[Medium] The World in Which We Live Now

The World in Which We Live Now

Lecture at the Annual Meeting of the Ron Paul Institute, 2025

Friends, I have seven points. Why seven? Because I’ve been reading too much Babylonian history recently.

FROM CONNECTIVITY TO TECHNOFEUDALISM

The first one is about concentration, a distinctive feature of the modern world, often tied to what I called the Black Swan problem. We now see winner-take-all effects everywhere, owing to connectivity. Imagine an island with many species but a high density per square meter. Compare that to a continent, where opening up space leads to fewer species per meter because some will eventually dominate. This mirrors cultural and economic life today.

Continue reading on Medium: nntaleb.medium.com/the-world-in-which-we-live

Nassim Nicholas Taleb Speaking at RPI Blueprint For Peace 2025

Blueprint For Peace 2025

Ron Paul Institute Blueprint For Peace Conference

  • Date: Saturday, August 16, 2025
  • Time: 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. EDT
  • Location: Hilton Washington Dulles Airport, 13869 Park Center Road, Herndon, VA 20171

Event topics include:

  • US/NATO proxy war in Ukraine
  • Statements by President Biden about Russia
  • Political positions related to Ukraine and China
  • US national debt and interest payments
  • Conflict and humanitarian situation in Gaza
  • AI-driven “pre-crime” surveillance

Speakers:

  • Dr. Ron Paul, Founder, Ron Paul Institute
  • Daniel McAdams, Director, Ron Paul Institute
  • Col. Douglas Macgregor, Former Advisor to US Secretary of Defense
  • Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Author of The Black Swan
  • Max Blumenthal, Editor-in-Chief, The Grayzone
  • Anya Parampil, Journalist and Producer, The Grayzone

Get your Tickets Here

Bloomberg: Portfolios to ‘Blow Up’ Without Tail Hedges

“The worst thing you can do with insurance is try to time it,” Taleb, a distinguished professor of risk engineering at New York University, said in an interview Monday on Bloomberg Television. “If you don’t have tail insurance, you don’t have a portfolio. Your portfolio is going to blow up.”

That’s a sobering reality check from someone who has long argued that instead of turning to the government for help in times of crisis, big investors and corporations should manage their own risks. His pleas for prudence were largely ignored, though, and most parts of the economy were ill-prepared for a sudden downturn when the coronavirus hit.

Link to Bloomberg article: Taleb Says Portfolios to ‘Blow Up’ Without Tail Hedges

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[The Guardian] The UK’s coronavirus policy may sound scientific. It isn’t

Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Yaneer Bar-Yam

When, along with applied systems scientist Dr Joe Norman, we first reacted to coronavirus on 25 January with the publication of an academic note urging caution, the virus had reportedly infected fewer than 2,000 people worldwide and fewer than 60 people were dead. That number need not have been so high.

Link: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/mar/25/…cummings