I love this picture! It captures so much in such a short quip. I think it resonates with me for two reasons:
- I study Economics and we have analysts that recommend all sorts of things
- I am sometimes overly clinical when considering dynamic things – which obviously presents a problem
It’s this second point that I want to talk about for a bit here. I’m not sure if it’s because of my genetic makeup (or is it make-up?), my upbringing, my education or more probable than any one of these alone, a combination of all of them, that I over-think things. I think about conversations long after I’ve had them [how did this person interpret what I said?], I think about the choices other people make [would I make different decisions? What made them decide that? How will this affect them?] I think about lots of things (mainly consciously, however I’m sure that there’s lots going on sub-consciously as well). One of these things is my future wife. I can just imagine some obnoxious economist meeting a girl and saying ‘my analyst thinks you’re a good idea’ – douchbag! People can work on paper and yet flop in reality, just like an idea can be perfectly laid out on paper and yet fail perfectly in reality…
Nic Spaull 