Nassim Taleb is trader, researcher and essayist. He is the author of the Incerto, a multi-volume philosophical and practical meditation on uncertainty.
Tag: Pandemics
[YouTube] Why Correlation is Unreliable
At the 2022 Greenwich Economic Forum-Miami, Black Swan author, Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains why correlation is unreliable as a due diligence tool. Coming as it does during an ongoing pandemic and in the middle of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Taleb also discusses Wars and Pandemics and puts them into their proper risk buckets.
[YouTube] Power Laws (Q & A)
- Why violence did not drop (the Pinker Problem)?
- Pandemics
- What an “infinite mean” means?
- What causes power laws?
[YouTube] Nassim and Yaneer Bar-Yam discuss the French Study on the economic performance of zero-Covid countries
Countries that Panicked Early Did Best: A Conversation With Yaneer Bar Yam
Link to the Study – The Zero Covid strategy protects people and economies more effectively
[YouTube] COVID Misconceptions, Fed Policy, Inflation
Nassim Taleb, New York University distinguished professor of risk engineering, discusses what he sees as misconceptions about the coronavirus pandemic and comments on the Federal Reserve’s shift in monetary policy. He speaks with Bloomberg’s Erik Schatzker.
[YouTube] COVID Risk Conversation: Yaneer Bar-Yam and Nassim Nicholas Taleb
A continuation of Nassim and Yaneer’s regular conversation. In this video, they discuss:
1) The errors in ignoring scaling for pandemics. Why a doctor’s micro-expertise doesn’t transfer to collective risks?
2) How evidence-based medicine is closer to anecdote based medicine owing to silent risks?
3) The risks of morbidity must be accounted for.
4) How the dangers of vaccines do not scale.
[PODCAST] EconTalk with Russ Roberts: Nassim on the Pandemic
Nassim Nicholas Taleb talks about the pandemic with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Topics discussed include how to handle the rest of this pandemic and the next one, the power of the mask, geronticide, and soul in the game.
Link to Podcast – econtalk.org/nassim-nicholas-taleb-on-the-pandemic/
Direct Link (mp3): Talebpandemic.mp3
[Medium] The Masks Masquerade
Incompetence and Errors in Reasoning Around Face Covering
SIX ERRORS: 1) missing the compounding effects of masks, 2) missing the nonlinearity of the probability of infection to viral exposures, 3) missing absence of evidence (of benefits of mask wearing) for evidence of absence (of benefits of mask wearing), 4) missing the point that people do not need governments to produce facial covering: they can make their own, 5) missing the compounding effects of statistical signals, 6) ignoring the Non-Aggression Principle by pseudolibertarians (masks are also to protect others from you; it’s a multiplicative process: every person you infect will infect others).
In fact masks (and faceshields) supplemented with constraints of superspreader events can save us trillions of dollars in future lockdowns (and lawsuits) and be potentially sufficient (under adequate compliance) to stem the pandemic. Bureaucrats do not like simple solutions.
Continue reading on Medium: medium.com/incerto/the-masks-masquerade
[EndCoronavirus.Org] Town Hall discussion with Yaneer Bar-Yam
Nassim Taleb joins EndCoronavirus.org Founder, Yaneer Bar-Yam, for a Town Hall discussion.
Website: EndCoronavirus.org
Join Us: EndCoronavirus.org/join
Take Action: Community.EndCoronavirus.org
Twitter: twitter.com/endCOVID19
Instagram: instagram.com/end_covid19
Facebook Page: facebook.com/endcoronavirus.org
Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/endcoronavirus