5 Reasons Risk-Taking Is More Important Than Knowledge & Lecturing Birds On How To Fly With Nassim Taleb
Summary of episodes 185-192 of the With Joe Wehbe Podcast
This comes from the podcast series on Nassim Nicholas Taleb and his book ‘Antifragile’.
1/ Knowledge is over-valued
As Derek Sivers says, ‘“If [more] information was the answer, then we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs.”
You can sit in classrooms or consume courses and books endlessly without taking action. It’s easy, so the rewards for doing it are not that great.
2/ You’ll acquire more applicable knowledge through taking risks. Failures are more useful than successes for learning.
I use the example of working on The Constant Student. We had lots of elaborate theories when working on the prototype… that all got thrown out the window once we ran the first beta group.
You’ll never see where the leaks are if you don’t pour water through. Instead of finding out, most people hide from the water.
3/ Innovation does not come from academic research, formal education or science. It comes from entrepreneurship.
We don’t need better math levels in society — entrepreneurs and innovators move society forward by creating new things. Taleb does not believe that innovation can come from academia or science (he calls them victims of ‘The Soviet-Harvard Delusion’).
I was listening to a Joe Rogan episode this week with Dr. Robert Malone, mRNA architect and controversial vaccine commentator who left academia because he ‘wanted to actually make things’.
4/ Remember the taxi driver vs. the banker. Not taking risks hides bigger risks mo-fo’s
Taleb spins an anecdote about two brothers, one who becomes a taxi driver and deals with variable income — when he has a week without a ride, he innovates by looking for a more active spot.
The other is a banker, who enjoys a comfortable office and a fixed, steady income. Everything is going fine… until the GFC hits. The banker is fired while the taxi driver survives (until Uber comes along).
Moral: smooth sailing normally hides real risks. Small stressors are more acute in the short-term but can save you in the long-run.
If you launch that idea you might get laughed at. If you ask that girl out you might get rejected… but if you don’t do these things, the bigger risk is ending up alone and uninspired. I’m writing a piece on this called ‘the risk see-saw’.
5/ Risks that don’t pay off can actually leave you further ahead — keep taking asymmetric bets
So you take two years off to pursue an idea, and it doesn’t come together. You knew this was a risk, and unfortunately it has come to be. What do you do? Go back to work with your tail between your legs, two years behind everyone else?
Wrong — you just did a two-year, mind-opening degree that exposed you to new possibilities, people and connections. Your market value has risen more than it otherwise would have. As we discuss in #189, your first shot might not work, but one in twenty asymmetric bets will almost certainly come off, even if you’re an idiot.
Keep taking asymmetric bets.
Who do you know that needs to know this?
🎙 Recent Episodes
Below I’ve linked to Youtube episodes.
You can also go to your preferred podcast player here like Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere else you listen to podcasts.
#185: Nassim Taleb's Recipe For Innovation And Distrust Of Science (12 min 58 sec)
#186: Nassim Taleb On ‘Lecturing Birds How To Fly’ In Modern Education (9 min 58 sec)
#187: Nassim Taleb On Why You Shouldn’t Be A Careerist Or Put Yourself In A Box (11 min 52 sec)
#188: Nassim Taleb On Black Swans And The Right Mindset For An Uncertain Future (12 min 29 sec)
#189: Nassim Taleb On The Importance Of Taking Asymmetric Bets In Your Career (10 min 55 sec)
#190: Taleb’s Definition Of A Loser & The Doctor Laughed At For Hand-Washing (10 min 4 sec)
#191: Nassim Taleb On How To Achieve More By Intervening Less! (9 min 11 sec)
#192: Nassim Taleb On Why Risk-Taking Is More Important Than Knowledge (9 min 14 sec)
🔄 Not up to these yet? See previous issues
Episodes 178-184 — on how idiots can beat experts. This links to a couple of very deep and meaningful ‘new year, new me’ episodes and then gets into the first of the thought leader series on Nassim Nicholas Taleb!
Episodes 171-177 — about where university is useful, the pressures on education decisions for young people and our suppression of teen entrepreneurs and the creativity of youth.
Episodes 161-170 — about the biases we put into advice and finding our direction.
Episodes 154-160 — why you need a compass, not a map, and why people say ‘one day’.
Episodes 147-153 — broad thinking about careers
Episodes 140-146 — open-mindedness and thinking, an important precursor to discussing any educational or career breakthrough concepts
Episodes 122-139 — foundational ideas about education and learning.
🖊 Recent articles
These are on the figures in upcoming podcast episodes, including Peter Thiel and Alan Watts!
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