In his classic work of Political Philosophy Anarchy, State, Utopia (1974), the Philosopher Robert Nozick first introduced his thought experiment of The Experience Machine. Imagine that there is a machine that you could plug into that would make you feel…
Things happen in their own time, not when you want them to – Lau Tzu, Tao Ching If there was one thing I would like to go back in time and tell my younger self it’s to think long term….
Contemporary Philosophy must begin by staring into the abyss of Nihilism. Nihilism is the absence of meaning. As Shakespeare put: “Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” It was Nietzsche who first…
To live is to feel oneself lost — he who accepts it has already begun to find himself, to be on firm ground. Instinctively, as do the shipwrecked, he will look round for something to which to cling, and that…
If you want to see American culture in its rawest form try working out at 24 Hour Fitness in the middle of the night. I’m back in the Bay Area for a few days trying to satellite into the $3500…
WARNING: This blog is a philosophical exploration of markets and has nothing to say about what is going on in markets right now. For those of you who are not interested in that sort of thing, I suggest you skip…
I am not attuned to this market environment and I don’t want to spoil a decent record by trying to play a game I don’t understand – Warren Buffett, Letter To Partners announcing the closing of the original Buffett Partnership,…
Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt – Juvenal, Roman poet The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the cause of the destruction multiplied with…
In his seminal 1994 talk at USC’s Business School, Charlie Munger – the greatest mind ever to apply himself to investing – started by saying “the art of stock picking [is] a subdivision of the art of worldly wisdom”. Munger…
Painting: The Romans In Their Decadence (1847), Thomas Couture There will be wars the like of which have never yet been seen on earth – Nietzsche, Ecce Homo (1888) Rome was not destroyed by external enemies, but by internal strife. The empire…