BCIG Bookclub: “The Black Swan: The Impact of the
Highly Improbable”
- view the seminar archive
Clinical
Center (Building 10) Medical Board Room (Room 2C116)
"My major
hobby is teasing people who take themselves & the quality of their knowledge too
seriously and those who don’t have the guts to sometimes say: I don’t know...."
(You may not be able to change the world but can at least get some entertainment
& make a living out of the epistemic arrogance of the human race).
Author
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
THE PROGRAM: A group
of volunteers will review the book
BOOK REVIEW: The “Black Swan: The Impact of the
Highly Improbable” is about how random events shape us.
We spend our lives "engaged in small talk, focusing on
the known," while Black Swans-- dramatic, unpredictable
events--shape the course of history, says mathematical
investor turned philosopher Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Sept.
11, World War I and the Wall Street crash of 1987 are
all demonstrations that "the world is dominated by the
extreme, the unknown and the very improbable." A
follow-up to his “Fooled by Randomness,” about the role
chance plays in life, “The Black Swan” is a provocative
macro-trend tome in the tradition of “The Wisdom of
Crowds” and “The Tipping Point.” Taleb draws on history,
philosophy and psychology to suggest that our love for
simplistic explanations blinds us into thinking we
understand how things work. What to do? Look for ways to
foster serendipitous developments (like
discoveries--good Black Swans) while preparing broadly
for disaster.
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5:30 pm- 7:30 pm June 28, 2007
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Nassim Nicholas Taleb has
devoted his life to immersing himself in problems of luck, uncertainty,
probability and knowledge. Part literally essayist, part empiricist, part
no-nonsense trader, he is currently taking a break by serving as the Dean’s
Professor in the sciences of uncertainty at the University of Massachusetts at
Amherst. His last book, the best seller “Fooled by Randomness” has been
published in twenty languages. Taleb lives mostly in New York.
http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/
SUITABILITY:
Anyone interested in the subject matter of the book is most welcome to attend
this BCIG Book Club Event.
REGISTRATION:
As with most all BCIG events, registration is not required. Just show up happy.
NIH CONTACT:
Carl Leonard, 301-496-0191,
cleonard@lired.com
REFRESHMENTS:
Please bring refreshments if you wish. There is a cafeteria near our meeting
room. We may go out to dinner with the author in a nearby Bethesda restaurant
after the meeting.
BCIG WEB SITE:
www.nih-bcig.org
Dr. Mo's Presentation:
http://www.zentation.com/viewer/index.php?passcode=ByIuJTB6AQN
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