BLOCKCON 2018: Full Fireside Chat with Naval Ravikant and Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Watch Video)

Day 2 of BLOCKCON 2018 featured a fireside chat with author Nassim Nicholas Taleb and AngelList Co-Founder Naval Ravikant. They spoke on a wide range of topics and explained key concepts from Taleb’s writings. You can see our full coverage from Day 1, Day 2, or Day 3 of BLOCKCON using these links.

The first topic was around people’s incentives for the actions they take. Taleb shared a lesson from a senior trader when he was a young banker:

As a young trader, @nntaleb was told by an older trader: “If people like you over here, you’re doing something wrong… the only person you want to impress is your accountant.” #blockcon @goBLOCKCON

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 11, 2018

Taleb believes that this is a major problem with journalists:

“Journalists try to impress other journalists. They don’t focus on the readers.” – @nntaleb #blockcon

Something good for us to keep our eye on @blockchainbeach. We’re here for the readers!

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 11, 2018

Ravikant added that he stopped looking at problems through the lens of Macroeconomics for similar reasons:

“Macroeconomics are another branch of politics.” – @naval #blockcon

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 11, 2018

And they both felt that economists, like Paul Krugman, should put their money where their mouth is when it comes to their opinions on Bitcoin:

“If Paul Krugman had a P&L, he would have gone bust long before Bitcoin” – @nntaleb

“If you have a financial asset, why talk about it? Just short it if you don’t like it.” – @naval #blockcon #blockcon2018

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 11, 2018

The next major topic was that of risk. Taleb said that over the past few decades there has been a shift in that those taking the biggest risks are not held accountable:

The main point from @nntaleb so far is that the people taking the greatest risks (bankers, governments, etc) are not taking on the downside of those risks. Historically, risk sharing was much more equitable than it is today. #blockcon #blockcon2018 @goBLOCKCON

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 11, 2018

This is true when it comes to listening to those talking the most about risk:

“When you’re a risk taker, you have scars.” @nntaleb says not to listen to anyone about risk who doesn’t have “scars.” #blockcon #blockcon2018

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 11, 2018

Ravikant then started a dialogue on one of Taleb’s key concepts, Anti-Fragility. He believes that Bitcoin has become more and more Anti-Fragile:

According to @naval, Bitcoin is anti-fragile because every time Bitcoin survives a shock or correction, the code is improved to be stronger for the next time. #blockcon #blockcon2018

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 11, 2018

The longer Bitcoin exists, the longer it probably will exist:

“The best predictor of survival (for things in the intellectual domain) is how long it has survived.” – @naval #blockcon #blockcon2018

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 11, 2018

If you want to look at these questions from a game theory perspective, you might not find it in a textbook:

“I never read a game theory textbook when I was young, I just played a lot of games.” – @naval #blockcon #blockcon2018

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 11, 2018

The pair ended their discussion with the concept of the “minority rule” using the US beverage market as an example:

The “minority rule” is when a minority dictates the behavior of the majority. For this to happen, the minority must be absolutely unwilling to change. One example of this is that almost all beverages in the US are kosher. @nntaleb @naval #blockcon #blockcon2018

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 11, 2018

And expect to see it in the Blockchain industry:

More on the Minority Rule from @naval: If most of the good Blockchain developers said that they’ll only accept Cryptocurrencies as payment, then you’d likely see most companies change their payroll processes to be able to pay in their coins of choice #blockcon #blockcon2018

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 11, 2018

They closed with a good framework for decision making:

Ending the chat, @nntaleb said that the more uncertainly that exists in a system, the more paranoid people should be and the less risk that should be taken. #blockcon #blockcon2018

— Blockchain Beach (@blockchainbeach) October 11, 2018

You can see our full coverage from Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3 of BLOCKCON using these links.