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And why exactly shouldn't the guy who's invested in the best hardware have an edge? Should perhaps we also mandate that all software engineers use exactly the

by varelse 14y ago

And why exactly shouldn't the guy who's invested in the best hardware have an edge? Should perhaps we also mandate that all software engineers use exactly the same 2004-era Acer Pentium 4 laptop so that any difference in productivity is strictly due to programming skills?

jellicle 14y ago
Because the purpose of the stock market is not to give the guy with the best hardware an "edge".
- varelse 14y ago
  And the remedy for that is for the demographic who believes in "hot streaks" in casinos and professional athletics, who thinks the lottery is a good investment of their cash, and fashions themselves as homebrew "masters of the universe" to listen to Warren Buffet and invest in index funds rather than trying to outcook Bobby Flay in his own kitchen.
- prodigal_erik 14y ago
  This. The entire reason for having this market is to reward making better decisions about allocating society's resources, not the same decisions imperceptibly faster. The market's clearing system is flawed in ways that reward huge misinvestments in solving the wrong problem.
  - varelse 14y ago
    So I looked at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market#Function_and_purpose http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market#Function_and_purpo... Didn't see anything about rewarding better decisions about allocating society's resources. I did see a lot about raising capital for corporations and for providing an indicator of the general mood of the economy though. The stock market is effectively a giant casino for pros. If you're not one, you're just plain dumb if you try to play their game by their rules. And of course, with the sort of thinking you're putting forth, we should obviously OUTLAW that 66 GH/s bitcoin hardware. It's so unfair to everyone else who can only afford a cluster of 8 AMD 7970s, no?
ramblerman 14y ago
"And why exactly shouldn't the guy who's invested in the best hardware have an edge? Should perhaps we also mandate that all software engineers use exactly the same 2004-era Acer Pentium 4 laptop so that any difference in productivity is strictly due to programming skills?" Apples and oranges. Should we also mandate that doctors only use scalpels? Any analogy quickly becomes ridiculous as soon as you compare HFT to anything of actual use in this society.

by varelse 14y ago

jellicle 14y ago

Because the purpose of the stock market is not to give the guy with the best hardware an "edge".

varelse 14y ago
And the remedy for that is for the demographic who believes in "hot streaks" in casinos and professional athletics, who thinks the lottery is a good investment of their cash, and fashions themselves as homebrew "masters of the universe" to listen to Warren Buffet and invest in index funds rather than trying to outcook Bobby Flay in his own kitchen.
prodigal_erik 14y ago
This. The entire reason for having this market is to reward making better decisions about allocating society's resources, not the same decisions imperceptibly faster. The market's clearing system is flawed in ways that reward huge misinvestments in solving the wrong problem.
- varelse 14y ago
  So I looked at Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market#Function_and_purpose http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market#Function_and_purpo... Didn't see anything about rewarding better decisions about allocating society's resources. I did see a lot about raising capital for corporations and for providing an indicator of the general mood of the economy though. The stock market is effectively a giant casino for pros. If you're not one, you're just plain dumb if you try to play their game by their rules. And of course, with the sort of thinking you're putting forth, we should obviously OUTLAW that 66 GH/s bitcoin hardware. It's so unfair to everyone else who can only afford a cluster of 8 AMD 7970s, no?

ramblerman 14y ago

"And why exactly shouldn't the guy who's invested in the best hardware have an edge? Should perhaps we also mandate that all software engineers use exactly the same 2004-era Acer Pentium 4 laptop so that any difference in productivity is strictly due to programming skills?" Apples and oranges. Should we also mandate that doctors only use scalpels? Any analogy quickly becomes ridiculous as soon as you compare HFT to anything of actual use in this society.