Amerika

In computer science terms, you could say that both Taleb and Mandelbroth, in a recent and very scary interview with Charlie Rose, have essentially argued that the current global system is in an “undefined state.” This means that there’s no way to predict what its output will be, which is why attempts by governments to meddle massively with the inputs will definitely have some kind of impact, but nobody can say what it really is. Government intervention becomes the equivalent of “percussive maintenance,” i.e., beating on the side of the machine on the chance that you’ll magically unbreak it.

AT

Studying systemics would mean we’d be aware of too much to be socially acceptable. So we linger in ignorance, and every now and then when the “details” conspire to destroy us, we blink and protest — too much — that we’re innocent.

Stupid monkeys.