5 creative outlets for me:
I’m not interested in comparing levels of ability to others, that’s not the point.
The more these areas cross-over the better.
The more I enjoy doing them, the better.
Over the past year I have experimented with three different methods of trading in the currency markets: computer automated algorithmic trading, human manual trading, and semi-automated algorithmic trading.
Purely automated trading – using pattern recognition and data mining – has proven to be very unsuccessful, which is is to be expected, as it is highly unlikely that there exists a magic formula for technical analysis that can be applied at all times. If such a thing existed, the designer of the magic money box would quickly become the richest person in history, given the trillions of dollars that pass through the financial markets every day. Successful automated algorithms in the markets compete on speed of response to price imperfections, and to variances between market expectations and economic data announcements.
Manual trading has had variable returns, yielding a slight net gain, but this is no guarantee of future performance due to the lack of a reusable fully codified strategy.
The most successful method is the hybrid combination of a human and a machine working together in real-time, which has performed very well over the testing time period. The human (me) innovates and modifies ideas from large volumes of data, processed by the algorithm, as directed by me. The semi-automated algorithm then dispassionately executes the trading plan in the lifespan of the strategy, instantly and precisely processing every market tick, every moment of every day.
I believe that to thrive at being a good human is the purpose, and tend to subscribe to something along the lines that: form ends on death, but time is just a perspective from one vantage point because the past, present and future are really one; all things are a part of each other, connected strands in the great tapestry of life; and maybe there are other dimensions of reality and incalculable vantage points.
Any person has a wide range of emotions and impulses running through them, to lesser or greater degrees. Sometimes, given the right circumstances, grace can be found in the most surprising places; and sometimes ugliness is expressed where beauty usually resides.
Mindfulness is an awareness that enables greater choice over the energies that move you.
Acting is an exercise in empathy: the actor tries to understand the thought processes and emotional life of the person being portrayed. I first look into the world from the point of view of a human being, then try on some different clothes.
In good stories the brave hero courageously saves the lives of others; well these days it can just take a tap on a screen to save someone’s life. Anyone can be the hero.
A pollyanna vision of the arc of technology is that if robots can do all the work at higher levels of productivity than people, then in theory everyone could be wealthy, enjoying the fruits of automated labour. People are then liberated from economic and social necessity to fully explore life; to hopefully find true beauty, love and self-actualisation – instead of struggling, worrying and fighting over limited resources to survive.
One of the effects of the worldwide shut-down has been to hasten the widespread transition from offline real life to an online virtual life.
The analogue world often has more reverence, albeit less sheer efficiency than the online version; for instance finding a seminal work in the labyrinth of a dusty old library feels like discovering a bit of history, rather than scrolling past disposable data on a screen.
A: Angry humans of the twentieth century came to the brink of self-destruction, inflicting unbelievable suffering in the process. Hating the hatred helps it grow, even though it may change its face.
B: That’s just an empty platitude. If you don’t fight the malevolent, you are complicit by allowing it to continue.
A: You always become the result of the energy that moves you. Not for no reason has it been so often said that you become the thing you hate.
B: I have every right to hate. There should be justice! People sitting on mountain tops don’t have to deal with the realities of this world. If people didn’t fight for what is right, evil would walk over everything, including you and me.
A: You deserve not to be contaminated by this energy. You have a chance to be better, to make a better world. You can feel what is right and act intensely, but it is your anger that unbalances you.
B: Some people are evil, I have no intention of being kind to them, they deserve everything coming to them.
A: The world will only heal with kindness. If humanity can find its light there can be no darkness. You can help make that possible, right now.
B: Anything I do will not change the world.
A: Give your love and the world will be relieved. Give your anger and the world will be wounded yet again. That’s how important you are. That’s how important every single person is.
What would have happened if the US was not the first country to develop the nuclear bomb? What would have happened if the Nazis, Stalin, Mao or the Imperial Japanese Empire had the bomb first? No doubt after numerous live demonstrations on target cities, the world would have been subjugated to the particular brand of sadistic totalitarian control.
As technology progresses, additional existential threats to humanity will happen more regularly – the most frequently noted in biological engineering, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology. Technology is also making it ever easier to centrally track and control people’s behaviour, enabling the ideal conditions for any strain of despotic regime to thrive.
The pressure to evolve to survive is growing for humanity; given the stakes and the alternatives, we have to get better.
Rob Walker 