Geek Hero: Ed Thorp
The few of you who periodically read my decidedly nonperiodic blog know that I regularly find inspiration while listening to WHYY's Fresh Air. Today's show was doubly so, as Terry Gross interviewed mathematical paragon Edward O. Thorp. If you play blackjack with any regularity (or success) you undoubtedly have read his book “Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One”. If you're investing you have certainly explored (and emulated) his opus “Beat the Market: A Scientific Stock Market System”.
Not only is this a genius whose work I admire, but listening to him was immediately personal and comfortable — at least for me. Frankly, he has always been on that list of people I'd have at the veritable ‘Fantasy Dinner Party’… although, like he, I'm less prone to fantasy and more to calculating the odds. I'm not nearly as risk adverse as he is noted to be — something I should be more inclined to emulate myself! Tonight's final Q&A regarding his views surrounding cryogenics are pointed and apt: 2% is still much better odds than is zero!
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