This one is by Paul Davies, 'The Mind of God' and is one of the best books on this subject I have ever read. It is a popular book, everyone can read it. Davies is an accomplished theoretical physicist and also a decent philosopher, although not a professional one. He has written a number of popular books on modern aspects of science, particularly physics. I highly recommend it.
Science, Meta-physics and Trading
- Thread starter WDGann
- Start date
well I get your point because I am not one who requires "scientific evidence" for every little thing before I can accept it. I think very little of reality is actually described by pure science and the markets are no different.
Do you drive a car, do you watch TV, do you use a computer? Well, these are things that would be impossible without that pure science. It was pure before it became applied.
Computers as we know them now would not be possible without our understanding of quantum mechanics that underlies our understanding of solid state physics (semiconductors and stuff like that). Many aspects of reality are described by pure science, not all, of course, and not all probably ever will, but still science is probably the most successful human endevour ever and without it most modern technology would not be possible.
Can science be applied to the markets? Of course, there is a new branch of physics called econophysics which studies markets from a physics perspective. Will that ever explain everything about the markets? Probably not, but I am sure that we will learn a lot using this new scientific approach. How much individual traders will benefit from that, I don't know yet. At this point these things are studied to get a qualitative understanding of market phenomena, rather than to describe them in a quantitave manner. The latter even if possible in principle, may not be very useful anyway as the equations that describe the market dynamics will most likely be chaotic and so their predictive power will be limited. That's the reason we are not able to predict weather very well, with markets we will have a similar problem.
this thread is getting fun. may i recommend to you "techgnosis" by erik davis. it provides historical context for the blurred line between quantum mechanics, high tech, physics and spiritual pursuits. i think some of you will enjoy it !
best,
surfer
best,
surfer
Quote from wally_:
Let me guess, science is simpler than trading?
yes, in a broad sense, of course ! i believe that one day markets will be predictable. when this occurs, it's time for the next paradigm.
i am enjoying your posts.
best,
surfer
"Do you drive a car, do you watch TV, do you use a computer? Well, these are things that would be impossible without that pure science. It was pure before it became applied. "
Of course I drive a car and work with technology every day. I also know that very few things work EXACTLY the way they are supposed too ALL THE TIME. Software has weird glitches that come and go, hardware fails mysteriously, Mechanics often know more about how to fix a car than engineers do. Just this weekend, I fixed my outboard motor BY HITTING IT WITH A HAMMER IN FRUSTRATION. I had a mechanical engineer with me and he just laughed and shrugged it off. In the markets Gurus come and go like city buses. Hedge funds like LTCM filled with the popes and high priests of so called "science" blow out spectacularly. People like Taleb make fun of Neiderhoffer for just being lucky, yet he himself has never made a dime in his hedge fund, he writes books for a living.
I could go on and on, but I hope you see what i'm driving at. As for Econophysics, all I can say is don't be hasty to jump on the bandwagon with real money.
Of course I drive a car and work with technology every day. I also know that very few things work EXACTLY the way they are supposed too ALL THE TIME. Software has weird glitches that come and go, hardware fails mysteriously, Mechanics often know more about how to fix a car than engineers do. Just this weekend, I fixed my outboard motor BY HITTING IT WITH A HAMMER IN FRUSTRATION. I had a mechanical engineer with me and he just laughed and shrugged it off. In the markets Gurus come and go like city buses. Hedge funds like LTCM filled with the popes and high priests of so called "science" blow out spectacularly. People like Taleb make fun of Neiderhoffer for just being lucky, yet he himself has never made a dime in his hedge fund, he writes books for a living.
I could go on and on, but I hope you see what i'm driving at. As for Econophysics, all I can say is don't be hasty to jump on the bandwagon with real money.