Arriviste?
> Simply, it looks like it is the university professors (who have arrived) ...
I wonder whether some over enthusiastic (or automatic) editor has changed https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/arriviste into
"(who have arrived)"
Inequality and Skin in the Game
21–30 of 70 posts
Re: Inequality and Skin in the Game
#22Looking forward to the discussion on this. Can anybody help me understand his use of "rent seeker" or "rent seeking"?
Rent-seeking is an attempt to obtain economic rent (i.e., the portion of income paid to a factor of production in excess of what is needed to keep it employed in its current use) by manipulating the social or political environment in which economic activities occur, rather than by creating new wealth. Rent-seeking implies extraction of uncompensated value from others without making any contribution to productivity. The classic example of rent-seeking, according to Robert Shiller, is that of a feudal lord who installs a chain across a river that flows through his land and then hires a collector to charge passing boats a fee (or rent of the section of the river for a few minutes) to lower the chain. There is nothing productive about the chain or the collector. The lord has made no improvements to the river and is helping nobody in any way, directly or indirectly, except himself. All he is doing is finding a way to make money from something that used to be free.
Re: Inequality and Skin in the Game
#23Looking forward to the discussion on this. Can anybody help me understand his use of "rent seeker" or "rent seeking"?
Rent-seeking is an attempt to obtain economic rent (i.e., the portion of income paid to a factor of production in excess of what is needed to keep it employed in its current use) by manipulating the social or political environment in which economic activities occur, rather than by creating new wealth. Rent-seeking implies extraction of uncompensated value from others without making any contribution to productivity. T…
Thanks a million! Had to read the first line a few times, but then read through it all and understood the concept. Thank you very much for the thorough explanation.
Re: Inequality and Skin in the Game
#24Looking forward to the discussion on this. Can anybody help me understand his use of "rent seeker" or "rent seeking"?
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Re: Inequality and Skin in the Game
#25This guy's writing style is insufferable. Basically, 'let me introduce an abstract, technical concept, criticize the reader for not knowing it, and then not define it until halfway through the article' Dropping words like 'Markov Chain' in a Medium post without any context or explanation just makes the author seem like he wants us to think he's smart.
Markov chains are exactly what I thought of when he started on the topic of dynamic vs static in inequality. It's not really that a high-brow concept.
But it is one that you need to already have been educated about. The author seems to be assuming that all their readers have CS degrees or have read a certain narrow slice of technical content elsewhere. It's bad writing for a generalist platform like Medium.
Re: Inequality and Skin in the Game
#26This guy's writing style is insufferable. Basically, 'let me introduce an abstract, technical concept, criticize the reader for not knowing it, and then not define it until halfway through the article' Dropping words like 'Markov Chain' in a Medium post without any context or explanation just makes the author seem like he wants us to think he's smart.
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Re: Inequality and Skin in the Game
#27This guy's writing style is insufferable. Basically, 'let me introduce an abstract, technical concept, criticize the reader for not knowing it, and then not define it until halfway through the article' Dropping words like 'Markov Chain' in a Medium post without any context or explanation just makes the author seem like he wants us to think he's smart.
If anything I find his writing more sympathetic to a layperson.
He consistently likes to disparage those he thinks portray false intellectualism and academia (whenever you see IYI in his writing it means Intellectual Yet Idiot).
Re: Inequality and Skin in the Game
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Markov chains are exactly what I thought of when he started on the topic of dynamic vs static in inequality. It's not really that a high-brow concept.
But it is one that you need to already have been educated about. The author seems to be assuming that all their readers have CS degrees or have read a certain narrow slice of technical content elsewhere. It's bad writing for a generalist platform like Medium.
How so? The Markov chain reference is only used in a reformulation of the same statement already said in layman terms.
Re: Inequality and Skin in the Game
#29This guy's writing style is insufferable. Basically, 'let me introduce an abstract, technical concept, criticize the reader for not knowing it, and then not define it until halfway through the article' Dropping words like 'Markov Chain' in a Medium post without any context or explanation just makes the author seem like he wants us to think he's smart.
For me as a French reader, Taleb's writing style feels familiar, just like French sentences translated in English: long and constructed sentences with articulations, and some soft punch inside.
Maybe it is not the proper style for English native speakers, but it feels a clear and well organised writing style to me. On a higher level, Taleb's thought may have weaknesses, some contradictions, some unmomtivated leitmotives. But still interesting and thought provoquing.
Re: Inequality and Skin in the Game
#30This guy's writing style is insufferable. Basically, 'let me introduce an abstract, technical concept, criticize the reader for not knowing it, and then not define it until halfway through the article' Dropping words like 'Markov Chain' in a Medium post without any context or explanation just makes the author seem like he wants us to think he's smart.
I was introduced to Markov Chains in high school - it's not that strange of a concept. And yeah, Taleb has some rough edges, is unapologetic about his arguments, and enjoys calling people out. But it's refreshing to find that someone isn't dumbing a topic down so that it can covered at an "8th grade" reading level like the NYT.