Academic writing is more complicated than necessary because the authors lack skin in the game

in taleb •  7 years ago 

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Things designed by people without skin in the game tend to grow in complication (before their final collapse).

There is absolutely no benefit for someone in such a position to propose something simple:

when you are rewarded for perception, not results, you need to show sophistication.

Anyone who has submitted a “scholarly” paper to a journal knows that you usually raise the odds of acceptance by making it more complicated than necessary.

Further, there are side effects for problems that grow nonlinearly with such branching-out complications.

Worse: Non-skin-in-the-game people don’t get simplicity.

from 'Skin in the Game' by by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077QY23RV

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