Month: June 2018

Medium: Pedophrasty, Bigoteering, and Other Modern Scams

On By In General, Links, Writing

painting

Pedophrasty

Definition: Argument involving children to prop up a rationalization and make the opponent look like an asshole, as people are defenseless and suspend all skepticism in front of suffering children: nobody has the heart to question the authenticity or source of the reporting. Often done with the aid of pictures.

Can also describe the exploitation of babies by professional beggars who rent them from their parents and use them as potent appendage in their trade(remember that children tend to grow and need to be replaced).

Link: https:// medium. com/ incerto/ pedophrasty- bigoteering- and-other- modern- scams- c84bd70a29e8

Medium: What do I mean by Skin in the Game? My Own Version

On By In General, Links, Writing

photo of elephants

What is Skin in the Game? The phrase is often mistaken for one-sided incentives: the promise of a bonus will make someone work harder for you. For the central attribute is symmetry: the balancing of incentives and disincentives, people should also penalized if something for which they are responsible goes wrong and hurts others: he or she who wants a share of the benefits needs to also share some of the risks.

Link: https://medium.com/incerto/what-do-i-mean-by-skin-in-the-game-my-own-version-cc858dc73260

The Motley Fool interviews Nassim Nicholas Taleb

On By In General

Taleb is a very difficult person to pin down. As Ralph Nader put it last month: “You cannot pigeonhole him!” But I think that introduction to his insight (and foresight) should suffice to convince even those who have never heard of him before that he’s worth listening to.

Taleb is a former trader, a professor at NYU, and the author of several best-sellers including Fooled by Randomness, The Black Swan, Antifragile, and his just-released Skin in the Game. But perhaps its best to classify him as a “flaneur,” someone who — according to the Oxford Dictionary, “saunters around observing society.”

Also see written article here: https:// www. fool. com/ investing/ 2018/ 04/ 03/ motley- fool- interview- nassim- nicholas- taleb.aspx

[Podcast] Nassim Nicholas Taleb Interview – Art of Manliness Podcast

On By In Audio, Podcasts

In a world where some people have certain advantages that others do not, how do you navigate the landscape while still acting ethically? My guest today argues that we all need to put some more skin in the game.

His name is Nassim Nicholas Taleb. If you read the AoM site, you’ve likely seen our articles about his antifragility concept. In his latest book, Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life, he explores the ethics of living in a complex and uneven world. We begin our conversation discussing what Taleb means by skin in the game and how it’s similar to traditional notions of honor. Nassim then explains what he means by asymmetries, how people exploit them unethically, and how skin in the game can reduce that exploitation. Taleb then explains why ethics are hard to scale, why minorities end up ruling, and what it means to put not only skin, but soul in the game.