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by ThrowawayR2 1842 days ago
The parable of the wolf and dog might be motivating at first glance but one has to wonder what happened to the hungry wolf afterwards? In the wild, animals live a rather precarious existence, fight and eat each other to survive, and die of starvation and disease in untold numbers. "The idea of freedom is inspiring. But what does it mean? If you are free in a political sense but have no food, what's that? The freedom to starve?" ― Angela Y. Davis

What exactly is it that Mr. Taleb proposes we do? Even starting one's own business means inflicting the state of being a domesticated dog upon others which seems even less laudable than being a domesticated dog oneself.
2 comments
krapp 1842 days ago
>The parable of the wolf and dog might be motivating at first glance but one has to wonder what happened to the hungry wolf afterwards?

In real life, of course, the wolf just eats the dog because it's a dog eat dog world, and trading your next meal for ideological purity isn't something wolves do, it's a privilege afforded to dogs who sometimes like to imagine themselves as wolves.

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perl4ever 1842 days ago
>the wolf just eats the dog

Wolves eat livestock, not being trained otherwise. Wolves are rare in a lot of places where they used to be numerous, coincidence?

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twobitshifter 1842 days ago
Yeah, that fable isn’t the greatest. The dog could run away but it benefits from the arrangement and in many countries dogs don’t even have collars - yet they still return home.

The wolf like an entrepreneur is still a slave to survival just with higher stakes. You may think that you don’t have a boss, but you still have clients/customers in the end. Freedom (Financial independence) is gained once you can collect rents, investment income, or delegate responsibilities - but someone else is now your ‘slave’ in those cases.

The company man in the tropical paradise was a strange example. The company gives him a better life than he would have otherwise had and let’s him live like a king - so he supports the company. Is there any treatment of employees possible that Taleb would think is a fair shake? Perhaps because the title is “skin in the game” he thinks they must make their income through company stock?

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