Extremistan and black swans

Interview with thinker and investor Nassim Nicholas Taleb on measuring risk and why it is so difficult.

Alan Greenspan lowered interest rates thinking it would help the economy. All it did was push banks to take risks—hidden risks. Do you realize that we don't understand globalization? Globalization increases Extremistan. That's one problem with this Tom Friedman guy—he [the bestselling author of The World Is Flat, which argues the advantages of globalization in the internet age] didn't seem to understand the very simple dynamics that globalization forces redundancy out of the system. And whenever you don't have redundancy, you have Extremistan. Things are way too efficient, so the smallest mistake blows up. We depend so much on the internet. Tomorrow, if there's a problem in Bangalore, we're toast for a long time, you see?

Taleb's take on the business world "...I found nothing interesting about the details of the business world – inelegant, dull, pompous, greedy, unintellectual, selfish, and boring.”