Charlie Munger
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
A honeybee goes out and finds the nectar and he comes back and he does a dance.
that communicates to the other bees where the nectar is, and they go out and get it.
Well, some scientist who was clever, like B.F.
Skinner, decided to do an experiment.
He put the nectar straight up, way up.
Well, in a natural setting, there is no nectar way the hell straight up.
And the poor honeybee doesn't have a genetic program that is adequate to handle what he now has to communicate.
And you'd think the honeybee would come back to the hive and slink into a corner.
But he doesn't.
He comes into the hive and does this incoherent dance.
And all my life I've been dealing with the human equivalent of that honeybee.
And it's a very important part of human organization to set things up so the noise and the reciprocation and so forth of all these people who have what I call say-something syndrome don't really affect the decisions.
No, of course not. Are the dog tracks and racetracks of the casinos good for America? Of course not. They're just very popular. That's how Warren got his start, though, right? At the racetrack? Well, but Warren never gambled heavily as a patron. Warren wanted the odds in his favor, not somebody else. Right. It's just so simple if you're Warren. You want the house.
No, of course not. Are the dog tracks and racetracks of the casinos good for America? Of course not. They're just very popular. That's how Warren got his start, though, right? At the racetrack? Well, but Warren never gambled heavily as a patron. Warren wanted the odds in his favor, not somebody else. Right. It's just so simple if you're Warren. You want the house.
Well, it's organized. They don't really know anything about the companies or anything. They just gamble on going up and down the price. If I were running the world, I would have a tax on short-term gains with no offset for losses on anything. And I would just drive this whole crowd of people out of business.
Well, it's organized. They don't really know anything about the companies or anything. They just gamble on going up and down the price. If I were running the world, I would have a tax on short-term gains with no offset for losses on anything. And I would just drive this whole crowd of people out of business.
Well, of course, Renaissance was the first algorithm. It was so simple. They sifted all this data from the past. And what did they decide? up-up, which were two closing prizes, and down-down were more common than down-up or up-down. Once they realized that's the way it was for various reasons deep in the psychology of man, is that man is a natural trend follower. Gambling short term.
Well, of course, Renaissance was the first algorithm. It was so simple. They sifted all this data from the past. And what did they decide? up-up, which were two closing prizes, and down-down were more common than down-up or up-down. Once they realized that's the way it was for various reasons deep in the psychology of man, is that man is a natural trend follower. Gambling short term.