Talk:Nassim Nicholas Taleb

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There are a few issues with these two lines in Praise and Criticism. Firstly, the whole story is of questionable relevance - the crux of it seems to be that Taleb got a minor correction in a newspaper, which is generally not newsworthy. Secondly, the sources cited are a Huffington Post contributor (note that such contributors are considered generally unreliable as per WP:RSP) and a Reuters blog post. Reuters of course is perfectly citable, but there isn't any clarity on whether blogs hosted by Reuters are. Thirdly, I am doubtful that this exchange, if relevant in the first place, belongs in a section discussing praise and criticism.

In May 2009 interview for GQ magazine, journalist Will Self authored an article in which Taleb said his hedge fund "made $20 bln for our clients."^[1] On June 30 that year, Reuters published emails showing that Taleb explicitly corrected Self.^[2]

Pubcrawler2000 (talk) 18:40, 3 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting story. It is indeed totally irrelevant and looks like it was put in here initially to blame Prof. Nassim for the correction. PopulationGeneticsLevant (talk) 19:37, 3 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed with Pubcrawler2000, to remove, and keep it that way. HuffPo is never WP:RS for finance-related topics. I wish it weren't even considered suitable for selected topics as a "perennial" source, WP:RSN (I think that's the Wiki category). Felix Salmon, in effect, vindicated Taleb and demonstrated that Self's GQ article was inaccurate because it didn't include the correction from Taleb, and that Tavakoli's HuffPo contribution was not credible because it was based on Self's inaccurate article. One more thing: At the time, in 2010, Reuters' finance blogs, were WP:RS and widely read, e.g. featured comments by U.S. securities regulators using their real names. All Reuters' blogs have been defunct for at least 10 years, and are not even visible on the Reuters website. That's okay in this context, as we have the web archive screenshot. I'm documenting the rationale for excluding this content in case any editor in the future re-inserts it.--FeralOink (talk) 13:03, 5 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia's policy is that self-published sources, especially those published on social media, are not to be used - or at least, are to be considered inadequate, hence better source needed - only if: the material is neither unduly self-serving nor an exceptional claim; it does not involve claims about third parties; it does not involve claims about events not directly related to the source; there is no reasonable doubt as to its authenticity; and the article is not based primarily on such sources.

The source in question, a Tweet posted by Taleb on 27 September 2019, reads As an Orthodox, today was the second most important day for me (after my baptism). The highest ranking person in Orthodoxy, His Holiness Bartholomeos 1 Patriarch of Constantinople, gave me his blessing & a small gift. It was on a plane out of Constantinopolis and includes a picture of the two men described (Taleb and His Holiness).

The source is not self-serving; nor is it an exceptional claim on account of Taleb's provision of evidence; nor does it involve claims about third parties that might be considered high-stakes (there is no picture of the small gift mentioned by Taleb, nor is this relevant to the point of his faith); nor does it involve claims about events not directly related to the source; nor is there any reasonable doubt as to its authenticity; nor is the article based on such sources.

So, I think it might be reasonably stated in this article that Taleb is an Orthodox Christian, using his own claim as evidence, without the need for the better source needed claim. 213.205.198.204 (talk) 16:33, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]

'is parents were of Antiochian Greek descent,[17] holding French citizenship.' Thewriter006 (talk) 11:21, 8 November 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Unless Taleb got his Master's degree when he was 10 years old, it is impossible that he graduated from the University of Paris, as this institution disappeared on December 1970.

It was then split into 13 independent universities, from "Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne" to "Université Paris XIII - Paris-Nord".

It is critical to clarify from which of these 13 Parisan universities he graduated, as they were not created equal. In particular, "Université Paris VI - Pierre-et-Marie-Curie" and "Université Paris XI - Paris-Sud" were highly ranked in mathematics.

Also, unlike @24.213.126.54 said in the page history (7 August 2023‎), the 13 universities did not "continued functionally as Université de Paris, with divisions I, II,..., IX".

1) They were perfectly independent institutions.

2) They were referred to as "Université de Paris I", "Université de Paris II", ... and were never called "divisions". Karson Paisley (talk) 19:11, 7 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I read somewhere Dr Nassim say he first studied philosophy and law, then switched to economics then to econometrics. He said he did not focus on mathematics before option trading. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.196.135.46 (talk) 18:14, 9 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Of course, given Nassim's achievements, this ironically proves such concerns of prestige matter less when driven by independent research. 2607:FEA8:10C0:77B:F233:869C:99DC:8B82 (talk) 03:10, 22 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

In the most recent edit to this BLP, an editor removed a sentence and 2 citations. We need to include the sentence for continuity, as it provides the reason (a period of low volatility resulting in 3 years of slightly negative returns) for Empirica's closure. It is sourced to the WSJ and Institutional Investor. I am not going to revert the prior edit, as other helpful changes were made. I will reword the sentence and include the sources. Editors can discuss further here, as necessary.-- FeralOink (talk) 12:38, 5 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The sources say that the fund failed due to a fundamental inability of the strategy to make money in normal times. So I agree this is highly significant. SPECIFICO talk 12:54, 5 August 2024 (UTC)[reply]