Tuesday 16 August 2011
Monday 1 August 2011
Sunday 31 July 2011
An Example of Pseudo-Isomorphism and Weak Adjunction in Nabokov's Gift
1. One of the flavours of current math wizards in Category Theory is that beyond the simplifying beauty of their commutative stick diagrams, they appear to be in agreement that not much of their art has any obvious applicability to other parts of life.
Since much of what they do is to find the widest possible brushstrokes -- universal properties -- it is not surprising that it is difficult to find examples in real life where uniqueness can be trusted to serve some general principle. Nevertheless, there is the odd inflection where Nature appears to be a failed or perhaps much more subtle mathematician, hoovering just out of reach of our theories and inviting us to step off the cliff into an abyss. Tempting, or just foreshortened?
Source: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=Nabokov+the+gift&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=d&tbm=isch&tbnid=2gtZSYEoawJoaM:&imgrefurl=http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/07/01/nabokov-butterflies/&docid=H5txSi_bq0brTM&w=480&h=665&ei=KZc1To31NYGs8QPSqMWgDg&zoom=1&biw=768&bih=946
Here is an example by Nabokov on how even a reflective symmetry across plant and animal, suggesting communication across thousands and millions of generations is itself unique. This taking some elements of one world and BORROWING them for another world is exactly what Category Theory was originally meant to rigorously capture. The two different worlds remain as they are, and somehow they are transformed by the exchanges into resemblances of each other.
"In my vicinity some witch doctors with the wary and crafty look of competitors were collecting for their mercenary needs Chinese rhubarb, whose root bears an extraordinary resemblance to a caterpillar, right down to its prolegs and spiracles - while I, in the meantime, found under a stone the caterpillar of an unknown moth, which represented not in a general way but with absolute concreteness a copy of that root, so that it was not quite clear which was impersonating which - or why."
Source: Nabokov, Vladimir (1963) The Gift, pp. 116-117.
The beginning of the next line:
"Everyone tells lies in Tibet."
Source: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=rhubarb+drawings&hl=en&client=safari&sa=X&tbo=d&tbm=isch&prmd=ivns&tbnid=fNc9cMBfY__jBM:&imgrefurl=http://daviddrawsandpaints.blogspot.com/2011/04/rhubarb.html&docid=e3qM48rphly6LM&w=609&h=479&ei=75Q1Tp2zKYbE8QOo5p2hDg&zoom=1&biw=768&bih=946
2. Maybe one of the functions of "lying" is to preserve or move towards an image which the liar cannot help but replicate for his own needs and for the sake of preserving his world in the midst of a foreign world.
Since much of what they do is to find the widest possible brushstrokes -- universal properties -- it is not surprising that it is difficult to find examples in real life where uniqueness can be trusted to serve some general principle. Nevertheless, there is the odd inflection where Nature appears to be a failed or perhaps much more subtle mathematician, hoovering just out of reach of our theories and inviting us to step off the cliff into an abyss. Tempting, or just foreshortened?
Source: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=Nabokov+the+gift&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=d&tbm=isch&tbnid=2gtZSYEoawJoaM:&imgrefurl=http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/07/01/nabokov-butterflies/&docid=H5txSi_bq0brTM&w=480&h=665&ei=KZc1To31NYGs8QPSqMWgDg&zoom=1&biw=768&bih=946
Here is an example by Nabokov on how even a reflective symmetry across plant and animal, suggesting communication across thousands and millions of generations is itself unique. This taking some elements of one world and BORROWING them for another world is exactly what Category Theory was originally meant to rigorously capture. The two different worlds remain as they are, and somehow they are transformed by the exchanges into resemblances of each other.
"In my vicinity some witch doctors with the wary and crafty look of competitors were collecting for their mercenary needs Chinese rhubarb, whose root bears an extraordinary resemblance to a caterpillar, right down to its prolegs and spiracles - while I, in the meantime, found under a stone the caterpillar of an unknown moth, which represented not in a general way but with absolute concreteness a copy of that root, so that it was not quite clear which was impersonating which - or why."
Source: Nabokov, Vladimir (1963) The Gift, pp. 116-117.
The beginning of the next line:
"Everyone tells lies in Tibet."
Source: http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=rhubarb+drawings&hl=en&client=safari&sa=X&tbo=d&tbm=isch&prmd=ivns&tbnid=fNc9cMBfY__jBM:&imgrefurl=http://daviddrawsandpaints.blogspot.com/2011/04/rhubarb.html&docid=e3qM48rphly6LM&w=609&h=479&ei=75Q1Tp2zKYbE8QOo5p2hDg&zoom=1&biw=768&bih=946
2. Maybe one of the functions of "lying" is to preserve or move towards an image which the liar cannot help but replicate for his own needs and for the sake of preserving his world in the midst of a foreign world.
Thursday 28 July 2011
False Dichotomies & An Aikidoist's Understanding How to Move The Mind of Opposites
1. One recurrent lesson about the US debt crisis, soon to become debt default, is to not underestimate the power of false dichotomies. Expect huge volatilities in US debt related markets--which means anything that sounds like "US Treasury related" will become pariah much like "asset-backed securities" became in 2007 when practically all qualified investors withdrew their support from what they thought was the plague. Imagine the disgust, the frightening laughs of those who would take advantage of such events. An old George Soros comes to mind, trading against the pound...
Source: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/17.142.3
2. It's so much easier to move the body of another by realising how the "mind" of an individual continuously attempts to right itself in the face of stimuli. Ask an Aikidoist to demonstrate. By holding the edge of your shirt at hip level, she can flip you in any direction by jerking your shirt downwards and understanding that you will naturally try to adjust your balance by moving your body upwards. At this moment, the Aikidoist will help you upwards at which point you will immediately adjust your weight downwards. And it is at this point, the Aikidoist will help you to accelerate downwards so you cannot maintain your balance and down you go like falling timber. However, from your consciousness all the Aikidoist did was lightly tug the bottom of your T-shirt. The first time this happens, it is totally incomprehensible to the one thrown. But after a couple years of being thrown around like a rag doll, comprehension sets in. By being thrown thousands and thousands of times, one gets a feeling of how to throw. And the principle of throwing is reduced to a few words or gestures and becomes incorporated into a repertoire of mind-body behaviours that can be applied generally and to many seemingly different situations.
Source: http://www.bridgemanart.com/Media%20library/Images/News%20and%20Features/EN-US/Artist%20and%20Collection%20Highlights/Aug%2009/Da%20Vinci%20Code%20story_72634-1.jpg
Source: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/17.142.3
2. It's so much easier to move the body of another by realising how the "mind" of an individual continuously attempts to right itself in the face of stimuli. Ask an Aikidoist to demonstrate. By holding the edge of your shirt at hip level, she can flip you in any direction by jerking your shirt downwards and understanding that you will naturally try to adjust your balance by moving your body upwards. At this moment, the Aikidoist will help you upwards at which point you will immediately adjust your weight downwards. And it is at this point, the Aikidoist will help you to accelerate downwards so you cannot maintain your balance and down you go like falling timber. However, from your consciousness all the Aikidoist did was lightly tug the bottom of your T-shirt. The first time this happens, it is totally incomprehensible to the one thrown. But after a couple years of being thrown around like a rag doll, comprehension sets in. By being thrown thousands and thousands of times, one gets a feeling of how to throw. And the principle of throwing is reduced to a few words or gestures and becomes incorporated into a repertoire of mind-body behaviours that can be applied generally and to many seemingly different situations.
Source: http://www.bridgemanart.com/Media%20library/Images/News%20and%20Features/EN-US/Artist%20and%20Collection%20Highlights/Aug%2009/Da%20Vinci%20Code%20story_72634-1.jpg
Wednesday 27 July 2011
Does Buying Protection Against US Default in the Form of a CDS constitute an Anti-Patriotic Act of Supreme Rationality?
1. Is there such a thing as rational terrorism in the the financial markets? I'd say no. Markets should be left to their own devices, otherwise they tend to bite the arm off of their supposed masters. Let us not try to be too cunning when it comes to the US DEFAULT scenarios. If the markets don't see a realistic plan for BUDGET DEFICIT reduction that can simply be translated into NATIONAL DEBT reduction (please God teach the US Senators, Congressmen and President to use the same interest rate, years, and future values in their NET PRESENT VALUE calculations!) so the biggest systemic risk in the world today does not go crazy by July 28th (technical default coming for sure) and by August 15th (when the US really runs out of money to pay its bills). End of Prayer. Look at the chart below.
Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/step-aside-unicredit-and-italy-us-number-one-monthly-risk-bets
The chart means that US Debt is now the target of the speculative short bets. It scores higher than Greece, Italy, Spain. Translated into the Queen's English: Obama and Boehner looking over each other's shoulders, saying simultaneously, "I say, wee Jock, we are in a spot of trouble."
Remember the Market has not yet PANICKED because it cannot believe that the people's elected officials of the Republic are acting like squabbling children of the spoiled Empire.
Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/step-aside-unicredit-and-italy-us-number-one-monthly-risk-bets
The chart means that US Debt is now the target of the speculative short bets. It scores higher than Greece, Italy, Spain. Translated into the Queen's English: Obama and Boehner looking over each other's shoulders, saying simultaneously, "I say, wee Jock, we are in a spot of trouble."
Remember the Market has not yet PANICKED because it cannot believe that the people's elected officials of the Republic are acting like squabbling children of the spoiled Empire.
Thursday 21 July 2011
Monday 18 July 2011
The more I examined this graph, the more it made me laugh
1. Courtesy of the famous Dick Bove who recommended buying Lehman Brothers 2 days before it crashed:
Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/afternoon-humor-dick-boves-histoerical-bank-america-price-targets
2. Look closely at the buy ("B") recommendations. Hilarious, no? Dick Hove's recommendations remind me of brokers' calls shovelling the latest pump and dump. A mature person knows this happens all the time, and laughs it off when the con tries it on.
Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/article/afternoon-humor-dick-boves-histoerical-bank-america-price-targets
2. Look closely at the buy ("B") recommendations. Hilarious, no? Dick Hove's recommendations remind me of brokers' calls shovelling the latest pump and dump. A mature person knows this happens all the time, and laughs it off when the con tries it on.
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