Taleb's Ten Principles for a Black Swan Robust World
Saturday, May 8, 2010 10:49:41 PM
Taleb enumerates ten principles for building systems that are robust to Black Swan Events:
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
- What is fragile should break early while it is still small. Nothing should ever become Too Big to Fail.
- No socialisation of losses and privatisation of gains.
- People who were driving a school bus blindfolded (and crashed it) should never be given a new bus.
- Do not let someone making an "incentive" bonus manage a nuclear plant – or your financial risks.
- Counter-balance complexity with simplicity.
- Do not give children sticks of dynamite, even if they come with a warning.
- Only Ponzi schemes should depend on confidence. Governments should never need to "restore confidence".
- Do not give an addict more drugs if he has withdrawal pains.
- Citizens should not depend on financial assets or fallible "expert" advice for their retirement.
- Make an omelette with the broken eggs.
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

