virus: Re: Randomness of Markets

David McFadzean (dbm@merak.com)
Tue, 4 Jul 1995 14:53:13 -0600


Duane said:

>On Tue, 4 Jul 1995, David McFadzean wrote:
>
>> Actually there was a recent article in Sci.Am. about a coupel luminaries
>> at the Santa Fe Institute that formed a new company (Prediction Inc. or
>> something like that) that will try to make money on the market with
>> short term predictions using non-linear dynamical models.
>
>Interesting, I will have to check it out. This is the article that you
>mentioned or is there another one.

No, different article. Is there an on-line Sci.Am. index?

>I mean, and this is a hard concept for me to explain, that the randomness
>of reality does not render it futile to strive for excellence. That
>capriciousness does not cancel out honest effort. I would have to
>fall back on Pancritical Rationalism in that if you don't
>accept this you are not in the same game. That is if I understand PCR
>correctly.

My understanding of the traditional sense of a 'just reality' is that
forces are at work to ensure that good, honest people are rewarded in
the long run and vice versa for evil, dishonest people. I don't believe
there are any such forces, except society itself.

But, again, I agree. It is still worth striving for excellence even though
there are no guarentees.

--
David McFadzean                 dbm@merak.com
Memetic Engineer                http://www.merak.com/~dbm/
Merak Projects Ltd.