Our Profession.
You come to realize one of the market’s great paradoxes: absorbing a loss under fire is an almost mechanical act, a quiet surrender to the inevitable.
The true crucible of character, however, is found in choosing to walk away from the table when the cards are falling in your favor, especially as the bets grow wilder and the intoxicating pull of the final, collective wager tempts everyone to go all in.
And the truth, much like in Poker, is that the table is not designed for everyone to win. By its very nature, the market funnels the winnings into the hands of a disciplined few. To find yourself moving in unison with the crowd, feeling the comfort of shared conviction, is often the final assurance that you are no longer the hunter, but the prey.
The discipline to rein in risk during a market crescendo requires a quiet courage that is rarely celebrated. The world will always cheer louder for the gambler who goes all-in and wins than for the strategist who loses less than everyone else.
This path demands a solitary mind. You must stand firm in your own logic when the only seemingly rational choice is to surrender to the street's roar.
It’s the loneliest job in the world, yet it’s also the most clarifying.
After enough seasons have passed, after 90% of the voices you once knew have fallen silent, you realize the market is a relentless mirror.
In the end, it shows you exactly what you're made of.
Relatedly, I am very bearish on anything that is "x but decentralized."
Most current iterations of decentralized social media are this today, and therefore NGMI.
Decentralization is a means to an end, it should allow users to do something new or create a unique experience.
This should also REMOVE friction from users, not create more.
This principle includes extending choices to users where they don't want it, like allowing them to choose their own social algo.
No one on planet earth wants that, they just want better algos that they don't need to think about.