‘Black Swan’ blues, or why what we don’t know can hurt us

Former Wall Street trader Nassim Taleb coined the term “black swan” to refer to unpredictable events that shape history and human experience far more than we are willing to admit. His bestselling book “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable” challenges conventional methods of economic forecasting, and has become a sort of travel guide to the current economic meltdown. Guest: Nassim Taleb, author of “The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable.” Taleb is Distinguished Professor of Risk Engineering at New York University’s Polytechnic Institute and a visiting professor of Marketing at London Business School.