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0 pointsmellavora3y ago0 comments

> as if you can jump into a field without spending 10-20 years of learning and do cutting-edge research.

I know multiple people who have done this.

If you want a famous person, look at Paul Erdős. Always jumping into new areas of mathematics and solving problems at the cutting edge.

Or, to get to the current subject, Taleb using his background as a trader to jump to a career in academia, where many consider(ed) his research cutting edge.

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pinerd33y ago

I agree that a smart, ambitious person can become expert in more than one field in their life — but jumping to a new area of mathematics is on an entirely lower level than jumping from algorithmic finance to cutting edge biomedical, especially at the time Erdős was working.

kyawzazaw3y ago

There are a few people who did a complete switch to study rare diseases with no background.

Sonia Vallabh, and her husband, Eric Minikel are the strongest examples of these type of highly smart and ambitious people.

> Sonia Vallabh ... had just graduated from Harvard Law School.

> [Eric Minikel] ... had recently gotten a degree in urban planning from M.I.T

https://www.broadinstitute.org/bios/sonia-vallabh

https://www.broadinstitute.org/bios/eric-minikel

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/health/rare-diseases.html

adamsmith1433y ago

>Taleb

He already had a PhD so it's not surprising he was able to enter Academia. But outside his books I'm not aware of anyone talking about his Research much.

matred3y ago

I’ve never see his research brought up amongst quants or traders, but I like his writing.

Does anyone who works in this field know of it being currently applied?

kenned33y ago

I spent most of my career in finance including a hedge fund and several international banks.

Personally I really enjoy his books and recommend them to my friends and family. Professionally, I have never heard his name being mentioned.

You find the same 'fluffy' management books on trader desks (varies between firms).

- Some translation of "the art of war". - Tribal leadership and their whole "Tribe of tribes" nonsense - its name escapes me at the moment, but some leadership book written by a US marine? Because this maps directly to finance? - six sigma

Usually they are "management" focused chanting type material.

bmitc3y ago

I'm not away of Erdos being at the cutting edge. There are far better examples of people moving between fields and doing very high-level stuff. For example, David Mumford, who has a great blog by the way.

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