Wisdom in fragments

It's amusing when you ask people, well name someone who became rich as a hedge fund client?

Small hedge funds do better than big ones... big hedge funds did better when they were small... therefore the industry did better when it was small... That third step in the logic is something that investors don't spend a lot of time thinking about because there's nobody around to point that out to them!

Since 1998, the effective return to hedge-fund clients has only been 2.1% a year... never in the history of Finance was so much paid by so many for so little.

If all the money that's ever been invested in hedge funds had been put in treasury bills instead, the results would have been twice as good.

There's a very strong relationship between depravation and drug use in many western cultures. It's not the sole reason- you do get the rich and mega-privileged using drugs… You can't go shouting from the rooftops that it's all about depravation… a lot of it is… but there are other social factors, personal factors, genetic factors and economic factors – all mixed into the pot.

Pioneer of addiction medicine and alcohol dependence research; founded modern addiction psychiatry

What is obvious is that the first reason people use drugs is that they're there. You can't use drugs unless they're there, and they're cheap for your pocket or for the fruits of your stealing! For that reason, we need to get a deeper understanding of the fundamental question of why drugs are available on our streets.

Pioneer of addiction medicine and alcohol dependence research; founded modern addiction psychiatry

You can't get addicted to drugs unless you're exposed to them. You have to be exposed in situation where you can determine the dose. If you take the drug long enough and in a high-enough dose… most drugs which are addictive, will give you withdrawal symptom… making you feel rotten, and giving you another reason to take more.

Pioneer of addiction medicine and alcohol dependence research; founded modern addiction psychiatry

What's special about it as a science subject is that it is so awkward, it doesn't lend itself to easy solutions. It's a multi-factorial problem, very different to- for example- the question of what causes influenza?

Pioneer of addiction medicine and alcohol dependence research; founded modern addiction psychiatry

Because Peter Paul Rubens signed his name to his paintings (several of which were finished by his artisans), they commanded a higher price. Today, the famous contemporary glass artist, Dale Chihuly puts his name on every work of glass although he never makes any of it.

Father of Modern Marketing & Prolific Management Author

Think of 'branding' as burning in a name on an animal such as a cow so that the cow's owner would be known. This protects the owner in the event that the animal is stolen. But we can use the name 'branding' whenever anyone affixes their name to something that is available for sale.

Father of Modern Marketing & Prolific Management Author

It's naïve to think that financial markets are not part of the battlefield.

Currency expert & author on financial threats to national security

The value of the Rial dropped over 40% in two days. This was a clear currency collapse! It immediately injected hyperinflation into some areas of the Iranian economy as merchants who wanted to import suddenly had to double their local currency prices.

Currency expert & author on financial threats to national security

A foreign power using financial resources to create hedge-funds or other anonymous players who would gain leverage and trust and be viewed as just another hedge-fund with a funny name based out in the Cayman islands. People would be unaware of their true attentions and then on a certain day, they could act in co-ordination and flood the market with sell-orders.

Currency expert & author on financial threats to national security

Cyber-threat is the single most serious threat faced by the markets. The United States is very good at cyber warfare and counter warfare, but so are others. This is what we call 'asymmetric' warfare where adversaries have been able to level the playing field.

Currency expert & author on financial threats to national security

We make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same…

Author of "The Teachings of Don Juan" & Controversial Anthropologist

The awareness of life as being finite allows them (somewhat counter-intuitively) to live… This doesn't necessarily mean being reckless, but rather that they engage in activities which are positive for their well-being- things like travel, education, spending time with family and friends, and so on.