On the Edge

Presented in June 2024. From the New York Times bestselling author of The Signal and the Noise, the definitive guide to our era of risk and the players raising the stakes In the bestselling The Signal and the Noise, Nate Silver showed how forecasting would define the age of Big Data. Now, in this timely and riveting new book, Silver investigates "The River," or those whose mastery of risk allows them to shape and dominate so much of modern life.These professional risk takers poker players and hedge fund managers, crypto truebelievers and bluechip art collectors can teach us much about navigating the uncertainty of the 21stcentury. By embedding within these worlds, Silver offers insight into a range of issues that affect us all, from the frontiers of finance to the future of AI.The River has increasing amounts of wealth and power in our society, and understanding their mindset including the flaws in their thinking is key to understanding what drives technology and the global economy today. There are certain commonalities in this otherwise diverse group: high tolerance for risk appreciation of uncertainty affinity for numbers skill at decoupling selfreliance and a distrust of the conventional wisdom. For the River, complexity is baked in, and the work is how to navigate it, without going beyond the pale.Taking us behindthescenes from casinos to venture capital firms to meetings of the effective altruism movement, On the Edge is a deeplyreported, allaccess journey into a hidden world of powerbrokers and risk takers.