Taleb's article drove me crazy, and I agree with many of your criticisms. But I think you miss the mark in one respect -- when you keep accusing Taleb of denying that he is unusually intelligent, and enjoyed a significant cognitive advantage that put him ahead in life relative to average people.
I do not believe Taleb would deny this. He denies that IQ tests measure intelligence accurately, not that there is substantial variance in human intelligence. Taleb would not say he's no smarter than anyone else. He'd say he's very very smart, and the proof of his intellect is his trading profits and his book sales, not a test score.
(He's wrong, of course -- test scores ARE pretty good evidence; but he's not denying the cognitive difference)
Taleb's article drove me crazy, and I agree with many of your criticisms. But I think you miss the mark in one respect -- when you keep accusing Taleb of denying that he is unusually intelligent, and enjoyed a significant cognitive advantage that put him ahead in life relative to average people.
I do not believe Taleb would deny this. He denies that IQ tests measure intelligence accurately, not that there is substantial variance in human intelligence. Taleb would not say he's no smarter than anyone else. He'd say he's very very smart, and the proof of his intellect is his trading profits and his book sales, not a test score.
(He's wrong, of course -- test scores ARE pretty good evidence; but he's not denying the cognitive difference)