Gyroscopic Investing

I was listening to the V-50 audio course recently and the speaker quoted this interesting bit from Isaac Newton that I thought some of you might enjoy:

"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me."

Profound stuff.  I'd heard this one a very long time ago.  It's nice to be reminded of it.

And in comparison to Newton I have just been a boy propped up underneath a beach umbrella, drooling into a cup.

"I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men."

Newton, after getting hosed in the South Sea Bubble.

MediumTex says:

"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but compared to Newton I seem to have been only like a toddler playing in a sandbox, and diverting myself in now and then finding a bit of material in my navel or perhaps pondering a piece of feline fecal matter mixed in with the undergirding grains of terra, while the great ocean of human affairs unfolded around me in all of its wondrous and elegant absurdity."

MediumTex wrote: MediumTex says:

"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but compared to Newton I seem to have been only like a toddler playing in a sandbox, and diverting myself in now and then finding a bit of material in my navel or perhaps pondering a piece of feline fecal matter mixed in with the undergirding grains of terra, while the great ocean of human affairs unfolded around me in all of its wondrous and elegant absurdity."

That is awesome.  For a goofy kid in a sandbox, you sure can write, son.

And if you can just remember not to try to stick that bit of feline fecal material in your mouth, you're doing better than most.  (Or at least better than my kids.) 

Lone Wolf wrote:

MediumTex wrote: MediumTex says:

"I do not know what I may appear to the world, but compared to Newton I seem to have been only like a toddler playing in a sandbox, and diverting myself in now and then finding a bit of material in my navel or perhaps pondering a piece of feline fecal matter mixed in with the undergirding grains of terra, while the great ocean of human affairs unfolded around me in all of its wondrous and elegant absurdity."

That is awesome.  For a goofy kid in a sandbox, you sure can write, son.

And if you can just remember not to try to stick that bit of feline fecal material in your mouth, you're doing better than most.  (Or at least better than my kids.)  :)

Another MadLib approach that I enjoyed was the Alan Ginsberg-inspired commentary on quants and their place in the world:

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by speculative fever, starving hysterical naked,

dragging themselves through the Wall Street thicket of greed at dawn looking for an edge, any edge, angelheaded talent burning for the ancient wordly connection to the masters of the universe and their dark machinery of night, who tasted easy wealth and drank deeply, hollowing out their souls without a care in the supernatural darkness of cold-eyed luxury apartments floating across the tops of cities contemplating a meaningless world,

who bared their brains to Goldman Sachs in the pale moonlight and saw angels bearing great fortunes staggering on tenement roofs illuminated, calling to them to spill their mental talent generously, to turn themselves into an abstraction, an idea, a nightmare,

to be absorbed into something ever-more meaningless, to sell their souls every day a little more cheaply, watching their value spiral infinitely toward nothingness as they watched their fortunes take the place of what had once made them human,

as the nature of the quants' fate became clear in tiny increments the angels bearing fortunes transformed into decrepit humans lumbering under the weight of their own wasted existence, not devils but simply life on the edge of expiration, something on the edge of nothing, and it was then that the quants wailed, realizing the nature of the bargain they had made.

What is this "V-50 audio course"?

Here's a cool video from Neil deGrasse Tyson telling us why he thinks Isaac Newton was the smartest/greatest scientist to walk the Earth (2:17):

http://youtu.be/wiOwqDmacJo?t=4m2s

[quote=Neil deGrasse Tyson]Isaac Newton asked the right questions.[/quote]

Isaac Newton was a piece of work.

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/08/08/ten ... ut-newton/

Most interesting among these are his devout devotion to the Bible with special emphasis on "end-time" prophecy and apocalyptic beliefs (something me and Isaac had in common for quite a few years in my own life so I don't feel quite as stupid).

But also his zealous devotion to sound money and zealous persecution of counterfeiters, some of whom he even had put to death. This, we don't have in common.

jackh wrote: But also his zealous devotion to sound money and zealous persecution of counterfeiters, some of whom he even had put to death. This, we don't have in common.

...at least not yet.