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Paul
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Joined: July 20th, 2001, 3:28 pm

Pedantry of the self educated

November 2nd, 2001, 6:36 am

Max, you should have been at Nassim Taleb's book launch debate at the Cambridge Union this week. Nassim was proposing the motion "This House Believes That All Successful Traders Are Just Lucky Fools." With your help he might have won!P
 
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Max
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Joined: October 9th, 2001, 3:45 pm

Pedantry of the self educated

November 2nd, 2001, 1:44 pm

I think you would have to qualify that somewhat. Most successful traders are not fools with no skill whatsoever; even famed internet hucksters Mary Meeker and Henry Blodget (who were geniuses when the internet bubble grew and are now forgotten after the collapse), were very clever in their rhetoric. The head equity managers at $1B funds are generally smart, well educated people, not fools. Successful traders and investors are lucky in the sense that many others could and would do their jobs just as well for 1/10 the pay (this is also why they are such paranoid backstabbers).What irks me more than the lucky success (after all envy, like greed, is one of the seven deadly sins), is watching the intentional fraud perpetrated by traders. Most traders make money by scalping bids and offers using a network of contacts, and know little about fundamental value or hedging (either mathematically derived from derivatives or from discounted cash flow of investments or anything else). Yet they are quick to highlight if not insist they are 'Risk Managers' first, feign respect for Myron Scholes, or discuss what the trade deficit means for the Euro--as if they really cared or had a clue.M
 
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Paul
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Joined: July 20th, 2001, 3:28 pm

Pedantry of the self educated

November 2nd, 2001, 1:54 pm

To be fair Nassim did say that the motion was supposed to be "...Most Traders..." instead of "...All Traders...".I have no problems with the se7en deadly sins, most seem quite natural and harmless, often even beneficial to society. I never understood why "hypocrisy" was never among them...that's far worse than a little bit of lust now and again. (And don't those seven heavenly virtues make you want to vomit?!) I digress!P
 
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Max
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Pedantry of the self educated

November 2nd, 2001, 3:26 pm

A public debate wouldn't be fun without some exageration...Only a boring academic would enjoy a debate entitled "This House Believes That Some, and Potentially Many, Successful Traders Have Been Overwhelmingly Impacted by Fortunate Improbable Events." Greed seems to me like courage: potentially a partner of evil, but more importantly essential for the creation of many great things. Envy, meanwhile, is a pettiness without compensation.
 
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reza
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Joined: August 30th, 2001, 3:40 pm

Pedantry of the self educated

November 2nd, 2001, 3:44 pm

To me all these seven deadly sins are simple human weaknesses whether its’ gluttony or lust or wrath … you basically lose control and get consumed by a passion … hypocrisy does not really qualify, it’s more a mean to satisfy one of these passions …By the way guys, stop bad-mouthing academics please, I have something to say in their defense: Each time I sent an email regarding a paper to a quant working for an Investment Bank, I get No answer whatsoever or at best an answer like “Thanks for your interest but I don’t have time to waste on you, you miserable little *%$#” … while whenever I send one to an academic (no matter how famous and busy) I get a nice well-thought helpful thorough answer immediately. There.
 
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Max
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Joined: October 9th, 2001, 3:45 pm

Pedantry of the self educated

November 2nd, 2001, 8:27 pm

Clearly practioners and academics have their own set of virtues and vices. It's good to have both as each have decreasing marginal returns to society and one's attention span--they're complements, like women and beer.
 
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Hamilton
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Joined: July 23rd, 2001, 6:25 pm

Pedantry of the self educated

November 5th, 2001, 4:52 am

<<Overwhelmingly impacted>>Good grief, more butchery of the English language. Bullets impact, events affect.H.G. Fowler must be rolling in his grave. The dictionary will let you use impact, but its still one of those idiotic modernisms of English that drives me nuts.Sorry for the rant guys just trying to help everyone out with their homework assignments.
 
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Hamilton
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Pedantry of the self educated

November 5th, 2001, 4:53 am

Lust is far more expensive and has higher volatility than hypocrisy.
 
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jungle
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Joined: September 24th, 2001, 1:50 pm

Pedantry of the self educated

November 5th, 2001, 12:06 pm

"sexy" is constantly misused. people use it as a synonym for "aesthetically pleasing" and start describing cars, table lamps etc as sexy when they mean attractive. "genius" and "beautiful", meanwhile, are simply overused.
 
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Paul
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Joined: July 20th, 2001, 3:28 pm

Pedantry of the self educated

November 5th, 2001, 12:09 pm

My car's got two three-inch diameter exhausts, if that ain't sexy I don't know what is! P
 
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jungle
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Joined: September 24th, 2001, 1:50 pm

Pedantry of the self educated

November 6th, 2001, 12:35 pm

that being the famous/notorious jensen intercepter mk II..? post a photo!i thought wizards wouldn't need ground-based transport, though.
 
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Hamilton
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Joined: July 23rd, 2001, 6:25 pm

Pedantry of the self educated

November 6th, 2001, 4:51 pm

I wonder what the diameter is of a good broom. Push start or pull start?
 
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Aaron
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Joined: July 23rd, 2001, 3:46 pm

Pedantry of the self educated

November 7th, 2001, 4:51 pm

I agree with Paul. The seven deadly sins do little harm when they are honest. Remember the movie "Seven"? Each of the victims seemed at worst a little pathetic, despite being selected as extreme examples of the sins.I think a lot more harm gets done by hypocrisy. No one cared that Bill Clinton tried to have sex with every woman he met because he didn't go around making speeches about how the government should cut off welfare benefits to people who have sex, ban abortions, stop funding AIDS research and so on. He liked sex, he admitted it, and he didn't try to make political capital crucifying other people who liked sex. The people who got upset about the sex, hated him for other reasons (some of them good reasons).
 
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gussiegalore

Pedantry of the self educated

February 28th, 2002, 8:38 am

seven deadly sins
? what about wilmots fifteen fabulous ff's?
paul..?
 
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Paul
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Joined: July 20th, 2001, 3:28 pm

Pedantry of the self educated

February 28th, 2002, 8:41 am

I think I only got as far as seven of them as well. But if you know of any more...

P