Naval quotes Nassim Taleb’s inversion of Plato’s ideal. “To become a philosopher king, start with being a king, not being a philosopher”.
Experience before theory. “There are many problems with the so-called intellectuals in the ivory tower, but one of the reasons why Nassim Taleb rails against them is because they have no skin in the game”. These credentialed experts apply pure intellect without real stakes. They lack authentic understanding.
“Intellect without any experience is often worse than useless because you get the confidence that the intellect gives you, and you get some of the credibility, but because you had no skin in the game, and you had no real experience, and no real accountability, you’re just throwing darts”. False confidence becomes dangerous delusion. Signaling intelligence without proving competence.
“The real world is always far, far more complex than we can intellectualize”. Complex systems have emergent properties that resist pure reasoning. You need judgment forged through rapid iteration and direct feedback.
“To become a philosopher king, start with being a king, not being a philosopher”
This explains why “top investors often sound like philosophers”. “The reason why a lot of the top investors, a lot of the value investors, like if you read Jeremy Grantham, or you read Warren Buffet, or you read up on Michael Burry, these people sound like philosophers, or they are philosophers”.
They earned their worldview through capital at risk. “What you actually just need is very, very broad-based judgment and thinking. The best way to do that is to study everything, including a lot of philosophy”. Philosophy makes you stoic, less emotionally reactive. But only after proving yourself in wealth creation.