"The odds of an academic "researcher" producing anything eventually used by society is of the order of .00001%. That includes scientists. The odds for a baker: 100%" - Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Oct 14, 2026 · 1:00 PM UTC

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Replying to @TalebWisdom
But what about all those top five journal publications? 🤣
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Replying to @TalebWisdom
But occasionally an academic produces something that is used by billions of people, like the laser, or the underlying principles that give us nuclear energy, or X-Rays, or Pasteurisation. No baker has done that.
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Replying to @TalebWisdom
researcher handles it over to the engineer to create value out of it for the society, it's structural
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Replying to @TalebWisdom
This is a great statement. I don’t think the percentage is that low though. Research trickles slowly but steadily, and its outcomes are diluted by ignorance. Pastries are fluffy and delicious, it was never a fair fight.
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Replying to @TalebWisdom
I first read "banker" .. excited for a min
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Replying to @TalebWisdom
So what bloody hell we knew how to make bread for millennia
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