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Alchemy and transmutation of lead to gold is a pretty apt analogy for John Nelson's quest to turn his model of the market into gold. a) The alchemical belief i
by gvb 16y ago
Alchemy and transmutation of lead to gold is a pretty apt analogy for John Nelson's quest to turn his model of the market into gold.
a) The alchemical belief in transmutation was based on a thoroughly wrong understanding of the underlying processes. John's (and other's) lack of success indicates a faulty model.
b) Ironically, it transpired that, under true nuclear transmutation, it is far easier to turn gold into lead than the reverse reaction, which was the one the alchemists had ardently pursued. Nuclear experiments have successfully transmuted lead into gold, but the expense far exceeds any gain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_transmutation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_transmutation
- chasingsparks 16y agoIf you look at the first sentence of the article, it is linked to the subheading of a blog post that explained my intellectual evolution -- the subtitle of which was "The Contemporary Philosopher’s Stone" which is how I refer to this problem. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophers_stone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophers_stone) You're not the only one drawing the comparison ;)
- khafra 16y agoSounds like in that frame, most of the consoling messages here are along the lines of "our gold is not the common gold."