Thursday, July 23, 2009
"I sell insurance, what do you do, Benoit?" "Oh I discovered fractals."
Von Pepe sent me this fascinating video that I just had to stop. (I can't spend an hour at the office watching it right now, and if I go for 10 minutes I won't have the willpower to turn it off.) In fact, it looks like this MIT video series has a bunch of really interesting lectures.
I had read Mandelbrot's The (Mis)Behavior of Markets when making the jump from academia to the financial sector, and it was amazing. Also, if you are curious about chaos theory but don't know where to start, James Gleick's book is awesome. (Fractals and chaos theory aren't the same thing, but Gleick discusses Mandlebrot's connection to finance.)
Now don't get all tribal on me, Austrian purists. I'm not saying Mandelbrot's "non-Gaussian" models of the stock market are right. Rather, I'm taking Rothbard's approach when he argued that the chaos theorists are showing just how baseless the neoclassical economists are when they try to play the "we're real scientists" card on Austrians.
EXTRA CREDIT: What's the special connection between the blog Free Advice and the work of Benoit Mandelbrot?
I had read Mandelbrot's The (Mis)Behavior of Markets when making the jump from academia to the financial sector, and it was amazing. Also, if you are curious about chaos theory but don't know where to start, James Gleick's book is awesome. (Fractals and chaos theory aren't the same thing, but Gleick discusses Mandlebrot's connection to finance.)
Now don't get all tribal on me, Austrian purists. I'm not saying Mandelbrot's "non-Gaussian" models of the stock market are right. Rather, I'm taking Rothbard's approach when he argued that the chaos theorists are showing just how baseless the neoclassical economists are when they try to play the "we're real scientists" card on Austrians.
EXTRA CREDIT: What's the special connection between the blog Free Advice and the work of Benoit Mandelbrot?
Comments:
EXTRA CREDIT: What's the special connection between the blog Free Advice and the work of Benoit Mandelbrot?
*yawn* The image at the top of Free Advice is known as the Mandelbrot Set, a self-similar fractal that Mandelbrot discovered which is generated by a simple rule blah blah blah
I'm not getting a copy of any of your books, am I? Dang. :-(
*yawn* The image at the top of Free Advice is known as the Mandelbrot Set, a self-similar fractal that Mandelbrot discovered which is generated by a simple rule blah blah blah
I'm not getting a copy of any of your books, am I? Dang. :-(
No, Silas. That's the obvious connection. Bob asked what the special connection was.
Benoit Mandelbrot coined the term in late August of 1975, exactly nine months before Bob was born. This is surely no mere coincidence.
Benoit Mandelbrot coined the term in late August of 1975, exactly nine months before Bob was born. This is surely no mere coincidence.
# posted by 
: July 23, 2009 at 3:18 PM
: July 23, 2009 at 3:18 PM
"Rather, I'm taking Rothbard's approach when he argued that the chaos theorists are showing just how baseless the neoclassical economists are when they try to play the "we're real scientists" card on Austrians."
Hey Bob (or anyone else), can you point to where Rothbard made this claim?
Thanks.
Hey Bob (or anyone else), can you point to where Rothbard made this claim?
Thanks.
# posted by : July 23, 2009 at 3:33 PM
: July 23, 2009 at 3:33 PM
Stewart, you're making that up, right? (I mean the fact, not the inference that you drew from the fact.)
On non-linear dynamics, causal explanation, etc., I can't recommend more highly:
Stone, Mark. “Chaos, Prediction and Laplacean Determinism”, Am. Phil. Q., 26, 123-131.
Also, have you read Barkley Rosser's work?
Stone, Mark. “Chaos, Prediction and Laplacean Determinism”, Am. Phil. Q., 26, 123-131.
Also, have you read Barkley Rosser's work?
"Stewart, you're making that up, right?"
I made up the "exactly nine months" part. Mandelbrot did publish "Les Objets Fractals" in 1975, though, and that was the first use of the word "fractal." While it's possible that this coincided with your, uh, conception, my guess is that he was personally using the word for some time before the book went to press.
I made up the "exactly nine months" part. Mandelbrot did publish "Les Objets Fractals" in 1975, though, and that was the first use of the word "fractal." While it's possible that this coincided with your, uh, conception, my guess is that he was personally using the word for some time before the book went to press.
# posted by : July 23, 2009 at 6:04 PM
: July 23, 2009 at 6:04 PM
"Rather, I'm taking Rothbard's approach when he argued that the chaos theorists are showing just how baseless the neoclassical economists are when they try to play the "we're real scientists" card on Austrians."
Oh, I really wish I knew what that meant. I have heard that 'scientist' argument.
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Oh, I really wish I knew what that meant. I have heard that 'scientist' argument.
# posted by : July 23, 2009 at 8:55 PM
: July 23, 2009 at 8:55 PM Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
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