[jerf]

Malfeasance enabled the models, the models enabled malfeasance. Declaring one thing "the culprit" and not the other is to fail to recognize the dynamic nature of the system. Even in a world of perfect angels, Taleb shows that broken models would still bring the system down. Even in a world of perfect models, unscrupulous jerks can bring the system down. It's all too related to pull apart.

[TriinT]

So, what is the solution? Destroy the financial industry? Good luck.

Taleb is an anti-intellectual. He believes that all models are wrong and useless. To make it worse, he advocates that no further knowledge can be attained. The only knowledge and truth that is right is the "black swan theory". Come on, gimme a break!!! Aren't we HN'ers smarter than that? Why is Taleb's drivel being upvoted?!

[khafra]

The idea I've gotten from reading Taleb (articles, not books) is not that all models are useless, it's that assuming a normal distribution is often unjustified, and that once-in-a-century events come along quite a bit more often than that. Sure; he invented a catchphrase, not the exponential distribution--but "Black Swan" is more than just a cheap Australian Cabernet if it'll generate more positive awareness of systemic risks.