Tom Henderson
5 HN mentions · mentioned in 5 months, 2018–2021
1:04:39 · 38K views · Apr 29, 2014
A talk by Eric Weinstein on gauge theory and its possible application to economics and inflation. It proposes extending the Wu-Yang dictionary into a geometric tool beyond physics.
Cited mainly as the available video of Weinstein's gauge-theory-of-economics ideas, sometimes skeptically.
5 comments from Hacker News
One emerging realization is that the essence of gauge theory [0] has revealed itself as an insight to some whom have learned to apply it beyond the realm of physics. Eric Weinstein [1], managing director of Thiel Capital, has been advocating upgrading the current economic calculus with a quantitative model based on gauge theory that can better adapt to changing behavior and changes in consumer preferences across time (for example). Eric has intimated that James Simons [2] discovered a secret (in the Peter Thiel sense of the word) related to gauge theory during the time Simons and C.N. Yang [3] (as in Yang-Mills Theory [4]) discovered the correspondences in what has become known as the "Wu-Yang Dictionary" [5], which later led to Simons founding Renaissance Technologies [6] in 1982 and is part of the secret-sauce in their mathematical models that has enabled them to dominate quantitative trading ever since. A quote from the 1975 paper: ...The mathematics of these results is in fact well known to the mathematicians in fiber bundle theory. An identification table of terminologies is given in Sec. V. We should emphasize that our interest in this paper does not lie in the beautiful, deep, and general mathematical development in fiber bundle theory. Rather we are concerned with the necessary concepts to describe the physics of gauge theories. It is remarkable that these concepts have already been intensively studied as mathematical constructs. See "Gauge Theory and Inflation: Enlar
Note the article is by Nobel Laureate C.N. Yang [1] who also worked with James Simons and co-authored what has become known as the "Wu-Yang Dictionary" [2]. [1] Yang-Mills Theory: [LINK] [2] "Wu-Yang Dictionary" [LINK] ...The mathematics of these results is in fact well known to the mathematicians in fiber bundle theory. An identification table of terminologies is given in Sec. V. We should emphasize that our interest in this paper does not lie in the beautiful, deep, and general mathematical development in fiber bundle theory. Rather we are concerned with the necessary concepts to describe the physics of gauge theories. It is remarkable that these concepts have already been intensively studied as mathematical constructs. "Gauge Theory and Inflation: Enlarging the Wu-Yang Dictionary to a unifying Rosetta Stone for Geometry in Application" this video
Yes, any inflation measure is imperfect, but I'm not sure how it could even theoretically be perfect given changing technology. How do you properly measure substitution effects that the iPhone has had relative to everything it imperfectly replaced; or the way services have replaced ownership in some areas of life? Given the complexity involved, the current measure seems to do the job well enough. As a side note, this mistrust of the CPI is something Eric Weinstein loves to bring up, too, with the same narrative about CPI being designed by politicians. After watching him try to convince economists [0][1] of the points made in this article (and avoiding questions that get specific or complex), I'm unconvinced I need to care. [Edited to add second, more relevant video] [0]: this video [1]: [LINK]
Link to lecture? The only video I can find is this video It’s strange how much meta-content has been written about how wrong Weinstein is, but none of the publications articulate his position or refute it. Show us the math, and we’ll decide for ourselves. If anything, denials without formulas strengthen the perceived novelty of his ideas - whatever they are!
Not this podcast, but I did a few years ago when I started googling Eric Weinstein's references on guage theory and the Wu-Yang Dictionary. See... Gauge Theory and Inflation: Enlarging the Wu-Yang Dictionary [video] this video