Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a <a href="/facts/Lebanese-American/3udqmuvr">Lebanese-American</a> essayist, <a href="/facts/Mathematical_statistics/DeCWSzsy">mathematical statistician</a>, former <a href="/facts/Option_trader/5gJFXV3X">option trader</a>, <a href="/facts/Risk_analysis/xGhxtxdp">risk analyst</a>, and <a href="/facts/Aphorist/hYudG9yF">aphorist</a>. His work concerns problems of <a href="/facts/Randomness/QJQBoEX5">randomness</a>, <a href="/facts/Probability/fgYvMhwb">probability</a>, <a href="/facts/Complexity/KjgY905l">complexity</a>, and <a href="/facts/Uncertainty/VM9pnGvk">uncertainty</a>.
Taleb is the author of the Incerto, a five-volume work on the nature of uncertainty published between 2001 and 2018 (notably, <a href="/facts/The_Black_Swan%3a_The_Impact_of_the_Highly_Improbable/0PQFkD7j">The Black Swan</a> and <a href="/facts/Antifragile_(book)/gWMR4s2B">Antifragile</a>). He has taught at several universities, serving as a Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at the <a href="/facts/New_York_University_Tandon_School_of_Engineering/xo5c9hFF">New York University Tandon School of Engineering</a> since September 2008. He has also been a practitioner of <a href="/facts/Mathematical_finance/P9otEltQ">mathematical finance</a> and is currently an adviser at <a href="/facts/Universa_Investments/lc2y9n1E">Universa Investments</a>. <a href="/facts/The_Sunday_Times/15om0zLf">The Sunday Times</a> described his 2007 book <a href="/facts/The_Black_Swan_(Taleb_book)/0PQFkD7j">The Black Swan</a> as one of the 12 most influential books since <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>.
Taleb criticized risk management methods used by the finance industry and warned about <a href="/facts/Financial_crises/lVXVuazP">financial crises</a>, subsequently profiting from the <a href="/facts/Black_Monday_(1987)/nPGfLk7g">Black Monday (1987)</a> and the <a href="/facts/2008_financial_crisis/qw8n1pSN">2008 financial crisis</a>. He advocates what he calls a "black swan robust" society, meaning a society that can withstand difficult-to-predict events. He proposes what he has termed "<a href="/facts/Antifragility/7waSIc1r">antifragility</a>" in systems; that is, an ability to benefit and grow from a certain class of random events, errors, and volatility, as well as "convex tinkering" as a method of scientific discovery, by which he means that decentralized <a href="/facts/Experiment/esltM54f">experimentation</a> outperforms directed research.

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Nassim Nicholas Taleb