
Nassim Nicholas Taleb: "The Intellectual yet Idiot" Class - Jerry2
https://medium.com/@nntaleb/the-intellectual-yet-idiot-13211e2d0577#.nn139jr77
======
HillaryBriss
Interesting characterization of the US voter base:

> _While rich people believe in one tax dollar one vote, more humanistic ones
> in one man one vote, Monsanto in one lobbyist one vote, the IYI
> [Intellectual Yet Idiot] believes in one Ivy League degree one-vote ..._

------
rspeer
This guy is peeved about politics and he has a new class of people he wants to
blame for it.

His description of this class of people is odd and improbable: some sort of
foppish Englishmen who have contrived a way to vote for Hillary Clinton.

Now, there are some things he said that are more generally applicable.
Particularly: "Beware the semi-erudite who thinks he is an erudite." I'm
pretty sure he just put himself in this class, no matter how hard he tries to
deadlift his way out of it.

~~~
giardini
rspeer: "His description of this class of people is odd and improbable: some
sort of foppish Englishmen"

You aren't possibly referring to (from the article)

"... that class of paternalistic semi-intellectual experts with some Ivy
league, Oxford-Cambridge, or similar label-driven education who are telling
the rest of us 1) what to do, 2) what to eat, 3) how to speak, 4) how to
think… and 5) who to vote for."

, are you?

~~~
rspeer
There have been much more coherent articles written on that phenomenon.

Taleb's description is like a reverse horoscope: a bunch of vague generalities
and irrelevant details that you're not supposed to identify with. You're
supposed to say "oh phew, that's not me", and maybe shift a little bit toward
Taleb's worldview to make sure you're not the caricature he described.

In the end, it doesn't convey anything. It's just a list of peeves and smarmy
name-dropping.

This guy is a bestselling author, but if this article is what comes out of his
head unfiltered, he clearly benefits from editing.

------
andriesm
10 times more government as a percentage of GDP compared to a century ago.
Wow. We certainly are having a lot of government in our lives and livelihood.

