It is capitalism that pulled billions out of poverty. Not vapid virtue signaling. - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The four most influential moderns: Darwin, Marx, Freud, and (the productive) Einstein were scholars but not academics. It has always been hard to do genuine - and no perishable - work within institutions

"The iatrogenics is in the patient, not in the treatment. If the patient is close to death, all speculative treatments should be encouraged no holds barred. Conversely, if the patient is near healthy, then Mother Nature should be the doctor." - Taleb

As I got her to explain to other people her evidence about the lack of effectiveness of funding formal education, one person got frustrated with our skepticism. Wolf’s answer to him was “real education is this,” pointing at the room full of people chatting. Accordingly, I am not saying that knowledge is not important; the skepticism in this discussion applies to the brand of commoditized, prepackaged, and pink-coated knowledge, stuff one can buy in the open market and use for self-promotion.