Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Nassim Taleb Sums Up America's Election In 17 "Black Swan" Words
Zero Hedge ^ | 13 March 2016 | On Nassim Taleb, by Tyler Durden

Posted on 03/22/2016 2:36:13 PM PDT by Lorianne

Sometimes, less is more, and in infamous "Black Swan" philosopher Nassim Taleb's case, summing up the chaos that is enveloping America, and its forthcoming election was as simple as the following:

"The *establishment* composed of journos, BS-Vending talking heads with well-formulated verbs, bureaucrato-cronies, lobbyists-in training, New Yorker-reading semi-intellectuals, image-conscious empty suits, Washington rent-seekers and other "well thinking" members of the vocal elites are not getting the point about what is happening and the sterility of their arguments."

To which he appended the following 17 perfectly succinct words:

"People are not voting for Trump (or Sanders). People are just voting, finally, to destroy the establishment."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government
KEYWORDS: blackswan; captainobvious; nassimtaleb; taleb; washingtoncartel
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-35 next last

1 posted on 03/22/2016 2:36:13 PM PDT by Lorianne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

The Trump Phenomenon
http://www.jeffhead.com/Trump-Phenom.htm

...and:

My letter to Ted Cruz
http://www.jeffhead.com/Cruz-ltr.htm

The GOPe is the one that MUST lose, so that we can then pivot to the Progressive/left/DNC as defeat it as it should be defeated.

for the last several years, IMHO, it is the GOPe that has kept that from happening.


2 posted on 03/22/2016 2:40:21 PM PDT by Jeff Head (Semper Fidelis - Molon Labe - Sic Semper Tyrannis)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

3 posted on 03/22/2016 2:43:03 PM PDT by proust (Texans for Trump! The Art Of The Comeback!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

Agree.


4 posted on 03/22/2016 2:43:23 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (#JesuisCharlesMartel)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

Nassim Taleb gets it.


5 posted on 03/22/2016 2:44:46 PM PDT by Pelham (more than election. Revolution)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

The Black Swan Theory ...

The black swan theory or theory of black swan events is a metaphor that describes an event that comes as a surprise, has a major effect, and is often inappropriately rationalized after the fact with the benefit of hindsight.

Black swan events were discussed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his 2001 book Fooled By Randomness, which concerned financial events. His 2007 book The Black Swan extended the metaphor to events outside of financial markets. Taleb regards almost all major scientific discoveries, historical events, and artistic accomplishments as “black swans”;undirected and unpredicted. He gives the rise of the Internet, the personal computer, World War I, dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the September 2001 attacks as examples of black swan events.

“What we call here a Black Swan (and capitalize it) is an event with the following three attributes.

First, it is an outlier, as it lies outside the realm of regular expectations, because nothing in the past can convincingly point to its possibility.

Second, it carries an extreme ‘impact’.

Third, in spite of its outlier status, human nature makes us concoct explanations for its occurrence after the fact, making it explainable and predictable.

I stop and summarize the triplet: rarity, extreme ‘impact’, and retrospective (though not prospective) predictability. A small number of Black Swans explains almost everything in our world, from the success of ideas and religions, to the dynamics of historical events, to elements of our own personal lives”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_swan_theory


6 posted on 03/22/2016 2:45:01 PM PDT by OwenKellogg (Trump all the way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: OwenKellogg


7 posted on 03/22/2016 2:46:10 PM PDT by OwenKellogg (Trump all the way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

People with no skin in the game think they can continue bossing around people who have no skin left for the game.


8 posted on 03/22/2016 2:46:15 PM PDT by ameribbean expat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

the only way to take out the uniparty is to destroy one of it’s mutually enabling wings.


9 posted on 03/22/2016 2:46:31 PM PDT by dadfly
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

Great article.

Short. Sweet. To the point.

Thanks for posting.


10 posted on 03/22/2016 2:46:54 PM PDT by EternalHope (Something wicked this way comes. Be ready.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EEGator

ping


11 posted on 03/22/2016 2:47:00 PM PDT by OwenKellogg (Trump all the way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

They all know it.
They just won’t admit it.
They dare not say it in public.
They dare not imagine it in private......................


12 posted on 03/22/2016 2:47:28 PM PDT by Red Badger (The Left doesn't like him and the Right doesn't like him, so he must be the right guy for the job...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

I have been wondering what Taleb thinks of this election. The Trump Effect qualifies as a Black Swan in my view. And I agree with Taleb’s take.


13 posted on 03/22/2016 2:48:05 PM PDT by Lysandru
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

quote of the day!


14 posted on 03/22/2016 2:48:08 PM PDT by MNDude (God is not a Republican, but Satan is certainly a Democrat.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

“People are not voting for Trump (or Sanders). People are just voting, finally, to destroy the establishment.”

I have been posting the following since last year with updates on primary results.

The RNC/GOPe/Neocon Uniparty elite thugs, who have been the overseers of the Faux Conservative plantations since 1961. These overseers keep trying to trick/betray/control us to stay on/in their faux conservative plantations by selecting their ilk/puppets as our candidates. They lie and promise us conservatism and when elected $crew us daily in congress and as POTUS! NR and their handpicked tv/radio hosts have pushed their lies for decades.

In NH, SC, FL and Nevada, Trump and his voters ignored them. His voters then voted big time for Trump. They won bigtime and broke the rules of the plantation masters by voting for Trump in NH. This is scaring the hell out of our former neocon RNC/GOPe masters of the faux conservative plantations and their ilk, the Club for Growth.

It is wonderful to see this decades old, long standing corrupt political system disintegrating right before our eyes. This corrupted system hates working Americans. It rewards illegals and those who bring them into America to freeload off the American workers slaving in the faux conservative plantation.

We are seeing a paradigm shift with us selecting our Presidential Candidate, instead of the RNC/GOPe/Uniparty elites, who hate us, selecting our candidates.

There is a Black Swan event occurring with the daily suicidal self wrought destruction of the RNC/GOPe, UniParty, Open Border Thugs, DC faux pundits, Faux News, ABCNNBCBS, NT and the left wing fish wraps. Something similar may be happening with the DEMes.

Many of us are looking forward to seeing the broken bones, drying blood and entrails of the Lying RNC/GOP Open Borders Elite, The Club for Growth, the UniParty, their DC faux conservative pundits, their mediots, their phoney pollsters and focus groups, Faux, ABCNNBCBS, their hired tv and radio hacks strewn across the primary states as much as our victories in those states.

We have escaped from their faux conservative plantations. We are not going back for more lies, abuse and mistreatment from our former RNC/GOPe masters.

We will vote for Trump and destroy them!


15 posted on 03/22/2016 2:48:41 PM PDT by Grampa Dave (I 'm just another low info/stupid & evil/vile/crazy Trump supporter wanting to select my candidate!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

We had better start voting all the bums out. People want everyone else to get rid of their bums, but want to keep their own. That won’t work, obviously.


16 posted on 03/22/2016 2:48:45 PM PDT by Old Yeller (Calling Obama a POS is a major insult to S.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

Throw in a deluge of ridicule, snobbery, and superior-feeling
to describe the establishment, especially on the Dem side.


17 posted on 03/22/2016 2:49:29 PM PDT by Doche2X2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ameribbean expat; dadfly

A fine pair of swannies!


18 posted on 03/22/2016 2:51:24 PM PDT by dasboot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: Lorianne

The dissolution of the Soviet Union was long expected, and during the first Gulf War there was speculation as to whether or not the drubbing that Iraq (armed to a great extent with Soviet and Chinese equipment) was taking might not be the
final straw.
Perhaps what is meant is “unexpected by Ivory tower academics and journalists. “


19 posted on 03/22/2016 2:52:16 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: OwenKellogg
...Firstly black swans are not that rare....and is the state bird of Western Australia.

Second...this has been previously published as The Structure of Scientific Revolutions -

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962; second edition 1970) is a book about the history of science by philosopher Thomas S. Kuhn. Its publication was a ... ‎History - ‎Synopsis - ‎Kuhn's opinion on scientific ... - ‎Influence

What we have here is a Paradigm Shift.

20 posted on 03/22/2016 2:55:48 PM PDT by spokeshave (Somewhere there is a ceiling for Trump.....Yeah, it's called The Oval Office)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-35 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson