Hobbes in the morning

Dear Tiger,

Gave Hobbes another listen this morning, "On Religion" --chapter 12 or such of Leviatian. A nice review of ideas which have circulated in my brain for several years or decades. It was pleasant, and I might skip around, do a few more chapters for similar brush-ups. But it won't take me long to work through the whole book(s). Since his writings have so permeated Western thought, none are new to me, and in the areas I am especially interested in, he is simply out of date.

As I said before, the next target is Das Kapital. The underlying reason is my desire to understand what is going  on in the world, and I hope Marx can provide some insights into the economics. If that doesn't pan out, I'll try Nietzche. Don't think he will help me answer my questions, but he is at least entertaining. I've tried reading him before, and was put off, but as a distraction while driving it might work better.

The world, the economy, and my nemesis, the stock market.

My latest understanding of the markets is built on my math/music analogy. That analogy is based on my previous belief that I have musical talent, and on the supposed close relationship between music and math. I have finally come to understand them math and music as analogous to the parallel rails in a railroad track. Close, yes, and quite similar to each other. No surprise that mathematicians throughout history have believed that they understood music or could if they tried. Close, indeed, but in fact quite separate and never touching.

So that is going to be the closing point in my "what is money" lecture, which I hope to deliver in May to thunderous applause and tremendous increase of respect from my colleagues. Money-- looks like math, but it's not.

I should probably turn my back on all of it, and just focus on my job. Virus, I can understand. The math we use to describe them, that I can do.

+glenn