Curt Doolittle

Theme: Incentives

  • photos_and_videos/TimelinePhotos_SxeO6JU-xg/46308130_10156777432192264_364957252

    photos_and_videos/TimelinePhotos_SxeO6JU-xg/46308130_10156777432192264_3649572524754206720_o_10156777432187264.jpg Hopper is still increasing in value/Morgan James MorrisonWhy?Nov 14, 2018, 10:58 AMJohn EdwardOne of my favorite painters.Nov 14, 2018, 11:04 AMJohn EdwardThe high end art market typically tracks the net worth of the 0.001%. So anytime there’s a stock market bubble, art auctions for every artist goes up by an even greater percentage (due to leverage).Nov 14, 2018, 11:06 AMJohn EdwardAlso rich people use art as a way to “park” their money in a tax sheltered asset.Nov 14, 2018, 11:07 AMCurt Doolittle^Yep.Nov 14, 2018, 11:07 AMCurt Doolittlethe optimum economic indexNov 14, 2018, 11:07 AMMorgan James MorrisonAh ok, so its a “market” reason. i thought maybe there was some sort of psychological reason like people are enjoying art that makes them feel isolated because people are more isolated.Nov 14, 2018, 11:15 AMMorgan James MorrisonWhy Hopper’s art specifically is still enjoyed and valued so highNov 14, 2018, 11:15 AMMatt EvansThere are at least three categories of art purchasing

    1) speculation – purely economic

    2) for who else will notice that you have the piece – virtue signaling to others

    3) for the personal enjoyment of the piece itself – taste, which is objective [see: roger Scruton on beauty]

    Which do you think this hopper painting represents? For me, it’s not #3.Nov 14, 2018, 11:18 AMCurt DoolittleMatt Evans Well, hopper is … I mean, artists are artifacts of time and place and hopper is probably the best artifact of that time and place. The collector (collection owner) died last spring, and he was an entrepreneur that collected what he loved. there is a difference between what I would hang in my home and what I would state “yes, this is great art”. But that is the difference between taste and truth. Hopper is a great artist of his era, if not the greatest, one of them. He captured that moment in time for eternity.Nov 14, 2018, 11:21 AMMatt EvansCurt Doolittle But, for the sake of argument, let us say you provide me with a piece that is undeniably the greatest piece of modern day performance art. Or any modernist or post-modernist art, really.

    Not only will I not place it in my home, but I will also tell you it is not truth, or, more generously, that the maximum amount of truth it has to say is that the “artist” is a sick creature that comes from a sick and dying society.

    But there are many ways to say that, and reasonable people don’t think they are “art”.

    being a product of a time and place does not absolve “artists” who create degenerate garbage; who demonstrate no particular talent at any particular craft

    I don’t assert that Hopper is degenerate garbage, or is a talentless monster. I don’t even suggest it. The painting looks fine.

    It doesn’t, however, strike me as the finest oil painting in American history. Or rather, if it truly is, that’s disappointing for America.Nov 14, 2018, 11:42 AMConnor WhittleDo you come up with these ideas/metrics/etc by yourself or is there s lot of external collation going on?

    For myself, I have few novel ideas, but am a great metric finder and collator for others.Nov 14, 2018, 11:43 AMCurt DoolittleBelieve it or not …. this is a subject economists studied in depth, and Gary Stanley Becker (where I get my use of supply and demand language in social science from ) wrote about it specifically.

    https://www.amazon.com/Economic-Approach-Human-Behavior/dp/0226041123Nov 14, 2018, 11:47 AMEric BumpusThe first type of cryptocurrency.Nov 14, 2018, 11:54 AMAaron KahlandMorgan James Morrison Status signalling also plays a part in these art markets and the more super-wealthy there are, the more desirable the status symbols become. Cars and houses no longer really do the trick because even a mere ‘deca-millioaire’ can afford the most expensive new cars available.Nov 14, 2018, 1:08 PMAndy Ujku-DardaniaOne of my favorite paintersNov 14, 2018, 3:02 PMConnor WhittleCheersNov 14, 2018, 3:15 PMEdward John WyattYeeee boiNov 14, 2018, 4:06 PMZachary BertCurt Doolittle yeah and it was supposed to be left to the Seattle Art Museum and we got fucked somehowNov 14, 2018, 8:41 PMKari Anne DorstadWow ill see if my accountant will write me a check !! Lol 😂Nov 14, 2018, 9:34 PMNoel FritschI.e., rich people are often stupid.

    As an indicator, valuable. As an actual investment? Not so much.

    Can chop suey or nighthawks dispatch with zombies?

    Or be traded for the dispatchment of zombies in a post Petro dollar world?

    Methinks not…Nov 14, 2018, 10:06 PMJohn EdwardNoel Fritsch what you’re describing are lower order goods and commodities. Those are bets on social breakdown, while art is a bet on continuing growth of economic efficiency and complexity.Nov 14, 2018, 10:08 PMMurphy CellCurt you should check out Odd Nerdrums new short film about Kant ruining art.

    https://youtu.be/EcjVXBXn7b4Nov 16, 2018, 10:33 AMCurt Doolittlethank you for thisNov 16, 2018, 10:47 AMMurphy CellCurt Doolittle it’s good. You’ll dig it. I don’t agree with some of it. But he names the art police! And laments at seeing brilliant artists and former students dumbing their work down so that they can make a living. The documentary “the Mona Lisa Curse” by Salt old bastard Robert Hughes is amazing too. I loved that guy.Nov 16, 2018, 10:50 AMHopper is still increasing in value/

    Source date (UTC): 2018-11-14 10:07:00 UTC

  • End result is that we are talking about externalizing probabilities of negatives

    End result is that we are talking about externalizing probabilities of negatives. As such, within a short time (generation) it will be an actuarial problem (one of insuring others against harm) rather than a question of rights.

    Source date (UTC): 2018-11-12 23:44:54 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1062129137991798790

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  • Never counter-signal when the most obvious incentive is cowardice

    Never counter-signal when the most obvious incentive is cowardice.

    Source date (UTC): 2018-11-12 02:11:48 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1061803717714984960

  • Never counter-signal when the most obvious incentive is cowardice

    Never counter-signal when the most obvious incentive is cowardice.

    Source date (UTC): 2018-11-11 21:11:00 UTC

  • You cannot know in advance what human capital investments will hatch leaders. Th

    You cannot know in advance what human capital investments will hatch leaders. The method I use to build organizations is the same: make a lot of bets, and make few judgments, other than to support evidence successes no matter how small and abandon failures that cannot be saved.

    Source date (UTC): 2018-11-11 02:23:18 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1061444223558410240

  • BUILDING LEADERSHIP You cannot know in advance what human capital investments wi

    BUILDING LEADERSHIP

    You cannot know in advance what human capital investments will hatch leaders. The method I use to build organizations is the same: make a lot of bets, and make few judgments, other than to support evidence successes no matter how small and abandon failures that cannot be saved.

    Source date (UTC): 2018-11-10 21:22:00 UTC

  • THE MARKET WILL SUPPLY THE ANSWER IF YOU CREATE IT. MARKETS NOT PLANS. GOALS NOT

    THE MARKET WILL SUPPLY THE ANSWER IF YOU CREATE IT. MARKETS NOT PLANS. GOALS NOT TASKS.

    Excuse me for reveling in it a bit, but you know, it seems like Bill’s group has percolated a set of arguments in form of traditional wisdom on top of the analytic content, and that this is the ‘market’ providing leadership by consequence rather than design. It is not what I would have intended, but it is what the majority of men need.

    I had hoped to work with those few young men that fell prey to the easy temptations of authoritarianism, to create a cadre of very analytic judges like myself – because it is the intellectuals I want to fight on intellectual terms in the open field of public debate. And I suspect I must learn something from that failure. That ‘the dark side’ of simplicity is too tempting for the impatience of young men, too inexperienced at the conflict of men of achievement, to have the patience to conduct intellectual warfare rather than the duels of the young men seeking quick status rather than accumulated capital.

    That failure aside, It seems the scientist and engineer in me has produced what I desired. But that the talent of these men has produced what the market needs.

    The market will produce leaders. They merely need the weapons with which to conduct the current war, rather than the last.

    The leaders of the revolution will come from those that do not seek quick personal accolades, in internet duels, but COMBINED ARMS in producing that spectrum of ideas necessary for the spectrum of packs of men to understand, execute, and bring in to fruition.

    Source date (UTC): 2018-11-10 21:17:00 UTC

  • When I want to “kill”a company (cause it to collapse) I try to recruit people wi

    When I want to “kill”a company (cause it to collapse) I try to recruit people with grudge, or at least make relationships with people in the company who have a grudge. Every company does something or other totally innocently that is illegal. Then I construct a narrative of intent, and spread it. Then I get insiders to conduct a lawsuit. I have done this a half dozen times. Why? People are selfish and proud and easily provoked to revenge, even at high cost.

    Source date (UTC): 2018-11-10 08:23:00 UTC

  • When I want to buy an overpriced company I open locations or offices or sales te

    When I want to buy an overpriced company I open locations or offices or sales teams at its fringes. Most companies cannot tolerate a 20% decline in sales. If you can cause a 20% decline in sales you can cause an 80% decline in purchase price. Mostly because talented people will flee to you. This is why you want free capital, and not to create too much debt or take too much profit. Most companies extract rents and profits and debt to the point where you can’t use capital to extract high ratio wins through acquisitions of people, operations, and customers at windfall discounts. The number of long established companies I have bought this way would astound you.

    Source date (UTC): 2018-11-10 08:21:00 UTC

  • So, when I want to buy a company, I raid it’s second tier staff first. Then have

    So, when I want to buy a company, I raid it’s second tier staff first. Then have the purchasing, marketing, and sales people spread rumors of trouble. Gossip spreads like mad. There are always people that are looking for the next step up. Give it to them. Use the intel. Raid. Establish Relations. Buy the Company. You would think it wouldn’t work, but it depends on how you handle it. The principle problem organizations face is that very few people in any organization provide the talent that maintains competitive positioning. Talented people want to work for smart people who they can learn from, and achieve more by working for or with. If you catch those people, then the people who worked for and with them follow. Then the customers follow, then the company can be acquired at a discount. I have done this so many times that I can’t remember. I have built my companies largely through organic growth not acquisition, but I have built the staff largely through key recruiting and acquisition – because talent follows talent.

    Source date (UTC): 2018-11-10 08:18:00 UTC