Soob

Politics, Foreign Policy, Current Events and Occasional Outbursts Lacking Couth

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Why the Black Swan, Soob?

Initially this post was to illustrate the fact that the Black Swan conflation with 5GW was fueled by the latest reading endeavor of Soob. That, as much as I'd like to imagine otherwise, the conjecture below didn't simply erupt in my mind and fall unto the keyboard. Initially this post was to illustrate the intellectual motivation or inspiration for the below post. That being my recent endeavor into the philosophy of Nassim Nicholas Taleb's "The Black Swan: The impact of the Highly Improbable."

Instead this post reveals the highly improbable event that not only have I recently delved into Taleb's work but both Adrian and Arherring have done so as well. Each without neither the urging nor overt influence of the other.

Perhaps (and Taleb would likely balk at this old adage) great minds do think alike!

At any rate, Taleb's work is the first since Barnett's BFA that found me often looking up from the book and gazing off into oblivion in contemplation or reflection. Taleb challenges not only history, popular "philosophy" and scholastic convention but the lense through which we both understand and realize them. More to come in a full review upon completion.

A side note: I'd certainly invite any and all to read, with an open mind, Taleb's book. I'd specifically very much invite all of the D5GW theorists to do the same.

6 comments:

Steve said...

Ah, that's next on my reading list... It certainly does sound interesting.

Adrian said...

Great minds? On the internet, no-one knows you're a dog/lowly research assistant.

Jay@Soob said...

Dogs can certainly be brilliant. Remember Lassie? They can also be huge as in Clifford. Or disarmingly cute as in Benji. Or painfully aggressive as in Kujo.

As for research assistants, I have it on good source that they lurk in various collegiate library stacks ready to pounce on the first poor soul that wanders in with a bologna sammich.

Really though: Is intellect directly tied to social position?

Adrian said...

"Is intellect directly tied to social position?"

I know of a certain limosine driver who would have a definite answer to that: "NO".

Anonymous said...

I've finished it now and intend to go back over my copy to highlight the parts I found most interesting. Expect at the minimum a review and/or some 5GW posting inspired by the text in the near future.

Jay@Soob said...

Looking forward to it.