Nassim Taleb Quote Bleg

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I remember Taleb saying something to the effect that risk in financial markets is like a lion (or tiger?) hunting, in that it will find the weakest prey. Can anyone find such a quote? I have tried basic Google searches and searches through my blogs, but without success.

5 thoughts on “Nassim Taleb Quote Bleg”

  2. It is now the scientific consensus that our risk-avoidance mechanism is not mediated by the cognitive modules of our brain, but rather by the emotional ones. This may have made us fit for the Pleistocene era. Our risk machinery is designed to run away from tigers; it is not designed for the information-laden modern world.
    Quoted in the introduction to “A Talk with Nassim Nicholas Taleb,” Edge (April 2004)

  3. Doesn’t look right but:
    “Much of the research into humans’ risk-avoidance machinery shows that it is antiquated and unfit for the modern world; it is made to counter repeatable attacks and learn from specifics. If someone narrowly escapes being eaten by a tiger in a certain cave, then he learns to avoid that cave.”
    and others at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nassim_Nicholas_Taleb

  4. He does mention lions and prey a lot in “Antifragile”, but not like you describe. Maybe this?

    “But with complex systems, interdependencies are severe. You need to think in terms of ecology: if you remove a specific animal you disrupt a food chain: its predators will starve and its prey will grow unchecked, causing complications and series of cascading side effects. Lions are exterminated by
    the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Romans, and later inhabitants of Mount Lebanon, leading to the proliferation of goats who crave tree roots, contributing to the deforestation of mountain areas, consequences that were hard to see ahead of time. Likewise, if you shut down a bank in New York, it will cause ripple effects from Iceland to Mongolia.”

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