Civilizations, like everything under the sun, have a life-cycle. They arise, they persist for a while, and then they inevitable decline and fall. Happened all the time in the past, and there is no reason to believe that it will cease to happen in the future — we are all Bayesians, after all. Continue reading “All things must pass”
Category: Quotes
Reading: Galbraith’s Journey Through Economic Time
John Kenneth Galbraith’s A Journey Through Economic Time (1994) is, like all his works, fascinating reading. One cannot read a single page without pausing to think and reflect. It is slow going consequently.
Continue reading “Reading: Galbraith’s Journey Through Economic Time”
The Zurich Axioms
Many years ago I had come across the Zurich Axioms on the usenet. Here it is for the record.
A set of simple (major and minor) rules devised by a set of Swiss investors, on how to succeed on the Stock Exchange – but which are generally applicable to any situation of selecting and managing risk.
The Zurich Axioms. Max Gunther, Unwin Paperbacks: ISBN 0-04-332126-7
THE (bare) AXIOMS
1: ON RISK Worry is not a sickness, but a sign of health. If you are not worried, you are not risking enough.
1.1: Always play for meaningful stakes.
1.2: Resist the allure of diversification.
Institution
Every institution exists only in the mind. Each is a manifestation of a very old, very basic idea — the idea of community. They can be no more or less than the sum of the beliefs of the people drawn to them; of their character, judgments, acts, and efforts.
Dee Hock, founder of VISA.
Life is a Random Draw 