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Was disappointed because title is misleading; I had hoped the fund was using actual Algae (i.e. computation in biological medium) to produce market decisions.
by platz 9y ago
Was disappointed because title is misleading; I had hoped the fund was using actual Algae (i.e. computation in biological medium) to produce market decisions. Instead it is just biologists that are creating algos with their existing machine-learning knowledge. Apparently deep-learning and algae are the same thing.
- makmanalp 9y agoI was hoping that it like that situation when Caligula replaced a senator with a horse, but rather the hedge fund replaced quants with algae :-)
- Bartweiss 9y agoDidn't the monkey win when they tried that instead? I'm holding out for a 4-way contest of quant, horse, monkey, and algae. I won't be betting on the winner, either.
- vikascoder 9y agoisnt there already research to show that the stock and bond market behaviours are theoretically impossible to predict?
- icebraining 9y agoIt's disputed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient-market_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efficient-market_hypothesis
- gaius 9y agoSee http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/simon-english-stockbroker-beats-cat-and-fund-manager-6948428.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/simon-eng...
- ZeroCool2u 9y agoOkay, I know you're joking, but this is exactly how I interpreted the title and I was so excited to see a picture of some suits staring at some green water and trying to read it like tea leaves.
- superlopuh 9y agoSomething like this would have been perfect: https://www.wired.com/2010/01/slime-mold-grows-network-just-like-tokyo-rail-system/ https://www.wired.com/2010/01/slime-mold-grows-network-just-...
- avisser 9y agoI hoped that the fund was investing in companies producing GMO algae to solve large problems: carbon sequestration, energy production, toxin remediation, etc.
- tboyd47 9y agoI love how so many people on HN can read a strange news article title and came up with so many different imaginative interpretations of what it means.
- ju-st 9y agoMy first thought was that they ask algae for stock tips like the magic conch shell of Spongebob :( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu5SJcNp0J0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu5SJcNp0J0
- icebraining 9y agoOr Paul the Octopus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Octopus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_the_Octopus
- pfooti 9y agoi came here for the algaerithms, was disappointed.
- gjm11 9y agoDeep-sea learning.
- geezerjay 9y ago> Apparently deep-learning and algae are the same thing. That's perhaps the most annoying thing about "machine learning" in general and heuristic algorithms in particular. These researchers hack together some rules to put together an algorithm, and only after that does the real work start: to come up with a metaphor to explain their model based on some clever story on why they decided to generate random sample points or filter training points. In the end, the whole field starts to look like a bullshitter's ball, where everyone tries to one-up each other with the biggest bullshit metaphor to sell their an algorithm which is actually only a very minor tweak on an established age-old concept. "We use particle swarms to generate new solutions, which are then genetically modified and subjected to a darwinian-inspired differential-evolution filter, who are then analised based on the behavior manifested by wolfpacks to search and hunt for their prey, and whose sub-optimal solutions are eliminated by following nature's resource-exhaustion megakill phenomena." Bullshit all around, but it sells.