Throughout the financial crisis, I've often found myself in the position of wanting to link to something that I think is interesting, even persuasive, but that I'm not comfortable saying is actually a good idea. That's sort of how I feel about Nassim Taleb's list of 10 reforms that would make our society more resilient in the face of "Black Swans" (freak events). Definitely worth reading, but it's really hard to say what would happen if you adopted the list wholesale. Taleb spends most of his time thinking about what to do in the face of spectacularly unlikely occurrences. Predictably, he's a bit more focused on avoiding such occurrences than society might want to be. So though his list is a good agenda for becoming "Black Swan-proof," we also need a conversation on exactly how Black Swan-proof we want to be. THE BLACK SWAN MENACE.
Throughout the financial crisis, I've often found myself in the position of wanting to link to something that I think is interesting, even persuasive, but that I'm not comfortable saying is actually a good idea. That's sort of how I feel about Nassim Taleb's list of 10 reforms that would make our society more resilient in the face of "Black Swans" (freak events). Definitely worth reading, but it's really hard to say what would happen if you adopted the list wholesale. Taleb spends most of his time thinking about what to do in the face of spectacularly unlikely occurrences. Predictably, he's a bit more focused on avoiding such occurrences than society might want to be. So though his list is a good agenda for becoming "Black Swan-proof," we also need a conversation on exactly how Black Swan-proof we want to be. 
