Sometimes, even a notorious con artist, even a fifth-rate ideologue, liar and malicious, can produce very interesting pages when describing his personal experiences. Unless he falsifies them too, he will be able to experience in writing exactly what the great writer experiences. And he will be convincing. There is something special about this: writing offers everyone, without distinction, identical possibilities—and to make the most of them, one need only take the act of writing seriously.
Category: Notes
Financial Mathematics Has Something…
Financial mathematics has something cruel about it. When studying it, it is not difficult to see that it works, that is, that the long term really does confirm the theory of multiplication. Although recent, it already has sufficient historical data to estimate with some certainty the results of different scenarios, including those that are unforeseen. Risk, too, can now be quantified in fairly reliable figures. But all of these calculations, all of these estimates, all of this sufficiently safe way of operating, with more than satisfactory results, is always based on percentages. No matter how sophisticated the calculation or how powerful the computer, it is impossible to escape this constraint: a percentage is always relative to the principal.
There Is Not a Single Newspaper Article…
There is not a single newspaper article that deserves to be printed and saved for the future, as is done with all literature of value. So how is it possible that so many people read and are convinced of the false importance attributed to newspaper articles? Journalism never brings the reader closer to any truly important issue. What it does is distance him from his individuality and involve him in issues that are completely outside his sphere of influence, that do not interfere with his life, and when they do interfere, it is the kind of interference against which nothing can be done. A practical contribution, therefore, is nil; not to mention that, more often than not, journalism inspires nothing but bad feelings. It is always best to despise it. And, depending on it for one’s livelihood, it is best to leave it and seek another profession. Apart from that, there are good journalists. But a good journalist is a sick man who cannot leave journalism because he suffers from having it as his vocation.
There Seems to Be an All Too Obvious…
There seems to be an all too obvious moral distinction between the great argonauts of the past, separating those motivated by discovery from those motivated by domination. These are very different impulses, which only appear to be compatible. To discern them, it is often enough to analyze the successes after landing on the land found. It is therefore strange that all this is not very clear, allowing true glory to be conferred on the true and very brave heroes.