he's said plenty of risky/controversial things lately. insofar as it's become controversial to pro-actively defend Western enlightenment (i.e. science and reason and secularism and liberalism) in left-wing academic settings in this current political clusterfuck.
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Replying to @danlistensto @MimeticValue and
he's also argued against the "blank slate" view of mind (he has a whole book about this topic called The Blank Slate) which is a very controversial topic. it seems uncontroversial to us, perhaps, because it's just obvious that biology influences behavior. but there it is.
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Replying to @danlistensto @MimeticValue and
Taleb has a lot of great insights too but I think there's a trap there. He's got a great framework for coming up with risk management positions in high uncertainty environments. He's not an endless font of wisdom though. His paleo-conservatism gets in the way a lot.
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Replying to @danlistensto @Plinz and
I don't see paleoconservativism in him. And I don't see what he's getting in the way of.
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Replying to @MimeticValue @Plinz and
you don't? his constant obsession on ancient religion, "Mediterranean" identity, genealogy, traditionalism, and basing his ethics on a mixture of classical stoicism and "tough guy" macho bullshit?
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Replying to @danlistensto @Plinz and
That's a shallow interpretation. Essentially what he's really describing in these things you mentioned above is the history of multilevel selection. You have to offend some open to rip apart the modern myth of universalism.
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Replying to @MimeticValue @Plinz and
I think his posturing gets in the way of developing compassion, which is a much better basis of an ethical system than anything Taleb is talking about.
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Replying to @danlistensto @Plinz and
Bravado is indistinguishable from compassion in vajrayana. You gotta be macho to take on the suffering of others and dissolve them into emptiness as a Bodhisattva.
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Replying to @MimeticValue @Plinz and
Avolokiteshvara is androgynous and Guan Yin is feminine
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Replying to @danlistensto @Plinz and
Bravado isn't masculine. It just means being authentic and risk taking human. Same with virtue, where vir=man. Taleb explained this in Bed of Procrustes. Guanyin = Avolokiteshvara; Chinese change the gender to also make her interchangeable with a Taoist goddess.
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Yes, I know the history. We have a disagreement of interpretation. Maybe we'll discuss it some more another time.
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Replying to @danlistensto @Plinz and
I think Taleb is mostly consistent with Vajrayana but largely incompatible with Mahayana. (Zen is kinda in-between.) He's basically contemporary mathematical Nietzsche/Shestov/Camus. What separates him from Buddhism is the dualism.
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