In his review of the recent books by Smolin and Woit on the status of string theory, David Lindley writes: (see www.wilsoncenter.org……): “The problem with…
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There is this sudden rash of books by famous scientists suggesting we extirpate religion from society, starting with Daniel Dennett ‘s “Breaking the Spell: Religion…
Comments closedLanding at San Francisco Airport recently I saw an Air New Zealand plane. What immediately struck me was the tail logo: so serious, so proud,…
Comments closedPeople seem to believe that the ability to talk developed in order to improve communication beyond mere gestures and grunts. But perhaps the ability to…
Comments closedI spent the last week at Stanford University, about which more later. As I walked through Newark airport to the “Passengers Only” security check, I…
Comments closedI wrote a couple of days ago about how quantitative finance keeps working in the same paradigm — pick a process, calibrate it to liquid…
Comments closedI heard some very good seminars in the last few days on credit modeling. But after my excitement at understanding something I didn’t understand before,…
Comments closedThere’s an interesting article in the latest New York Review of Book by John Searle, reviewing the book Seeing Red: A Study in Consciousness by…
Comments closedI was walking up to Columbia this afternoon when I saw an armored truck outside a Duane Reade, with a couple of beefy guys standing…
Comments closedAt lunch today with some colleagues, my cellphone rang and I recognized the number of a doctor I ceased going to a couple of years…
Comments closedSomething paradoxical occurred to me. Consciousness works best in the service of unconsciousness. What I mean is that if you play football, tennis, the piano,…
Comments closedThe taxi driver the other day was tuned to a station playing Maggie May from the Seventies. When I came home I downloaded it from…
Comments closedYesterday morning when I was having lunch I opened the refrigerator door and a moth that had somehow managed to get inside began flying furiously…
Comments closed… is a word I made up. Anthropomorphism means attributing the qualities of human beings to inanimate things or animals. As far as I can…
Comments closedI was thinking some more about what makes a good theory. In the natural sciences, a good theory is one that makes accurate predictions. There,…
Comments closedEveryone always wants to know what makes a good model. One way to think about it is that a good model takes some already valid…
Comments closedNo, not that kind of alpha. I was looking for a very light laptop so that you could do some writing anywhere. I have a…
Comments closedThis weekend I flipped through the Personals in the New York Review of Books. They’ve always been good for entertainment, with very literately phrased ads…
Comments closedI was watching TV the other night and they’re now using songs like “All You Need is Love” to sell banking services. When I’m dependent…
Comments closedI suppose all surprised are unexpected. ? I was in Cannes on Bastille Day after the GAIM conference and what was most impressive was the…
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A question about Southern France: is it my imagination, or does the Coca Cola there taste better than in NYC, and, if it does,…
Comments closedWhen I was looking at a really efficient rider in the Tour de France, not sprinting but simply powering along during the main part of…
Comments closedI was reading the ‘Vows’ section in the Fashion and Style Sunday New York Times today. That ‘s where they describe recent marriages. Here’s an…
Comments closedWe had the orientation for new students at the Columbia FE program yesterday, and I listened to several of our past students talk about how…
Comments closedI found myself thinking about the relative effects of mundane vs extraordinary events, and the effect they have on human life. In my case, what…
Comments closedI recently had some students cheat in a course I teach. What irritated me was that they seemed to regard cheating as a sort of…
Comments closedAbout a year or two ago I sat on an airplane coming back from London and ended up watching ‘School of Rock,’ without any preconceptions,…
Comments closedWell, not quite myths, but objections. I don’t like axiomatization in finance. I believe you should learn things more sloppily the first time around, and…
Comments closedIn a recent New York Review of Books, Freeman Dyson, one of the men who, almost sixty years ago, help prove that quantum electrodynamic was…
Comments closedMany interviews now concentrate on giving people technical and mathematical quizzes. You can get books to help prepare for them. Quizzes are good at finding…
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