Bed of Procrustes
Powerful set of quotes that distill the Incerto series in an easy fashion
Some quotes that I liked from the book:
“The cure for modernity is to punish the least competent and most intolerant of uncertainty” - Taleb’s inversion of traditional expertise hierarchy. Modern example: COVID pandemic showed epidemiologists with zero accountability outperformed by ER nurses with skin in the game.
“You never convince anyone by argument; they convince themselves through experience” - Explains why financial warnings fail. 2008 crisis survivors became risk-averse, while textbook economists kept promoting flawed models. Pain > theory.
“A prophet is not someone with visions, but someone who remembers what others forget” - Ancient Judean drought survival techniques now used in Israeli agriculture. Modern “innovation” often rediscovery of antifragile wisdom.
“Bureaucracy is a construction by which a person is conveniently separated from the consequences of their actions” - Pentagon’s 2022 audit failure vs. Roman legion system where engineers slept under bridges they built.
“The difference between technology and slavery is that slaves are fully aware they aren’t free” - Smartphone users check devices 96x/day yet deny addiction. Compare to tobacco executives smoking while denying cancer links.
