Hypernomics

CHAPTER 7Market Mapping and Financial Cat Scans

“We're all pilgrims on the same journey—but some pilgrims have better road maps.”

Nelson DeMille

GOT EGGS?

There is an apocryphal story about Christopher Columbus, which, despite its questionable authenticity, has deep meaning for those who have done or created something new and vital and how the public views the feat (depicted in Figure 7.1). It was recounted in 1565 by the Italian historian Girolamo Benzoni,¹ who wrote:

Columbus was dining with many Spanish nobles when one of them said: “Sir Christopher, even if your lordship had not discovered the Indies, there would have been, here in Spain, which is a country abundant with great men knowledgeable in cosmography and literature, one who would have started a similar adventure with the same result.” Columbus did not respond to these words but asked for a whole egg to be brought to him. He placed it on the table and said: “My lords, I will lay a wager with any of you that you are unable to make this egg stand on its end like I will do without any kind of help or aid.” They all tried without success and when the egg returned to Columbus, he tapped it gently on the table breaking it slightly, and, with this, the egg stood on its end. All those present were confounded and understood what he meant: that once the feat has been done, anyone knows how to do it.

FIGURE 7.1 Columbus ...