Today, we received an email from one of our readers. After reading Failure to understand Black Swan leads to fallacious thinking, this is what he thought:
I liked your use of the term “Epistemic arrogance”. Recently I was driving and almost ran straight through a red light at a pedestrian crossing and I was trying to think how I could have been so reckless. I mean I am a great driver (?) and I had been down that road numerous times, yet I still almost managed to run down an almost-unfortunate couple. Sure the red light is in a seemingly random position, and the green light at the intersection 50m down the road can cause very slight confusion, but a red light is a red light.
Its then I theorised the issue. If it was my first time driving, or my first time driving down this road, there would be no way that I would have missed this red light. I would watch out for all hazards because I know that I don’t know. An arrogant driver on the other hand, as I was, thinking they know the lay of the land, can get into strife when the unexpected (in their mind) pops up.
Its this “epistemic arrogance” which leads the learned to cause crashes and accidents… I’m sure there are many top minds in the world who fail to look beyond their view… Learning from one’s mistakes is a great way to improve your management of risk!
This is a very great point. And by the way, it is Nassim Nicholas Taleb that came up with the term “”epistemic arrogance.”
We also have an example that is relevant to investing. Marc Faber once mentioned that the financial valuation of asset prices severely underestimate the possibility of geo-political Black Swans. The recent North Korean artillery pot-shots at their southern neighbour is a case in point. The US and South Koreans are planning to hold military exercises this coming Sunday in response to North Korea’s provocation. The North Korean had already warned repeatedly that they will be provoked with such actions, especially when they are happening so closely to the border. With a juvenile rookie dictator-in-waiting probably calling the shots in Pyongyang, we wonder at the wisdom of the American and South Koreans.
The Korean peninsular is just one example of geo-political Black Swans. We can also include Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iran, Pakistan as well.
