My main privilege in life has been access to good education. And yes, that’s a head start for sure … But the hardest part of my learning curve was to get enough “street smarts” to unlock the “book smarts”. Taleb invented a character he calls “Fat Tony” to symbolize the street smart-type. Taleb preaches all the virtues of Fat Tony, none of which can be found in college syllabi. Fat Tony always thinks out of the box. He sees angles academics don’t.
My imagined future where the Second Renaissance actually happens involves a lot Fat Tony action to get there. Great theory is not enough. Progress must also be won in the gritty trenches!