Those who say that science can answer all questions are themselves standing outside science to make that claim. That is why naturalism—the modern version of materialism, seeing reality as defined by what is within reach of the sciences—becomes a metaphysical theory when it strays beyond methodology to talk of what can exist. Denying metaphysics and upholding materialism must itself be a move within metaphysics. It involves standing outside the practice of science and talking of its scope. The assertion that science can explain everything can never come from within science. It is always a statement about science.
Author: Edouard Chazal
Risky Strategy Sinks Small Hedge
Follow-up on some less successful investment strategies by hedge-funds, to say the least :
The back-tested results for the Spruce Alpha fund may not have taken into account how markets and investors would react given the kind of circumstances that took place in August. The hypothetical results could have underestimated the fact that some E.T.F.s are used as trading instruments that big money managers move quickly in and out of in times of extreme market volatility.
In a disclaimer to its marketing materials, Spruce Alpha also noted some of the unreliability of back-tested returns. The hypothetical results “do not represent the results of actual trading” and “were achieved by means of the retroactive application of a hypothetical model that was designed with the benefit of hindsight and could be adjusted at will until desired or better performance results were achieved,” the disclaimer reads.
Markets : Can They Really Be Tamed ?
On computer-driven, automatic trading strategies :
Cobras are revered in Indian culture, but the British Raj took a dimmer view of the poisonous snake. Officials promised a lucrative reward for every dead serpent — a scheme that, according to economic lore, backfired horribly.
Enterprising Indians began breeding cobras to collect the bounty, which forced the colonial government to abandon the plan. The frustrated breeders then released the worthless cobras, worsening the infestation. The story has never been fully confirmed by historians, but was seized on by German economist Horst Siebert, who in 2001 published The Cobra Effect on perverse incentives and unintended consequences. The book turned the anecdote into a potent example of how solutions to a problem can make it worse.
The Free Market: It’s Like Uber, But for Everything
There is increasing speculation that Uber’s long-anticipated initial public offering could be valued at $100 billion, a value that has been created by undercutting the prices of traditional taxis and offering more and better service. If that’s how much wealth can be generated just by rediscovering the laws of economics in this one narrow area, think what could be accomplished if we do it for the economy as a whole.
It would be like Uber, but for everything.
How Spotify’s Discover Weekly Cracked Human Curation At Internet Scale
The reason no one attempted something like Discover Weekly until now is because a static, personalized playlist is very risky. A radio stream usually begins with a prompt from the user and can adjust in real time based on a user’s feedback. Discover Weekly, by contrast, is two hours of music you get once a week with no real explanation of why you’re getting these tracks, or how to influence that process. Just like handing a mix tape to your crush in real life, once you finalize the playlist, you’re committed. Somehow Spotify’s algorithms manage to deliver me a consistently great experience.
Behind the scene :
“Today” contains the sample to “They Reminiscence Over You,” a hip-hop classic I’ve spun on Spotify dozens of times. Spotify knew I had never heard “Today,” at least not on their service, and was therefore ripe to be thrilled at connecting the dots. It was a recommendation driven less by the way the music sounds, or genre, than by the cultural and historical web that gives music so much of its power.
I tried pretty much every streaming services available and I’ve got to say that Spotify Discover Weekly is the best by far. The shear volume of tracks and artists that I’ve discovered and loved ever since is impressive.
Looking at Monday’s playlist, I’ve liked 18 out of 30 tracks which means, at the end of the day, many more tracks and albums as soon as I will tap into the new artists that I’ve discovered today. A 60% positive-rate doesn’t seem much but the quality of the curation is here. Plus, all I had to do is to wait for my playlist to be refilled —every Monday. Not a bad way to start the week.
A 100% music-match would freak me out, anyway, but isn’t that where we are heading to ?
Abnormal Capitalist 