good news! anti-Semitic, pro-deadlifting xo nassim taleb is back with a book explaining why libs are dumb and trump did nothing wrong.

"There are other similarities, to quote from studies of populist movements worldwide: these leaders are majoritarian, they build on resentment, they use social media for direct access to their voters, and they can take radical decisions."

"I often say that a mathematician thinks in numbers, a lawyer in laws, and an idiot thinks in words. These words don’t amount to anything. I think you have to draw the conclusion that there is a global riot against pseudo-experts. I saw it with Brexit, and Nigel Farage [leader of the U.K. Independence Party], who was a trader for 15 years, said the problem with the government was that none of them had ever had a proper job. Being a bureaucrat is not a proper job."

https://medium.com/incerto/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211e2d0577

https://medium.com/incerto/how-to-be-rational-about-rationality-432e96dd4d1a

here's a supposed satire of the book (still sounds awesome imo):

"Who are the worst offenders? Politicians, advisers, middle managers, university lecturers, architects and every liberal pinko you’ve ever met. That’s you, Steven Pinker. Man’s a halfwit. There’s only room for one genius round here and that’s me. None of these guys have any skin in the game.

Time was when leaders would actually lead their countries into battle. Caesar, Hannibal. They were men putting their bodies on the line. Even Hitler. Say, what you like about Adolf – and the man did have his faults – but at least he was prepared to top himself when everything went tits up. That’s having skin in the game. George W Bush and Tony Blair had no skin in the game when they went to war against Iraq and have completely messed up the entire world as a result. If they’d had to fight or send one of their kids to the front line, maybe they would have acted differently.

Having skin in the game means reading the Code of Hammurabi. And, because I’ve got skin in the game, I didn’t trust other people’s translations. I took time out to learn the ancient Babylonian script myself. Turns out the translations were pretty accurate after all. But better safe than sorry. Anyway, want to know why Islam is taking over the world? It’s because Muslims have more skin in the game. They are prepared to shout loudest and bully people into becoming Muslim. Christians take note.

Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Allen Lane, £20)

Another example. Almost every academic you are going to meet is a complete and utter fraud. Scientists don’t do science any more. They do scientism. Economists don’t do economics. They do economism. They just come up with a whole load of ideas they can all agree upon to keep themselves in a job. Architects are the same. If they were crushed to death under a pile of rubble when one of their buildings fell down, they might try harder to design less crap. They all call themselves experts but they are anything but.

So, apart from me, who does have skin in the game? Artisans. People who make stuff and whose survival depends on their reputations. The cockney guys I meet down the gym – like me, they can bench press 200kg. That’s skin in the game. Donald Trump also has skin in the game. People voted for him because they thought he was genuine. He may have lost billions of dollars in stupid investments but at least it was only his own money. That’s skin in the game.

...I’ll leave you with this thought. If 100 people play Russian roulette once, more than 80% will survive. But if one person plays Russian roulette 100 times, he’s going to croak. That’s probability. So stay safe, keep some skin in the game, do weights, keep some skin in the game – and don’t listen to that asshole Steven Pinker."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3903523&forum_id=2#35483321)