Can a Philosopher Be Rich?
There is a story told by Aristotle in his Politics. A story about Thales. Thales was a philosopher. A poor philosopher. A poor philosopher who was taunted and reproached for his poverty..and the uselessness of studying philosophy. However thanks to his deep thinking and his study of astronomy he foresaw that while it was still winter, there would be a great harvest of olives in the coming year. So he took the little money that he had and secured deposits for the use of all the olive presses in the region. He was able to negotiate a low price since no one bid against him. Come harvest time he was right, there was a bounty of olives..the presses were in great demand..he let them out at an exorbitant rate and made a killing. Thus showing the world and his naysayers that philosophers can be rich and useful if they chose..but their ambitions were of a different hue. He was also an options trader..2500 years before option trading
In the common zeitgeist, there is a ring of elitism or a sense of ivory towerishness about the word philosopher…and superficiality about the word rich. Perhaps a more palatable distinction is a contemplative life and a useful life. A pursuit that is not (visibly) useful such as thinking or reading and an occupation that is useful. So perhaps, the real title of this post should be can a contemplative be useful?
“It is by logic that we prove, but by intuition that we discover.” — Henri Poincarè, French mathematician, theoretical physicist, and engineer
Why am I writing this?
We tend to live our lives in silos. There’s work, there’s leisure, there’s family . What if those silos were to come down? There is a broad history of individuals connecting the dots..of being inspired by their contemplative persona, of scientists being inspired by Greek myths of you tubers by history and of tech pioneers using poetry and literature to understand human nature
Caterina Fake is a silicon valley pioneer. She is the co-founder of Flickr and an early investor in Etsy and Kickstarter. In retrospect, the success of companies like Etsy and Kickstarter seems obvious, but at the start, they faced a lot of no’s and a lot of rejection. So how did she pick the winners? As she says “My difference helped me” she continues “My background is in art and literature, mostly. And from the age of, I would say, probably about 10 or 11, I had decided that I was going to be an artist and a writer. I was an art school dropout. I graduated from Vassar with a degree in English literature. I am also a woman in a male-dominated world — coming from a humanities background studying culture and people and what was happening around me and human interactions and how the culture was changing gave me a special view into that world that was missing that somehow other people weren’t seeing, was non-typical. It was outside of the pattern recognition a lot of the investments I have made have been outside of the typical pattern recognition of typical investors.” 1
To give another brief example, in 1865 the German chemist Friedrich August Kekule had a daydream in which he saw a vision of Ouroborous, the serpent from Greek mythology that devours its own tail. At the time, Kekule was struggling to find the molecular structure of the hydrocarbon benzene. Thanks to this daydream the benzene molecule he realized was a perfect ring of hydrocarbon with hydrogen atoms surrounding its outer edges. This was the breakthrough that became the basis for a revolution in organic chemistry..thanks to a bizarre connection: an image from ancient mythology. For that serendipity to work, it took two mental models. Kekule’ struggle with the benzene molecule and his love of ancient mythology. 2
“All decisive events in the history of scientific thought can be described in terms of mental cross-fertilization between different disciplines” — Arthur Koestler
A key ingredient of innovation is diversity. Diversity of perspective, of world view of opinion..but also of thought. Ideas have a fluidity to them. They are domain agnostic
There is a quote from St. Augustine “ Men go forth to wonder at the heights of mountains, the huge waves of the sea, the broad flow of rivers, the vast compass of the ocean, the courses of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering”
Technical knowledge is important, but ‘philosophy’ gives you perspectives on human nature, the operating system that is common to all of us, that a purely technical education (or information diet) doesn’t convey. In the idea economy we find ourselves in, a diversity of thought, a technique of borrowing mental models will be invaluable.
And of course, then there is Nassim Taleb, a modern-day Thales, whose success as an options trader and a best selling author hinged on his understanding of 18th-century philosopher David Hume’s problem of induction, which simply states that it is dangerous to project the future (or the validation of a theory) simply based on past instances or data points i.e you could form a justification that all swans are white based on observations of 4 million white swans, but it would take just one black swan to blow up that worldview
Taleb’s career as a trader (and as a bestselling author)..and his considerable fortune owe a debt to David Hume.
Philosophical thought opens windows frees us from prejudices, reveals incongruities and leaps of logic, suggests new methodological approaches and in general opens up the minds of scientists to new possibilities
When science undergoes periods of radical change during which fundamentals are questioned it is in most need of philosophy — Carlo Rovelli
The flip side of the coin is also that as a contemplative, it is not enough. to read, think and let ideas marinate… and then fade. The difference in perspective and mental models in a world increasingly dominated by science and technology is what is needed. In our thirst for answers..are we asking the right questions?
If the aim of science and technology is to help people..the interface between humans and machines is where the right questions need to be asked.
As we have seen with recent events the development of technology needs moral arbiters. The advancement of technology needs to be in lockstep with human needs and values..not to mention the imagination required to construct realities we should aspire to.
Etymology of philosophy = love of knowledge
But what is the point of that love if it remains locked up..or dissipates over time? Technology, finance, science need the cross-fertilization that the arts can give. The arts need to climb down from their intellectual towers and distil that knowledge into ways that can be useful
Bringing it together
We live in a world of systems, rules and incentives. With progress being measured as either technological and financial. It is very easy to get caught up and live your life in a gearbox whose teeth click and connect automatically. ‘Philosophy’ or contemplation gives us a chance to transform how we think. It was Socrates who warned us about the unexamined life. We are all philosophers in a way..if what we seek are guiding principles to human behaviour and practical wisdom to navigate those rules and incentives. And to open your mind to new ideas..as the saying goes if you want new ideas.. read an old book.
References
Others
Fooled By Randomness By Nassim Taleb
Becoming Wise By Krista Tippett
