Here there be monsters

Nicholas Taleb (of The Black Swan fame) describes the Fourth Quadrant and the limits of statistics.

I have nothing against economists: you should let them entertain each others with their theories and elegant mathematics, and help keep college students inside buildings. But beware: they can be plain wrong, yet frame things in a way to make you feel stupid arguing with them. So make sure you do not give any of them risk-management responsibilities.

Geek Alert! Check out the technical appendix to the Taleb article; it was written completely with Mathematica.
Tip from the Endeavour.