Fooled By Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets

The title of Part 3 is borrowed from Homer’s The Odyssey. Taleb describes a scene from the epic in which Odysseus and his men encounter sirens. Odysseus wants to hear the sirens’ songs without risking his or his sailors’ lives, so he orders his men to put wax in their ears so they cannot hear and then to tie him to the mast of the ship so he can listen without throwing himself into the water. Taleb says that he is like the men with wax in their ears. Taleb recognizes that he is as subject to his emotions as anyone else and describes everyday scenarios where he is confronted with someone else expressing anger at him. While he tries to subdue his emotions, he is often unable to do so.

Recognizing the influence his emotions have on him, Taleb mentions that he has created tricks that help insulate him from the onslaught of constant information. For one thing, he does not watch television regularly. At his offices, the financial network CNBC may be on in the background, but he keeps the volume off. The effect here is that the commentators and pundits tend to look far more absurd and far less intimidating than when Taleb can hear what they are saying.