiser le comportement de l'élevage et ainsi augmenter les chances de survie dans le cadre d'un groupe social. Bien que secondaire, Minnella semble capable de dépasser certaines des intuitions de Barbella afin de se conformer aux croyances largement répandues. Ç'a pu être son avantage évolutif et son origine: Minnella a été née dans les images et le langage et ce que vous appelez la conscience, lorsqu'ils ont émergé dans le social. Elle a un bug délicat, qui est en fait une fonctionnalité: la capacité de générer de nouveaux systèmes sémantiques détachés des besoins immédiats de communication (acheter de la nourriture contre une nouvelle branche des mathématiques). Ces systèmes de signification doivent être filtrés par le consensus social et le noyau « émotionnel » de Barbella avant qu'ils ne touchent à l'échec / la survie du monde réel. Minnella est donc quasi-ludique et a désespérément besoin de JSP pour être la plus efficace. Mais elle est celle qui nous permet à comprendre ou en moins à gérer la complexité plus efficacement.

C'est là que résident les problèmes de manque de JSP dans la société. Les pensées d'ordure produites par Minnella peuvent rester « coincées » dans le bassin de mèmes pendant très longtemps si l'on se fie à la sélection naturelle parce que le désherbage individuel de survie peut être annulé par consensus. Où l'évolution échoue générallement, on doit jouer sa peau individuellement. La compréhension intuitive de NNT de la psychologie personnelle est sinistre. Minnella introduit un bug au niveau du groupe / de l'évolution que NNT corrige en appliquant le mécanisme de JSP au niveau de l'individu. Mais l'étrangeté n'a même pas encore commencé parce que les principes de l'INCERTO sont tout autour de vous. Tout au long jusqu'au fond de la caverne crasseuse de Platon.

Le feu de Platon

Le feu dans la caverne de Platon représente le Système 1 (nos sens et nos intuitions), que nous ne pouvons pas voir, mais il est le seul qui illumine le monde perceptible. Les ombres visibles aux prisonniers représentent la signification, la pensée et la conscience (Système 2). Le feu de Barbella est la force motrice de la cognition parce que sans lui il n'y aurait pas d'ombres. Les figures sautillantes sont la bande étroite du perceptible qui est accessible à nos sens: les données sensorielles. Nous ne pouvons pas observer directement le fonctionnement de notre neurophysiologie, donc le feu est caché derrière un mur, comme sont les processus sensoriels générant le défilé grotesque des figures. Les chaînes des prisonniers représentent le rationalisme, le scientisme et d'autres formes d'ignorance, qui nient la tromperie du Système 2 et l'authenticité du Système 1. Tout cela est confiné dans une caverne représentant des limites extrêmes que notre biologie impose à notre capacité de « voir » ce qui est « réel ». L'évasion et le retour signifient la possibilité de transcender nos frontières corporelles par la connaissance authentique, qui apparaîtrait aux non-éclairés comme folie et irrationalité.

Voici les mots qui se sont écrites quand, grâce à l'INCERTO, j'ai découvert pour la première fois les intuitions de Platon il y a quelques semaines:

C'EST TELLEMENT ÉVIDENT TU IDIOT FOUTU.

Bien sûr, cette interprétation de la caverne de Platon pourrait être juste un autre délire analytique. Il a dû être testé à plusieurs reprises. Plus j'essayais de l'ébranler, plus j'étais choqué par ma propre ignorance et le niveau de dérangement dans les interprétations académiques de la vie et de l'œuvre de Platon.

Certains analydiotie représentative concernant Platon est évidente dans le passage suivant de la page Wikipedia sur Heraclitus (une influence majeure):

Platon plaide contre Héraclite comme suit:

« Comment peut-elle être une chose réelle qui n'est jamais dans le même état? [...] car au moment où l'observateur approche, alors elles deviennent autres [...] afin que tu ne puisses pas aller plus loin dans la connaissance de leur nature ou état [...] mais si ce qui sait et ce qui est connu existe du tout [...] alors je ne pense pas qu'ils puissent ressembler à un processus ou à un flux. »

Dans Platon, une unité ressentie est un état, ou un objet existant, qui peut être observé. Le paramètre du temps est défini par « toujours »; c'est-à-dire que l'état doit être présumé présent entre les observations. Le changement doit être déduit en comparant les observations et est donc présumé une fonction qui arrive aux objets déjà en existence, plutôt que quelque chose ontologiquement d'essentiel pour eux (tel que quelque chose qui ne change pas ne peut pas exister) comme dans Héraclite. Dans Platon, peu importe le nombre de ces unités ressenties que vous êtes en mesure de rassembler, vous ne pouvez pas passer à travers la fossé mystérieux entre eux pour expliquer le changement qui doit s'y produire. Cette limitation est considérée comme une limitation fondamentale de la réalité par Platon et sous-tend en partie sa différenciation entre l'expérience imparfaite et des formes plus parfaites. Le fait que ce n'est pas une limitation pour Héraclite motive la condamnation de Platon.

Cette « analyse » est infectée par des délires sémantiques et hors contexte car plus tôt dans le dialogue Socrate identifie le problème des systèmes sémantiques:

Comment les réalités sont à être apprises ou découvertes est peut-être une trop grande question pour vous ou moi de déterminer; mais il vaut la peine d'arriver à cette conclusion même-elle, qu'ils doivent être apprises et recherchées, non pas par des noms, mais beaucoup mieux par eux-mêmes que par des noms.

Socrate affirme seulement que les systèmes sémantiques (noms, signification) ne peuvent pas être invoqués pour parvenir à une véritable connaissance de la nature de la réalité (une position également suggérée dans la République et dans les enseignements non écrits de Platon comme rapportés par Aristote). Le dialogue lui-même conclut de manière non concluante:

Mais s'il y a toujours ce qui sait et ce qui est connu - si le beau, le bien et toutes les autres vérités existent - je ne vois pas comment il y a une ressemblance entre ces conditions dont je parle maintenant et flux ou mouvement. Maintenant, ç'est une autre question que ce soit la nature des choses ou que la doctrine d'Héraclite et de beaucoup d'autres soit vraie, mais sûrement aucun homme de sens ne peut se mettre lui-même et sa psyché sous le contrôle des noms, et créer des noms et leurs créateurs au point d'affirmer qu'il sait quelque chose... Par conséquent, tu dois considérer avec courage et à fond, et ne rien accepter avec négligence - car tu es encore jeune et dans ta prime; puis, si après enquête tu trouves la vérité, communique lui à moi.

Pour le non-idiot, il est évident que Platon ne critique pas l'opinion d'Héraclite selon laquelle le monde perceptible est en mouvement, et encore moins le condamne (l'acceptation par Platon de l'impermanence du perceptible est attestée ailleurs dans ses écrits). Au contraire, il construit dessus pour la transcender. « Si tout est en mouvement (tel qu'il semble être), alors tout savoir ou connaisseur complet doit exister en dehors de ce qui est perceptible ou analysable. » C'est la façon indirecte de Platon de suggérer que seulement quelques principes fondamentaux ou « lois » de la réalité en dehors de ce qui peut être directement observé peut être permis « permanence ». Platon utilise le discours pour suggérer que l'état et l'objet n'existent pas en dehors de la perception et de l'illusion erronées - le contraire de ce que les Analydiots hallucinent - et parfaitement cohérent avec Héraclite. L'intuition de Platon est l'archétype du Problème-Dinde de NNT - la connaissance inductive ne doit jamais être considérée comme permanente ou complète. Ceci n'est que l'un des nombreux exemples de mauvaise interprétation des idées et de la pratique de Platon.

Plato académique Plato authentique
philosophie idéalisme ou réalisme académique, statique réalisme avec de la mise à jour sauvage parce que le « réel » est inaccessible
mèthode de raisonnement discourse/débat, « réflexion » (déductive) + de l'observation de l'esprit et des sens, analyse des « données », test dans l'expérience et discours (+ inductive)
mèthode d'enseignement lektchur/discourse/débat + Zen koan, méditation, confusion, déclenchement
le bein (éthique) métaphysique doxastique, basé sur ce qui fonctionne dans l'intuition expérimentée, post-analytique
dialogues représentent et exposent la philosophie de Platon des outils pédagogiques incorporant les idées de Socrate et d'autres pour provoquer et faire avancer la « vraie compréhension » par indirection
caverne cerveau dans une cuve modèle de perception, illusion et connaissance authentique
ψυχή âme (souvent essentialiste / dualiste) cognition ou « force de vie »
ἰδέα forme (comme dans « forme » visible) principe, « loi naturelle », « courbure de la réalité », « forme » comme dans la théorie des cordes
ἀγαθοῦ le bien, le noble ce qui fonctionne, est authentique à la survie / « vraie » connaissance ou se rapporte à « action grande / héroïque »
ἀγαθοῦ ἰδέα « forme du bien » « principe » de la réalité inaccessible sous-jacente des connaissances doxastiques (authentiques)

Dans la République, Platon fournit le raccourci parfait pour savoir comment fonctionne l'acquisition de connaissances authentiques. Au niveau le plus bas, il y a εικασία (conjecture) basée sur l'expérience sensorielle primaire, suivie par πῐ́στῐς (confiance, « persuasion »), qui ajoute un aspect fonctionnel à l'image sensorielle (« chèvre » v. « comment élever et traire une chèvre »). Puis vient διάνοια – nos méthodes et systèmes de raisonnement scientifiques (non scientistes!). C'est là que les informations de plus bas niveau sont traitées pour produire et tester des généralisations. Mais il y a un niveau au-delà de cela, qui est le niveau de connaissance le plus élevé et le plus difficile - νόησις, connaissance authentique ou vraie compréhension, de l'instinct, de l'intuition (informée et testée). Pour Platon, νόησις est sans hypothèse et sans pensée (au-delà de la sémantique), mais doit être atteint en gravissant les autres niveaux de connaissance, comme attesté dans sa pratique comme professeur. Le parallèle avec l'épistémologie Talebicque est choquant.

Platonistan Talebistan Interprétation Exemple Contraire
εικασία (conjecture) observation conjecture, représentation d'objet entrée sensorielle, données hallucination (anti-survie)
πῐ́στῐς (conviction) « croyance » pistique connaissance fonctionnelle ou expérientielle, « confiance », le « comment » artisanat, pratique incompétence, inexpérience
διάνοια (réflexion) « croyance » épistémique modèle, hypothèse, « raisonnement » , le « pourquoi » mathématiques, sciences délire, connerie
νόησις (compré-hension) « croyance » doxastique connaissance authentique, compréhension, « l'avoir » , « voir » « foie gras », parce que infaux, « instinct » , intuition appliquée ignorance (alimentée par illusion et incompétence)

La métaphysique de Platon peut être divisée en trois « domaines » : le conscient (les ombres), l'inconscient (le feu et les figures) et le réel (qui est inaccessible à nos sens et à notre sémantique). Les φαινόμενα (apparences) perceptibles sont simplement des projections de εἶδοι (formes) « réelles ». La « forme » la plus haute et la plus noble, qu'il appelle ἀγαθοῦ ἰδέα, est simplement ce principe ou « loi naturelle » dans la réalité inaccessible qui sous-tend / rend possible la connaissance doxastique dans le monde perceptible. L'étymologie de ἀγαθοῦ pointe vers le sens « d'une action grande / héroïque », non pas la sagesse reçue  ou le dogme, encore moins « penser ». Ainsi, ἀγαθοῦ ἰδέα peut être interprété comme un « principe de réalité sous-jacent à une action grande / héroïque ». À l'extrême, JSP prend la forme d'une action héroïque testant ses convictions - l'épitomé de la pratique doxastique. C'est précisément la signification que δόξα avait acquise quelques milliers d'années après le temps de Platon dans le néo-platonisme et le christianisme oriental. « Orthodoxie » signifie simplement « croyance juste » ou « foi juste » : celle qui est forgée dans la bonne action.

Pour Platon et ses contemporains, la noblesse (« la vertu ») était une question de test par action, non pas une certaine accolade conférée. Sans peau et sang dans le jeu, il n'y avait pas de « bien » car induction. En outre, Platon considérait toutes les autres formes (et les catégories éthiques correspondantes - beauté, justice, etc.) subordonnées au ἀγαθοῦ ἰδέα. Dans le monde perceptible, ça signifierait que toute l'éthique est fondée sur la connaissance doxastique et, finalement, jouer sa peau. Encore une fois, sa perspicacité est choquante. Parce que de nos jours, nous constatons que tout sens inné de la beauté, de la justice, de l'équité, etc. provient de millions d'années d'évolution par la survie (bien que ça n'est pas à jouer sa peau individuelle mais fonctionne au niveau des générations). Ceci n'est que la projection parfaite des « formes » moindres de Platon du monde réel vers le monde perceptible, dûment subordonnées à l'épreuve de survie de l'évolution.

Une grande partie de ce que vous avez lu ici, Timée de Platon explique ainsi dans le dialogue éponyme, en utilisant l'indirection habituelle de Platon:

nous pouvons supposer que les mots s'apparentent à la matière qu'ils décrivent; quand ils se rapportent au durable et permanent et intelligible, ils doivent être durables et inaltérables, et, autant que leur nature le permet, irréfutable et immuable - rien de moins. Mais quand ils n'expriment que la copie ou la ressemblance et non les choses éternelles elles-mêmes, elles n'ont besoin que d'être vraisemblables et analogues aux vrais mots. Comme être est de devenir, ainsi est la vérité à la croyance. Si donc, Socrate, au milieu des nombreuses opinions sur les dieux et la génération de l'univers, nous ne sommes pas capables de donner des notions qui sont tout à fait et à tous égards exactes et cohérentes les unes avec les autres, ne sois pas surpris. Assez, si nous ajoutons des probabilités aussi probables que aucunes d'autres; car nous devons nous rappeler que moi qui suis l'orateur, et vous qui êtes les juges, ne sont que des hommes mortels, et nous devons accepter l'histoire qui est probable et ne pas nous enquérir davantage.

Les similitudes avec NNT ne s'arrêtent pas ici, car Platon semble également avoir été actif sur Twitter: « Celui qui a la connaissance du juste et du bien et du beau [...] ne l'écrira pas, quand il sera sérieux, à l'encre, en les semant par un stylo avec des mots, qui ne peuvent pas se défendre par des arguments et ne peuvent pas enseigner la vérité de manière efficace. Les jardins de lettres, il semble, on va planter pour le plaisir, et écrira, quand il écrit, pour chérir les rappels pour lui-même quand il vient à l'oubli de la vieillesse, et pour d'autres qui suivent le même chemin, et il sera heureux quand il les voit mettre en avant des feuilles tendres. » Ces mots de Socrate dans « Phaedrus » révèlent non seulement la vision de Platon de la faiblesse des mots, mais sont aussi une clé pour comprendre ses dialogues et sa méthode d'enseignement - indirection et provocation plutôt que la lekture.

Platon en dit autant dans sa septième lettre: « concernant tous ces écrivains [...] qui prétendent connaître les sujets que j'étudie sérieusement [...] il est impossible, à mon avis du moins, que ces hommes comprennent quelque chose à ce sujet. Il n'existe pas, et il n'y en aura jamais, de traité de la mienne s'en occupant. Car il n'admet pas du tout l'expression verbale comme les autres études, mais, par suite de l'application continue au sujet même et de la communion avec lui, il est soudainement engendré dans la psyché, comme une lumière qui est allumée par un étincelle bondissante. » S'ils ne le savent pas, on ne peut pas leur en dire.

L'Authentik

Au lycée, on ne pouvait pas me le dire non plus parce que je ne le savais pas. J'ai échoué à comprendre Platon pour des raisons qui se manifestent toutes dans l'INCERTO. Je n'avais pas l'intelligence et la curiosité de prendre des risques. Je n'avais pas la connaissance et l'expérience - de l'instinct - de la psychologie individuelle, des langues et de la méthode scientifique (pas scientiste!). Je n'avais pas la peau dans le jeu et je n'avais pas besoin d'en mettre parce que je pouvais obtenir une bonne note en faissant de connerie pour avancer - et je l'ai fait. Pendant ce temps, j'étais obsédé par des efforts inutiles comme essayer de trouver un sens de la vie. Je rendais ma vie fausse au lieu de poursuivre de la valeur authentique. Parce que je ne savais pas ce que c'était.

Si la vie est à devenir, l'authenticité est à surmonter. Et c'est le message plus personnel de « JSP ». Sauf si vous prenez des risques, vous n'êtes rien. Cette identité ethnique, religieuse, professionnelle, politique ou autre que vous portez dans votre poche compte pour de la merde si vous n'agissez pas de manière authentique. Le épreuve par une action risquée est notre seule méthode pour atteindre pour la réalité; l'échec est le signal le plus fort que nous puissions en tirer. L'action précède la croyance, la connaissance, la science et toute autre illusion que vous pourriez nourrir. La croyance peut être stable et souvent toxique. L'action est spastique, mais authentique. La perquisition du signification elle-même rend votre vie moins authentique et plus éloignée de la « réalité ». Plus vous avancerez dans la prise de risque sur vos instincts authentiques, plus vite vous oublierez toute contrainte à chercher une « signification » parce que vos actions véritables transcenderont la brume sémantique.

Pensez à l'action comme ça qui nous amène à devenir conscients des choses, à prendre conscience de leur existence latente. Les choses ne « arrivent » pas; ils deviennent manifestes. Vous devenez manifeste en prenant des risques, en prenant les coups de l'échec et en prenant ensuite plus de risques. C'est le chemin de l'Authentik. L'INCERTO de Maître Taleb est un manuel personnel sur la façon de le marcher sans nécessairement se gonfler, donc obtenez Jouer sa peau maintenant et lisez-le dans une pulpe. Lisez lentement, en l'ayant. Avant de continuer, reliez les idées, les anecdotes et les principes aux événements spécifiques de votre vie. Pensez à la façon dont vous pourriez avoir évité les échecs et les désagréments passés en les appliquant. Voyez si vous pouvez prouver le trou du cul monumental faux. Apprenez à repérer les lâches et les vendeurs de connerie et les retirer de votre vie. Rendez toutes les idées pertinentes à votre expérience et testez-les par rapport à lui. Réchauffez vos mains sur le feu de Platon. Vous verrez votre vie s'améliorer en quelques heures. Il y aura de la lumière.

Je ne vous demande pas de croire ça parce que si j'ai raison, j'ai certainement tort. Je ne vais pas vous dire comment vivre votre vie pour la simple raison que je ne peux pas. Personne mais vous-même ne pouvez le dire. Vous seul pouvez avoir les connaissances authentiques pour décider quoi faire d'un moment à l'autre.

Les avez-vous?

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIm6yJGjgEM]

Why I Am Not a Vegetarian (and You Might Consider Not Being an Idiot, Too)

0

“Skin in the game is about honor, courage and sacrifice. If you don’t take risks in what you do, you’re nothing.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb

You will want to read and reread every word of this missive because

FAILURE IS OUR ONLY CONNECTION TO REALITY.

And by abolishing failure, we are making our world ever less authentic. Our impending immortality will complete our Fakehood.

INCERTO above the Treetops

Although I have been following his missives and the INCERTO, I’m not going to read Nassim Taleb's new book "Skin in the Game" until I have published this anti-review. The main objective of the anti-review is to put some of the high-level ideas behind “SITG” and the INCERTO through an empirical test for “authentic knowledge” (accessible mostly to non-idiots), for whether one mind can “grasp” another more in action and decision and less through the mist of semantic systems. The anti-review relies on NNT's his writing, public appearances and activity on and off the Internet, as he has talked about and practiced SITG for many years. I have only caught glimpses of what some have said on Twitter about "SITG"(no media reviews or anything long-form) and a skim-through the book's contents pages. You will see the method to this madness as you read on. As anti-semantic praxis, I'm also publishing the anti-review in both French and English, so that bilingual readers can experience the Myst for themselves.

While I had no doubt that “SITG” would be remarkably good, I did not expect it to surpass “Fooled by Randomness” as Maestro Taleb’s most game-changing work. I was wrong. SO WRONG.

Here is but a smattering of subjects that SITG touches and transforms like the wand of a grand master wizard:

  • Why you have decided before you decide
  • What we are and how we came to be it
  • Why analysis is paralysis and action is liberation
  • Why Big Media are a poor source of information
  • Why science has become ever more scientistic and charlatan as it becomes more complex and centralized
  • Why subjecting your life and work to a savage beating in the public forum makes it more robust and credible
  • Why large organizations and governments underperform smaller ones
  • Why “limited liability” forms of ownership strangle innovation and prosperity
  • Why savagery is better in every way than enforced “decency”
  • What “intelligence” and AI is
  • Why you’d want to be Authentik (can you?)

Don’t believe anything said here. Don’t even believe nothing. Just read with an open mind while paying close attention. All will become manifest in your mind. You will see Nassim Taleb’s INCERTO with a new clarity, one that is instinctively complete and consistent with your everyday experience. And please don’t take any of this “seriously”. Just set your mind free and see where it takes you. If this missive fails, let it fail for my delusions and not yours.

How I Failed

And I have known failure so many times that I can’t even begin to count them. I failed most miserably when my actions were motivated by the avoidance of failure:

  • I failed to take enough risks in my younger years out of fear and stupidity.
  • I failed to disrupt my parents’ self-destructive relationship even when I had the power to do it.
  • I failed as a trader on the financial markets, making and losing a lot of money.
  • I failed to test my ideas in action, wasting years on unproductive thought.
  • I failed to understand the importance of eating healthfully – and investing money in it – for many years, although I started nutrition experiments from an early age.
  • I failed to go all the way in helping a raped friend deal with paranoia and psychosis although I had the wizard skills to make it happen.
  • I failed to leave academia as soon as I realized it was not for me because of comfort.

I also failed to understand Plato.

Plato the Bumbling Idiot

In high school, I took philosophy as a mandatory elective just because I had run out of useful things to take (geography, mathematics, history etc.). Most of it wasn’t altogether boring, but I can’t say it improved my thinking much. There was one author, though, who made a mark. That was Plato.

Plato became a momentary obsession for two reasons. There was something about his writing and ideas that felt transcendent, although I found them obtuse, inaccessible and culturally narrow (a lot of that was due to the semantic mist created by academic interpreters, teachers and translators, but the responsibility to do the work and figure things out was ultimately mine). Plato fascinated me and frustrated me at the same time, and I didn’t know why. I attributed it to my then obsession with history – an obsolete thinker who had spiked my curiosity only for his presumed eloquence and the distance of time, but without much practical relevance in the present. The quintessential analydiot, I did not know to trust my instincts over “rational thinking”.

The big hook for my fascination was Plato’s cave derangement. The “allegory of the cave” puzzled and annoyed. Every interpretation of the Platonic grotto that I have yet seen boils down to a brain-in-a-vat parable about the illusoriness of what the senses deliver. Yet, Plato’s device is detailed and elaborate, one might even say viciously playful. Why put a fire in the cave and have people shuffle about with figures behind a wall instead of just using the light of the Sun and the shadows it casts? And why chain prisoners in a cave instead of just having them look at reflections off the waters of a lake? If “reality” (the outside world) is inaccessible, why speculate about one of the prisoners chained to the walls of the cave escaping and being blinded by the Sun? Why talk about that enlightened person being ostracized and considered crackers upon return? Why use such silliness to illustrate the difference between the world we experience and the real “world of ideas”? None of it made sense. It sounded like the deranged drivel of a useless philosopher with an unhinged imagination and too much time on his hands.

I thought Plato was a hallucinating academic warped in his own mind. I thought he was an idiot. I now see the idiot was I.

The Artifice of Intelligence

Seeing oneself to be an idiot is encouraging because intelligence is based on a form of idiocy (so there is hope!). To make this idea manifest, consider yourself when going out in the morning. When you walk by a tree, your brain changes if the tree is in your field of sight even if you are distracted staring at your stupiphone and the tree never enters your “consciousness”. Let’s call the difference between your brain “state” before and after (not) observing the tree a sensory representation. It is not unreasonable that other brained animals would be affected similarly by their surroundings in the present. Based on observation, many animals must also have “memory” – the ability to store/recall important parts of sensory representations or at least use them to make better decisions (i.e., avoid a water hole where predators were spotted previously). To the non-idiot, it is obvious why such faculties would have evolved through survival. Because our neurophysiology was shaped in the most direct way by the savage machinery of survival, it is also not unreasonable that these sensory representations are about as “authentic” with respect to the outside world as our cognition can get.

But human brains can do much more than store vague sensory representations. In the native processing of your brain (it’s not processing, it’s memorying) there were no words, just the object representations. Therefore, the brain must have been able to create artificial representations of representations – such as categories (a form of analogy). The next tree you see down your morning walk is more different than similar to the first, but you still think of it as and call it a tree. In the world we perceive, there is no such thing as a generic tree – every tree is unique – and categorization is simply a form of delusion we call “meaning”. But it is a useful one. The tree-representation of the specific tree you saw generates huge economies by omitting a lot of (perfectly visible) details. The generic tree-representation increases those economies by shedding even more details, which saves both energy and “storage capacity” in the brain. The meaning of “tree” is therefore hugely dilutive relative to any one tree you see. It gets even worse when you try to convey that meaning to someone else.

The brain was plastic enough to represent words (groups of sounds) but even to represent things which have never been experienced (the “meaning of 486”). We know this because there were no words before words were created and no numbers before numbers were created. Language (gesticular, spoken, written) made derivative representations (meaning) even more valuable. Speech made it possible to connect an ordered set of sounds to a categorical representation such as a tree to communicate it quickly and efficiently to others in the group.

These inventions added survival benefits for both the individual and the group as a whole. While it is all but certain that the tree-representation in your brain is different from the tree-representation in your neighbor’s, survival would have encouraged some functional convergence between those representations so that both of you know that trees can be felled and burnt. Convergence could also be possible through the generations (not just individual lives) because survival might predispose brains to developing useful and consistent tree representations through social coevolution.

Observe that this convergence of meaning (semantics) would be stronger when you have exposure to the object and its functional relevance to your personal survival (SITG). The more dependent you are on the group for tree-related activities (i.e., you stay away from lumbering and carpentry) and the less relevant trees are to your personal survival (you live in a clay hut and use oil for heating and cooking instead of wood), the less likely that your tree-representation will converge functionally with others’. For example, you may have never had a need to get involved in any woodwork, but you could make a living selling rope to lumberjacks. In this case, you have little skin in the game of lumberjack safety because you can't be killed by a falling tree because of your defective rope. SITG must be introduced Hammurabi-style in order to align the rope seller's goals with those of the lumberjack.

SITG is how you learnt language as a child, and why adult language learning is different. Children learn language experientially: “getting” words by filtering through the effectiveness of subsequent reactions and “selecting” words by whether they get the desired outcome from their parents. If the needed outcome doesn’t occur (for example, a feeding), the brain simply produces another trial word (drivel/delusion) until it works. Obviously, brains which do not tackle this process well will have a smaller probability of survival and reproduction. When you learn a language as an adult, you have to conjure up the SITG filtering (Did this person understand me? Did I say something embarrassing? Am I getting the outcome I was gunning for?) and the stakes are very different.

We have no way of knowing for certain whether speech, gestures or pictures were the first semantic system to emerge as a result of these survival benefits. But in the past few thousand years humanity’s invention of new semantic systems has accelerated. One of the most important semantic systems we use is mathematics (yes, this is totally going to be a troll for the mathematicians amongst you). Yet, mathematics is altogether removed from sensory perception. Anyone with a brain would recognize that there are no straight lines or perfect circles in the world we see, yet those are foundational objects for geometry. The same applies to numbers. Nevertheless, and despite the difficulty of learning its higher levels, the use of mathematics has grown and propagated into other (applied) fields such as chemistry, engineering and computing. Because, when applied correctly, this useful fiction helps convey information across geographies, languages and generations as well as a wide range of practical disciplines, and forward skills which would be very costly to acquire experientially time and time again.

The brain, however, cannot be contained to what is useful because usefulness can only be determined after the fact and through repeated testing. Before testing, any new meaning is, by definition, a delusion. Counterproductive meaning can catch on and survive for many generations because personal SITG is not the only survival mechanism. Delusions (and their hosts) can also survive through consensus – if enough members of the group buy into the delusion and feed it, alongside its host. The larger and more centralized the group, the easier it is for untested delusions to catch on and persist, especially from the top down. The implications are grave when events running contrary to the delusion occur only in the tails and over extended periods. In that case, the entire group could perish when the delusion is “tested” by a Black Swan event. SITG throughout society is the only way to minimize the risk of such delusions' persisting and of their hosts’ parasitizing on the broader community.

Because meaning appears to be functionally impossible if delusion is impossible, intelligence requires the ability to be delusional. At least as far as human brains are concerned. A lion could probably hallucinate (have inconsistent sensory perceptions) but it could not harbor a delusion simply because it cannot produce semantic systems. The same is true of computing. AI will only become possible with the possibility of delusion. Contemporary computing is discrete and based on numerical accuracy, which almost automatically rules out meaning-creation. Any AI system must be able to create meaning (whether that meaning is relative to the perceivable world, a surrounding software environment or something else). AI must be able to self-program because that is the essence of what we call intelligence. Such an ability makes AI inherently dangerous because of what happened to the cavemen.

The Semantic Mist

Once upon a time, a caveman saw a big tree, which was more important and valuable to his and his family’s survival than other trees (for its nutritious sap, or its profuse fruition, or its pliable wood). And he called it a Bigtree. It made survival sense to distinguish between it and other trees, so the meme stuck. Then the caveman ventured upon a big fish, which was more important to his and his family’s survival than other fish (for its nutritious meat that could be smoked and stored, or its size that could feed a few for days, or its supple bones that made good hooks and needles). And he called it a Bigfish. It made survival sense to distinguish between it and other fish, so the meme stuck. Then the caveman explained the Bigfish to his sons: “The Bigfish is to fish as the Bigtree is to trees.” And they all got lost in the semantic mist. You could fell a Bigtree with fire and axes just like any other tree, but you couldn’t catch a Bigfish like any other fish because it would break your spear and rip through your net.

Analogy is the original bullshit. You can use analogy to speed up the introduction of a new concept, but you’d only stop at analogy if you are a BS vendor. You can’t stop there because the new concept you are illuminating is a new fucking concept. Economics became a BS vending discipline largely because it applied by analogy tools (game theory, linear optimization) which were useful in other domains (evolutionary biology, engineering) to solve different (and frequently nonexistent) problems. Sometimes economists even imagined problems (created meaning) just because they had tools to transfer from other domains in need of a problem to solve. The spears broke and the nets were ripped repeatedly, but others had to pay for them because economists had no skin in the game. As a result, academic economics and its peer-“reviewed” journals are the ultimate breeding ground for collective delusions, mass hysteria (à la Krusty Krugs), scientistics and BS vending. Foremost credit for this flourishment goes to Milton Friedman (tellingly, a “Nobel prize” in economics) who actively propagated the nonsense that assumptions (domain-relevance, semantic stretching) don’t matter.

Probability theory (like mathematics) cannot be tested as authentically as a spear can be tested for breaking. Its usefulness (survival) can only be tested indirectly through applications in other fields which have authentic contact with the “real” world and are subject to skin in the game (e.g., gambling, engineering). This problem of semantic stretching has led to the proliferation of bullshit inference in social science and financial economics because neither of those domains is subject to SITG (academics get tenure and banks get bailouts). It is no accident that Nassim Taleb distinguishes on his Twitter profile between probability (philosophy), probability (mathematics), probability (logic), probability (reallife) and deadlifts. Different principles apply in different domains and the “probability” frame is just a useful shortcut which must be adapted to, tested in and engenders different results for each of these domains. SITG is the only weapon we have to ensure that testing does take place in every corner of human society, and that the possibility of delusion and parasitism is minimized. The antithesis of SITG is the Base – the deluded parasite.

Semantic stretching applies to any other semantic system, including mathematics, languages and programming. When you attempt to solve a “similar” problem in a different programming application you either break your code or find out that the programming language you are using simply does not allow the approach that worked elsewhere. Even if you have no experiential knowledge of any STEM domain, you can observe semantic stretching in translation between spoken languages. The Myst thickens when you attempt to carry an idiom or parable from one language to another. Often you find that the problem isn’t the lack of a catchy word-translation but simply that the underlying authentic knowledge does not transfer to another culture and geography. Because the adage emerged and survived in the context of a particular semantic system evolved to serve a specific culture in a specific geography. In the new language, the authentic knowledge supporting the survival of the idiom in the original language simply does not exist, so the idiom cannot catch on even if it rhymes well. It translates without translating.

The Great Unfitting

Semantic incongruity is dukkha, and dukkha is everywhere. The concept comes from Buddhism (philosophy) and is frequently translated as “suffering” (or, worse, as “pain”), which is extremely unhelpful to anyone who doesn’t speak Pali (just about the perfect example of dukkha, as you will see). Dukkha simply means a “mis-fit” – the misfit between what is and your expectations, wishes or anything else you identify with. This is the best definition of suffering that I have encountered, but I had never heard it (in any language) before discovering Buddhist philosophy. It is immediately obvious what dukkha means when defined as a lack of fit. The same unfitting occurs between the world we experience and the semantic systems we use to operate within it, including to program each other. Meaning is distant from authentic experience because meaning is but a substitute, by definition. The more “meaning” in one’s life, the less authenticity, the more suffering.

You may have noticed that people most frequently seek meaning in their identities. But in many – if not most – cases identities are just signaling shells for group consensus rather than authentic commitments to action. Consensus (however fake) can provide validation for the signaling imbecile without the authenticity of skin in the game. Individuals too often have more skin in staying in tune with the group than in testing authentic action against the vagaries of experience. The problem worsens as the group (organization, corporation, state etc.) gets larger and with the passage of time (because more uniformity and repression of dissent). Until the group implodes most spectacularly because of its fakery. A big reason for such terminal events is that identity signaling detracts individuals from authentic action and testing, thereby euthanizing innovation and risk-taking for the group as a whole. Which is why I am not a vegetarian.

What follows will surprise many of you who are familiar with my work and there is no way to soften the blow, so I’ll cut straight to it. I don’t eat meat. If you have read Blood in the Game, you know that I spent much of my childhood on a farm and wasn’t afraid of blood. But one day I figured I couldn’t kill the animals I was eating because I didn’t need to. You eat what you kill, so I don’t. There are many other reasons I could bring up, but ultimately there is only one explanation for anything we do: “because I can”. Because the opposite would not be authentic to me. Simple as that.

To be a vegetarian would mean to be associated with a litany of pretentious soydiots and fad dieters. The same would apply soon if I joined the carnivory (or whatever) movement. Such categories and identities are mental crutches and economizers for the low-IQ and the indecisive, for those who haven’t bothered to figure out what their life is about the only way we can – through risky action. I don’t need a crutch because it doesn’t get any simpler than this: I don’t eat meat. That’s it. I’ve tested it for decades and it works – for me. You do what works for you, but remember to take risks carefully and test repeatedly, so that you don’t become turkey fillets or follow the herd off the edge of a cliff. This is what SITG is all about.

Why You Make Decisions Before You Make Them

SITG is profoundly important because thinking is not what most think it is. The thoughts that you become aware of are the product of unconscious processes that you have little control of. You can’t think of something until you think of it. What is typically called “thinking” is mostly rationalization and processing, a looping back over what has already been experienced unconsciously. There is plenty of experimental neurophysiological evidence that we make decisions before we make them, before we become aware of them. Like the INCERTO, your decision-making firmware is all about heuristics and biases, and this is no accident.

The “heuristics and biases” meme became prominent in the work of Amos Tversky and Danny Kahneman. In his “Thinking: Fast and Slow” summarizing decades of studies and experiments, Kahneman articulated a binary model of cognition composed of a fast System 1, which is unconscious and does not require “effort” or “willpower”, and a slow and effortful System 2, whose outputs become manifest in "consciousness" and which can be directed to completing specific tasks. (No, imbecile, this does not refer to the two hemispheres or any other areal division of the brain. It’s a model of cognition.)

System 1 appears to be the more powerful system. If true decision-making is unconscious, it must reside there by model construction. There is good reason to consider this most probable. System 1 is almost certainly the one which evolved first and the one handling our sensory inputs – our most authentic connection to the perceivable. Therefore, System 1 must have been tested for much longer and is exposed to the world more directly. It makes little sense that survival would all of a sudden hand the reins over to the newer, slower and delusional System 2, which deals with meaning and analysis (although technology might change that). As said David Hume: “Reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the passions and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them.”

System 1 handles “authentic knowledge” – it is the proverbial gut. System 2 deals with “semantic knowledge” – analytical, slow and muddled by the distorted reflection of the semantic mist. System 1 is the “irrational” one in economic scientistics’ terms and the authentic one in the perspective of the INCERTO. Call her Barbella because she generally produces barbell-shaped decision making geared towards survival-optimal redundancy and risk asymmetries. Fiery Barbella is inaccessible to us, yet she is the only one which illuminates the “perceivable” because she is the one who arose most authentically from it. She is also the one who controls your outputs into the world – the movements of your muscles and the “thoughts” that come out of your mouth, even if they appear motivated by “thinking” in System 2. However, Barbella is ill-prepared to deal with complexity and the scaling of social systems.

Barbella’s younger sister System 2 is an “aggregating" or "synthesizing" system better oriented towards consensus and conformity. Because she deals with the mean of the crowd and with meaning, let's call her Minnella. Whereas Barbella is geared towards individual survival "in the wild", Minnella is effective in optimizing for herding behavior and thereby increasing survival odds as part of a social group. Although secondary, Minnella appears capable of overriding some of Barbella's intuitions in order to conform to and take advantage of widely held beliefs. This may have been her evolutionary advantage and origin: Minnella was born in pictures and language and what you call consciousness, as they emerged in the social. She has a tricky bug, which is in fact a feature: the ability to generate new semantic systems detached from immediate communication needs (buying food v. a new branch of mathematics). These systems of meaning need to be filtered through social consensus and Barbella’s “emotional” core before they touche on real-world failure/survival. Minnella is therefore quasi-ludic and in dire need of SITG to be at her most effective. But she is also the one which allows us to understand or, at least, manage complexity.

Therein lie the problems with lack of SITG in society. Junk thoughts produced by Minnella can get “stuck” in the meme pool for a very long time if natural selection is relied upon because individual survival weeding can be negated by consensus. Where evolution fails generally, one must put skin in the game individually. NNT’s intuitive grasp of personal psychology is eery. Minnella introduces a bug at the group/evolutionary level, which NNT corrects by applying the SITG  mechanism at the individual level. But the eeriness hasn’t even started yet because the principles of the INCERTO are all around you. All the way down to the bottom of Plato’s filthy cave.

Plato’s Fire

The fire in Plato’s cave represents System 1 (our senses and intuitions), which we cannot see, yet it is the only one that illuminates the perceivable world. The shadows visible to the prisoners represent meaning, thinking and consciousness (System 2). Barbella’s fire is the driving force of cognition because without it there would be no shadows. The prancing figures are the narrow band of the perceivable that is accessible to our senses: sensory inputs. We cannot observe directly the workings of our neurophysiology, hence the fire is hidden behind a wall, as are the sensory processes generating the grotesque parade of figures. The prisoners’ chains represent rationalism, scientism and other forms of ignorance, which deny the fakery of System 2 and the authenticity of System 1. All of this is confined within a cave representing the extreme limitations that our biology imposes on our ability to “see” what is “real”. The escape and return signify the possibility of transcending our corporeal boundaries through authentic knowledge, which would appear to the unenlightened as madness and irrationality.

Here are the words that typed themselves when, thanks to the INCERTO, I first became aware of Plato’s intuitions barely a few weeks ago:

IT IS SO OBVIOUS YOU FUCKING IDIOT.

Of course, this interpretation of Plato’s cave could be just another analytical delusion. It had to be tested repeatedly. The more I tried to undermine it, the more I was shocked by my own ignorance and the level of derangement in academic interpretations of Plato’s life and work.

Some representative analydiocy regarding Plato is evident in the following passage from the Wikipedia page on Heraclitus (a major influence):

Plato argues against Heraclitus as follows:

"How can that be a real thing which is never in the same state? [...] for at the moment that the observer approaches, then they become other [...] so that you cannot get any further in knowing their nature or state [...] but if that which knows and that which is known exist ever [...] then I do not think they can resemble a process or flux."

In Plato one experienced unit is a state, or object existing, which can be observed. The time parameter is set at "ever"; that is, the state is to be presumed present between observations. Change is to be deduced by comparing observations and is thus presumed a function that happens to objects already in being, rather than something ontologically essential to them (such that something that does not change cannot exist) as in Heraclitus. In Plato, no matter how many of those experienced units you are able to tally, you cannot get through the mysterious gap between them to account for the change that must be occurring there. This limitation is considered a fundamental limitation of reality by Plato and in part underpins his differentiation between imperfect experience from more perfect Forms. The fact that this is no limitation for Heraclitus motivates Plato's condemnation.

This "analysis" is infected with semantic delusions and out of context because earlier in the dialogue Socrates identifies the problem of semantic systems:

How realities are to be learned or discovered is perhaps too great a question for you or me to determine; but it is worth while to have reached even this conclusion, that they are to be learned and sought for, not from names but much better through themselves than through names.

Socrates only asserts that semantic systems (names, meaning) cannot be relied upon to achieve true knowledge of the nature of reality (a position also suggested in the Republic and in Plato's unwritten teachings as reported by Aristotle). The dialogue itself concludes inconclusively:

But if there is always that which knows and that which is known - if the beautiful, the good, and all the other verities exist - I do not see how there is any likeness between these conditions of which I am now speaking and flux or motion. Now whether this is the nature of things, or the doctrine of Heraclitus and many others is true, is another question; but surely no man of sense can put himself and his psyche under the control of names, and trust in names and their makers to the point of affirming that he knows anything... Therefore you must consider courageously and thoroughly and not accept anything carelessly - for you are still young and in your prime; then, if after investigation you find the truth, impart it to me.

To the non-idiot it is obvious that Plato does not criticize Heraclitus’s view that the perceivable world is in flux, let alone condemn it (Plato’s acceptance of the impermanence of the perceivable is attested elsewhere in his writings). Rather he builds on it to transcend it. “If everything is in flux (as it appears to be), then any complete knowledge or knower must exist outside of what is perceivable or analyzable.” It is Plato’s indirect way of suggesting that only some fundamental principles or "laws" of reality outside of what can be directly observed may be allowed "permanence". Plato uses the discourse to suggest that state and object do not exist outside of faulty perception and delusion – the opposite of what the analydiots hallucinate – and perfectly consistent with Heraclitus. Plato’s intuition is the archetype of NNT’s Turkey Problem – inductive knowledge is never to be considered permanent or complete. This is but one of many examples of misconstruing Plato’s ideas and practice.

Academic Plato Authentic Plato
philosophy academic idealism or realism, static realism with savage updating because the “real” is inaccessible
method of reasoning discourse/debate, “thinking” (deductive) + observation of mind and senses, analysis of “data”, testing in experience and discourse (inductive)
method of teaching lektchur/discourse/debate + Zen koan, meditation, confusion, triggering
good (“ethics”) metaphysical doxastic, based on what works in experienced intuition, post-analytical
dialogues represent and expound Plato’s philosophy teaching tools incorporating the ideas of Socrates and others to provoke and advance “true understanding” through indirection
cave brain-in-a-vat model of perception, delusion and authentic knowledge
ψυχή soul (often essentialist/dualist) cognition or “life force”
ἰδέα form (as in visible “shape”) principle, “natural law”, “curvature of reality”, “shape” as in string theory
ἀγαθοῦ the good, the noble what works, is authentic to survival/"true" knowledge or pertains to “big/heroic action”
ἀγαθοῦ ἰδέα “form of the good” “principle” of inaccessible reality underlying doxastic (authentic) knowledge

In the “Republic”, Plato provides the perfect shorthand for how the acquisition of authentic knowledge works. At the lowest level, there is εικασία (conjecture) based on primary sensory experience, followed by πῐ́στῐς (trust, “persuadedness”), which adds a functional aspect to the sensory image (“goat” v. “how to raise and milk a goat”). Then comes διάνοια – our reasoning and scientific (not scientistic!) methods and systems. This is where lower-level information is processed to produce and test generalizations. But there is a level beyond that, which is the highest and hardest level of knowledge – νόησις, authentic knowledge or true understanding, from the gut, from (informed and tested) intuition. For Plato, νόησις is hypothesis-free and thought-free (beyond semantics), but has to be reached by climbing over the other levels of knowledge, as attested in his practice as a teacher. The parallel with Talebic epistemology is shocking.

Platonistan Talebistan Interpretation Example Opposite
εικασία (conjecture) observation conjecture, object representation sensory input, data hallucination (anti-survival)
πῐ́στῐς (belief) pisteic “belief” functional or experiential knowledge, “trust”, the “how” artisanship, practice incompetence, inexperience
διάνοια (thinking) epistemic “belief” model, hypothesis, “reasoning”, the “why” mathematics, science delusion, bullshit
νόησις (understanding) doxastic “belief” authentic knowledge, understanding, “getting it”, “seeing” “foie gras”, unfake because, “instinct”, applied intuition ignorance (fueled by delusion & incompetence)

Plato’s metaphysics can be divided into three “realms”: the conscious (shadows), unconscious (fire and figures) and the real (which is inaccessible to our senses and semantics). Perceivable φαινόμενα (appearances) are simply projections of “real” εἶδοι (forms). The highest and noblest “form”, which he calls ἀγαθοῦ ἰδέα, is simply that principle or “natural law” in inaccessible reality which underlies/makes possible doxastic knowledge in the perceivable world. The etymology of ἀγαθοῦ points to the meaning “of great/heroic action”, not received wisdom or dogma, let alone “thinking”. Thus, ἀγαθοῦ ἰδέα can be construed as “reality principle underlying great/heroic action”. In the extreme, SITG takes the form of heroic action testing one’s convictions – the epitome of doxastic practice. This is precisely the meaning that δόξα had acquired some thousand years after Plato’s time in Neo-Platonism and Eastern Christianity. “Orthodoxy” simply means “right belief” or “right faith”: one forged in Right Action.

To Plato and his contemporaries, nobility (“rightfulness”) was a matter of testing through action, not some conferred accolade. Without skin and blood in the game, there was no “good” because induction. Furthermore, Plato considered all other forms (and the corresponding ethical categories – beauty, justice etc.) subordinate to the ἀγαθοῦ ἰδέα. In the perceivable world, that would mean that all ethics is founded on doxastic knowledge and, ultimately, skin in the game. Again, his insight is shocking. Because nowadays we find that any innate sense of beauty, justice, fairness etc. arises from millions of years of evolution through survival (even though this is not the same as skin in the game but operates at the level of the generations). This is just the perfect projection of Plato’s lesser “forms” from the real world onto the perceivable world, appropriately subordinated to the survival-testing of evolution.

Much of what you have herein read, Plato’s Timaeus explains thus in the eponymous dialogue, using Plato’s customary indirection:

we may assume that words are akin to the matter [subject] which they describe; when they relate to the lasting and permanent and intelligible, they ought to be lasting and unalterable, and, as far as their nature allows, irrefutable and immovable – nothing less. But when they express only the copy or likeness and not the eternal things themselves, they need only be likely and analogous to the real words. As being is to becoming, so is truth to belief. If then, Socrates, amid the many opinions about the gods and the generation of the universe, we are not able to give notions which are altogether and in every respect exact and consistent with one another, do not be surprised. Enough, if we adduce probabilities as likely as any others; for we must remember that I who am the speaker, and you who are the judges, are only mortal men, and we ought to accept the tale which is probable and enquire no further.

The similarities with NNT do not end here, as Plato appears to have been active on Twitter as well: "he who has knowledge of the just and the good and beautiful [...] will not, when in earnest, write them in ink, sowing them through a pen with words, which cannot defend themselves by argument and cannot teach the truth effectually. The gardens of letters he will, it seems, plant for amusement, and will write, when he writes, to treasure up reminders for himself, when he comes to the forgetfulness of old age, and for others who follow the same path, and he will be pleased when he sees them putting forth tender leaves." These words by Socrates in “Phaedrus” reveal not just Plato’s view of the weakness of words, but also are a key to understanding his dialogues and his method of teaching – indirection and provocation rather than lektchuring.

Plato says as much in his seventh letter: “concerning all these writers […] who claim to know the subjects which I seriously study […] it is impossible, in my judgement at least, that these men should understand anything about this subject. There does not exist, nor will there ever exist, any treatise of mine dealing therewith. For it does not at all admit of verbal expression like other studies, but, as a result of continued application to the subject itself and communion therewith, it is brought to birth in the soul on a sudden, as light that is kindled by a leaping spark.” If they don’t know, you can’t tell them.

The Authentik

Back in high school, I couldn’t be told either because I didn’t know. I failed to understand Plato for reasons which are all made manifest in the INCERTO. I didn’t have the smarts and curiosity to take risks. I didn’t have the knowledge and experience – from the gut – of individual psychology, languages and the scientific (not scientistic!) method. I didn’t have skin in the game and didn’t need to put any in because I could get a great grade by BSing my way forward – and I did. Meanwhile, I was obsessed with useless endeavors such as trying to find meaning to life. I was making my life faker instead of pursuing authentic value. Because I didn’t know what that was.

If living is becoming, authenticity is overcoming. And this is the most personal message of “SITG”. Unless you take risks, you are nothing. That ethnic, religious, professional, political or whatever other identity you carry on your sleeve counts for shit if you don’t act on it in an authentic way. Testing through risky action is our only method of reaching for reality; failure is the strongest signal we can get out of it. Action precedes belief, knowledge, science and any other delusion you might nourish. Belief can be stable and frequently toxic. Action is spastic, but authentic. The search for meaning in itself makes your life less authentic and more distant from “reality”. The further you wade into risk-taking on your authentic instincts, the faster you will forget any compulsion to seek “meaning” because your genuine actions will transcend the semantic mist.

Think of action as that which causes us to become knowing of things, to become cognizant of their latent existence. Things do not “happen”; they become manifest. You become manifest by taking risks, taking the blows of failure and then taking more risks. This is the path of the Authentik. Maestro Taleb’s INCERTO is a personal manual on how to walk it without necessarily blowing oneself up, so get “Skin in the Game” now and read it into a pulp. Read slowly, getting it. Before you move forward, relate the ideas, anecdotes and principles to specific events in your life. Think about how you could have avoided past failures and unpleasantness by applying them. See if you can prove the monumental asshole wrong. Learn how to spot cowards and bullshitters and remove them from your life. Make all the insights relevant to your experience and test them against it. Warm your hands on Plato's fire. You will see your life improve within hours. There will be light.

I do not ask of you to believe any of this because if I’m right I’m certainly wrong. I will not tell you how to live your lives for the simple reason that I cannot. No-one but you yourself can. You alone can have the authentic knowledge to decide what to do from moment to moment.

Do you have it?

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIm6yJGjgEM]

Virtu in Attrition Warfare

0

If you read “Master Sun’s Military Methods”, you will immediately know why the US were defeated in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq etc., although the book was written 2,500 years ago. One of Sun Zi’s core precepts is the avoidance of attrition warfare, if not any direct engagement with the enemy whatsoever. Master Sun’s treatise is timeless, yet I sometimes defy this insight, and in an uphill battle against the toughest of enemies.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Attrition warfare against a powerful adversary is a gruesome affair. Therefore, I must begin with a word of caution. This is not at all advisable even if you have decades of experience in power tangling publicly or covertly. If you have little practice in the game of power or you are in a vastly inferior position, Master Sun’s original work is to be followed to the letter. Winning an attrition engagement with a strong enemy – and without meeting Pyrrhus’s fate – is a very intricate endeavor that requires immense attention to detail, flexibility, situational awareness and intuitive grasp of how to act from moment to moment.

To facilitate understanding, I have divided the process into phases, but they usually overlap, so don’t take this as a step-by-step “attrition for dummies”. You can never account for all the twists and complications. This is NOT something dummies and novices should attempt without a powerful ally to bail them out when they mess it up, as they inevitably will. I myself have done it only a few times (although never regretted it), and have no intention of doing it again unless absolutely necessary. To help both you and me internalize the abstractness of this missive and achieve more clarity, I refer to the practiced strategist as the Artist and to the enemy as the Opponent.

Phase I: Observation

As Master Sun stated, deep knowledge of oneself and the enemy is the unshakeable and irreplaceable foundation of the master strategist’s inevitable victory. Every well-staged power play begins in paying close attention to the Opponent, the battlefield and one’s goals and capabilities in that context.

In general, being attentive to other players has many benefits. It is foundational. In the special circumstances of escalating to a conflict of attrition, however, it has two critical goals – more critical than in any other situation. The first objective is very similar to Master Sun’s premise, only more forceful – to ensure overwhelming advantage to win the conflict and especially the ability to take damage publicly. The second is to formulate a firm decision/determination that the fight is Right Action – that the Opponent should indeed be “vanquished at great cost” (rather than avoided, defeated with guerilla warfare etc.) because this is exactly what well-conducted attrition warfare is about.

I have never undertaken attrition conflict because someone was opposing my goals directly. In the typical case, the conflict was forced on me indirectly by someone who was adding “white noise” in my space of operation or undermining team goals through incompetence, rather than seeking to undermine me personally. The nuisant Opponent could not be removed from the situation easily and inflicted escalating damage, albeit inadvertently. Rather than seek to regain control by indirect methods such as passive aggressiveness, in each case I chose to find a permanent resolution that would also “clear the air” for the team as a whole. One objective of the resolution was always to ensure the elimination or lasting submission of the Opponent.

After accepting the inevitability and necessity of attrition, I would map out a branching tree of possible paths forward as well as an inventory of the resources I had at my disposal. I would compare these to the possible requirements of the attrition conflict. In the modern world, the typical resources required consist of ample time, patience and mental fortitude to endure a long-lasting entanglement in public. One must also consider possible effects on income streams and general ability to advance career and business goals or whatever other pursuits are central to one’s life and related to the coming battle.

Phase II: Preparation

A well-executed attrition conflict must meet all the following criteria:

  1. The Artist’s victory is guaranteed before open engagement commences.
  2. The Opponent is unable to escape once his impending defeat becomes apparent.
  3. The Opponent lands powerful blows onto the Artist, and publicly.
  4. The Opponent is crushed into submission or oblivion, and publicly.
  5. The Artist exits the conflict with much of his strength intact or easy to recover (not vulnerable to Black Swan attacks).

The first and last of these objectives are core premises of Sun Zi’s treatise to be applied to any conflict. The Artist must know that whatever the Opponent does and whatever circumstance intercedes, there are multiple paths to victory and no unavoidable paths to defeat. This knowledge must be both practical – knowing oneself and the Opponent in excruciating detail – and intuitive, based on experience and personal antifragility. Equally, the Artist must be certain that in the aftermath of the conflict s/he won’t face a challenger or a coalition of weaker adversaries while the Artist’s strength is diminished.

The middle three goals comprise the core of the attrition strategy, and run contrary to much of Master Sun’s teaching. The goal of classic encirclement is to erode the morale of the Opponent and cause him to collapse; it is sudden and occurs just before victory. In attrition, encirclement is early, gradual and overt, with the express purpose of the Opponent being allowed to take a strong position. The Opponent is set up to fight to the death, rather than collapse, guaranteeing that he can inflict serious damage on the assaulting Artist. Finally, the Opponent is ground into nothing rather than asked to surrender, contrary to what would be the optimal approach for any classical strategist.

As Sun Zi states, the most important resource of the Artist is the strength of his own force, the resilience and commitment of his men. In a modern context, this refers to one’s own skills and psychological mettle to endure and progress in a protracted engagement. Decision and determination must be established and tested before public hostilities commence. The Artist must be sure that he will persevere to victory whatever it takes. This includes considering and experiencing mentally a lot of the possible setbacks and damage from the Opponent during the engagement.

A critical detail in the attrition context is the assembling of allies to protect the Artist from third-party interference while engaged with the Opponent. In the ideal case, the Artist must also ensure that allies do not come to his aid as he attacks the Opponent; any ally who cannot be trusted to refrain from intervening must be neutralized.

Take as an example a corporate environment where you are working on a project with a team of coworkers. Your supervisors have appointed someone else as project manager, but he has really bad ideas, which you know will torpedo the effort, undermining your own career goals. You can’t get rid of the PM because he’s the only one considered “qualified” and if he’s removed the project will most likely be abandoned. You have to attrition him out of the spot or informally take control of decision making to lead the team to success.

In this case, the preparation phase might take the form of ascertaining the support of superiors and other team members (for you personally), carving out extra work time for the duration of the actual engagement and making sure that the Opponent – the project manager – is fully and publicly invested in his toxic views. You must also make your own opposing views known publicly and repeatedly, so that they are remembered, and eliminate any alternatives other than your own (encirclement). This must take the form of challenging the feasibility of the plan rather than personal attacks on the competences of the Opponent. Yet, you must do your job at your very best, following the plan of the Opponent – earnestly and in every way you can, including with overtime. This ensures you’re not blamed for the collapse of the venture and further entrenches the PM by engaging more organizational resources behind him (entrenchment).

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Phase III: Engagement

The Artist’s attack only commences after the Opponent is fully entrenched and encircled. In the corporate example, the Artist would go full-tilt against the Opponent’s leadership only after the project has become so bogged down that it is obvious to everyone, including management. Combat must always be open, no passive aggression or subversion. For example, you may be asked to compile a progress report, so you make it facts-only – but stinging facts – rather than producing an opinion piece or marketing message. That makes for a great opening of hostilities. You ask the PM to sign off on the report you prepared. If he approves it, a deluge of embarrassing facts are handed over to supervisors. If he demands edits, you get another chance to voice your disagreement with the Opponent. It’s a win-win.

Phase IV: Attrition

You seek direct engagement at every opportunity: every private conversation with the Opponent, every team meeting, every public presentation. This can take the form of uncomfortable questions and facts presented dispassionately, exposing the futility of the Opponent’s solutions and decisions, highlighting flaws in execution etc. The goal is not to subvert or antagonize the Opponent, but to exhaust him, while subjecting your own views to his attacks, preferably in public. It would be particularly advantageous to be seen withstanding the Opponent’s verbal abuse in front of your mutual supervisors, so that maximum potential embarrassment is inflicted on you and your views are pummeled as hard as possible.

To anyone who has been involved in protracted public conflict, it must be obvious that this process would be extremely taxing on the Artist. Every damaging report must be prepared with meticulous fact-checking and attention to detail, every confrontation must be endured with equanimity and dispassion, every opportunity to pick a fight with the Opponent must be taken – no exceptions. This is why physical stamina, psychological mettle and fearlessness are the most important asset in entering attrition conflict, as Sun Zi would say about any adversarial engagement.

Phase V: Victory

If you have assessed the situation thoroughly at the preparation stage and executed well, time will be on your side. The Opponent will steadily be overwhelmed by your relentless attacks and the adverse circumstances that are the failing project. He will become increasingly emotional and reactive, making even more mistakes in the process. Ultimately, anger and fighting back will be replaced by implicit acceptance of his defeat. He could ask you to take on more responsibility or even manage the team under his supervision. It is best if the Opponent begs for your help in a meeting or other public setting. You refuse any compromise with appropriate justification. However, you privately prepare to take over and coordinate with allies, so that when senior management demands a change of course you have a strategy that can get going immediately. When presenting it, you ask to take over project management (you decide whether to discard the crushed enemy or retain him as a subordinate on the basis of his competences).

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Why Attrition and Not Subversion?

Attrition warfare is public, harsh and costly. It takes extreme care not to antagonize allies or expose yourself to third parties. And all these problems are what makes it a sublime form. In a single engagement, you are transforming yourself and the world around you, not just solving for an intractable Opponent. In your grand strategy, the Opponent is at best a tool for reaching greater goods.

The encirclement of the Opponent guarantees that the resolution is final and the issue at stake need not be revisited. Keeping everything transparent and factual establishes your credentials for fearlessness, expertise and intolerance for bullshit. The Artist’s exposure to public beatings by the Opponent shows his ruthless determination and his unwavering conviction and stamina as a fighter.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Successful attrition combat fundamentally changes the atmosphere around the Artist. His allies and followers are inspired by his courage and ability. His example in expending resources and taking damage shows others that they too can build similar capability and take risks to improve their and their community’s wellbeing.

Nassim Taleb is a singular example of the virtu of attrition warfare. He fights most relentlessly and on multiple fronts. He publishes books, papers and missives on a variety of subjects, taking on establishment scientistic bullshit, rekking credentialed and tenured academics with six-figure salaries and “Nobel” prizes; political figures; media personalities and just about anyone who falls in his field of erudition. This is bound to be extremely time-consuming, mentally taxing and costing millions of dollars in potential speaking fees from scientistic and corporatist conferences. But no, thanks. I shall impale you instead.

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

1

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.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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