If You See Something
Taleb argues that witnessing fraud creates a moral obligation to name it. He rejects legal defensibility or social conformity as substitutes for ethical judgment and treats silence as complicity.
THE IDEA
If You See Something
Modernity has replaced ethics with legalese, and the law can be gamed with a good lawyer.
So I will expose the transfer of fragility, or rather the theft of antifragility, by people “arbitraging” the system. These people will be named by name. Poets and painters are free, liberi poetae et pictores, and there are severe moral imperatives that come with such freedom. First ethical rule:
If you see fraud and do not say fraud, you are a fraud.
Just as being nice to the arrogant is no better than being arrogant toward the nice, being accommodating toward anyone committing a nefarious action condones it.
Further, many writers and scholars speak in private, say, after half a bottle of wine, differently from the way they do in print. Their writing is certifiably fake, fake. And many of the problems of society come from the argument “other people are doing it.” So if I call someone a dangerous ethically challenged fragilista in private after the third glass of Lebanese wine (white), I will be obligated to do so here.
Calling people and institutions fraudulent in print when they are not (yet) called so by others carries a cost, but is too small to be a deterrent. After the mathematical scientist Benoît Mandelbrot read the galleys of The Black Swan, a book dedicated to him, he called me and quietly said: “In what language should I say ‘good luck’ to you?” I did not need any luck, it turned out; I was antifragile to all manner of attacks: the more attacks I got from the Central Fragilista Delegation, the more my message spread as it drove people to examine my arguments. I am now ashamed of not having gone further in calling a spade a spade.
Compromising is condoning. The only modern dictum I follow is one by George Santayana: A man is morally free when … he judges the world, and judges other men, with uncompromising sincerity. This is not just an aim but an obligation.
When to use it
Corporate whistleblowing: An employee discovers accounting fraud and must decide whether to report it.
Political journalism: A journalist uncovers corruption and faces pressure to stay silent.
Personal relationships: A friend notices a partner being cheated and must decide whether to intervene.
Academic integrity: A student sees plagiarism and must choose between reporting or ignoring it.
FROM THEORY TO EVERYDAY LIFE
In practice
Mandelbrot's warning
Benoît Mandelbrot, after reading the galleys of The Black Swan, called Taleb to wish him luck, illustrating the cost of calling out fraud and the need for courage.
Writers' duplicity
Taleb criticizes writers whose public claims contradict the judgments they express privately. For him, that conflict violates an obligation to speak with sincerity.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
Put it to work.
Have you ever witnessed fraud and remained silent? What would this principle suggest?
How can you develop the courage to call out wrongdoing in your professional life?
What are the social costs of speaking truth to power?
References
- A man is morally free when … he judges the world, and judges other men, with uncompromising sincerity — George Santayana
CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION
Source texts
- Antifragile (Nassim Nicholas Taleb)