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I've been following author Nassim Taleb for several years now.  His claim to fame was his 2007 book Black Swan which brought the term black swan event into the English vocabulary. What I've done here is transcribe and edit-down a talk Taleb gave in India (2018) where he explains the key principles in his newest book, Skin in the Game. Enjoy. Very rarely have I seen Taleb mentioned on Free Republic, but there's a lot for FReepers to like: Taleb is smart and opinionated wordsmith and historian who hates big bureacracies and doesn't suffer fools.  Perhaps he hasn't come...

No Worship Without Skin in the Game Symmetry, symmetry everywhere — Belief and worship requires an entry fee — The Gods do not like cheap signaling. (Author's) Note: I am posting these excerpts from SKIN IN THE GAME as I am ending the harrying Greek-Orthodox lent period which, for the most part, allows no animal products. This diet is particularly hard to keep in the West where people use butter and dairy products. But once you fast, you feel entitled to celebrate Easter; it is like the exhilaration of fresh water when one is thirsty. You’ve paid a price. Your holiday is different from that...

Real Life is Risk Taking Chapter from Skin in the Game Life in the Simulation Machine There are many ways to convince with an icepick — Councils of bickering bishops Theosis– Why Trump will win I once sat in a dinner party on a large round table across from a courteous fellow called David. The host was a physicist, Edgar C. who was honoring an author, a former secretary of the great Borges, so, except for the fellow David, everyone was dressed like people who read Borges. As to David, he was dressed like someone who didn’t know that people who read, among...

Why Each One Should Eat His Own Turtles: Equality in Uncertainty How do turtles taste — Where are the new customers? –Sharia and asymmetry (Chapter 2 of Skin in the Game) You who caught the turtles better eat them (Ipsi testudines edite, qui cepistis) goes the ancient adage. The origin of the expression is as follows. It was said that a group of fishermen caught a large number of turtles. After cooking them, they found out at the communal meal that these sea animals were much less edible that they thought: not many members of the group were willing to eat them....

H.J. Heinz Co. is closing three plants in North America and cutting 1,350 jobs in an effort to operate more efficiently. The food maker said Thursday that it will close facilities in two states and Canada over the next six to eight months. The cuts total 200 jobs in Florence, S.C., 410 jobs in Pocatello, Idaho and 740 employees in Leamington, Ontario, in Canada. …

This is how Democrats say thanks– Today Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid went on KNPR in Las Vegas to discuss current affairs. One question he faced was about union uproar over Obamacare. Harry Reid said it’s time for them to give up their Cadillac plans and “put some skin in the game.” “Let’s understand where we are with the unions. One of the things we’ve learned with all of the hearings we held, dozens and dozens of them, is that if you have insurance you have to be able to have some skin in the game as we say in...

CBS News and "60 Minutes" reporter Lara Logan has lambasted the Obama administration for pushing what she called the "major lie" that the Taliban has been weakened in Afghanistan by the U.S. military. According to a Fox News report, Logan spoke last week to a crowd of about 1,100 at last the Better Government Association annual luncheon in Chicago. During the speech she accused the administration of downplaying the number of Al Qaeda operatives in Afghanistan to support its rush to leave. She also claimed Washington acts as apologists for the Taliban by downplaying their links to Al Qaeda and...