Comments on: How Joseph Campbell Spent His Days During The Great Depression

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:30:28 +0000

In my humble opinion, not reading the Foundation Trilogy is to SciFi kind of like never listening to a Beatles album is to pop/rock music.

By: MAS

MAS — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:36:29 +0000

Someone else told me about the Asimov Foundation Series. I tend to shy away from SciFi, since the books are often way too long. However, it appears this series is a reasonable length. I’m adding it my massive books to read queue.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 07:04:07 +0000

Hmmm… two potential topics come to mind.

1) Quantifying market psychology. My education is in Quantitative Economics and my recent study of technical analysis as an indicator of market psychology and resulting movement has fascinated me.

2) Four Dimensional Utilitarianism. Utilitarianism is the idea that society is most moral that provides the greatest good to the most people. Most models are rather 2 dimensional though …they tend to focus mostly on basic needs in the near term. I am more interested in what will produce the most combined individual power (as defined politically, intellectually and economically) over time (time = 4th dimension). The nations which followed this model (if true) would become the most powerful over time.

My favorite books are still Asimov’s “Foundation Series” …sense the influence of “psycho-history” in these study ideas?

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:46:36 +0000

Topic: Cosmology
Place: Anywhere very very quiet in nature, but not too cold and not too far from civilization that I couldn’t get to the nearest medium sized town within a 3 hour drive. Silence would be absolutely necessary.

By: dhammy

dhammy — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 20:24:05 +0000

I think I might study sociology or psychology. Or I might go back and get a masters in education and teach high-school. Maybe. I love the idea in theory but am not sure I’d have the patience to be a teacher. Playing that role with your own kids isn’t the same as doing it with others.

I’m resisting the temptation to point out that this entire post is a self-affirmation and/or rationalization. But, of course, what’s the point of having a blog if you cannot indulge yourself in such a way?

By: MAS

MAS — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 01:11:16 +0000

It seems I didn’t complete my thought from above.

Because so many people have their head down missing opportunities, those that don’t have less competition and can proceed further in less time.

I hope I get some comments to my question. Where would you go and what would you research?

By: MAS

MAS — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 03:45:17 +0000

Makes sense. My guess is many people have their head down during bad times and miss out on opportunities.

By: Matt

Matt — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 03:42:36 +0000

Glad to hear you’re learning about Campbell. The man was amazing. Bill Moyers did a great special on him I watched. Very wise man.

By the way, do you know more fortunes are made during depressions than any other time?

Matt