E10 - Juggling & Rabbit Hole Learning: Discussing Jordi's New Paper

Jordi Visser

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Here’s a riddle to start off the new year: What do neuroplasticity, juggling, NFTs, and Amazon’s market cap have in common? The answer? You’re going to have to read Jordi Visser’s new post in the January edition of Jordi’s Journal to find out. G3 has read the piece and wanted to explore it a bit further so he sat down with Jordi himself. This episode is a fun ride on In Search for Green Marbles, those beautiful insights that can help you make sense out of our chaotic world.

Jordi’s new paper has it all—juggling, neuroplasticity, his Bayesian views of asset allocation, and why reading books is a waste of time.

How does rabbit hole learning relate to the art of juggling? A formative experience for Jordi was meeting Jill Bolte Taylor who helped him understand that you can structurally change your brain by learning new things. Juggling, in fact, will change the brain and, while it is harder to learn this skill as an older person, the benefits are the same as that of a younger person.

Jordi’s prognostications for 2022 were a somewhat insignificant part of the paper, which flies in the face of most people getting out their crystal balls this time of year. This was largely because Jordi views Web 3.0 as being a car in the left lane doing 150 mph while everyone is focusing on the car in the right lane with hazard lights on doing 45 mph. With the talent and capital flooding the crypto space, Jordi was deliberate in minimizing the traditional world.

Jordi thinks Bitcoin and Ethereum will continue to outperform in 2022 because they are representative of an ecosystem. The key distinction here is that it is a mistake for investors to think they can pick successful companies or entrepreneurs as they did with Web 2.0. In other words, it’s not about companies this time around, it’s about the ecosystem, and investors cannot apply the same framework to both.

The talent and capital drain on traditional finance will have huge implications. Channeling Brené Brown’s quote, “vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change,” Jordi says that senior leaders at the traditional banking firms have to be vulnerable and willing to get into something that they know very little about. They must embrace change rather than think the solution is giving employees more money as an incentive not to defect.

Jordi has always believed that books are a waste of time. This is particularly true when the topic is crypto because it’s moving too fast for anything in a book to not be dated or stale. Another example of this is mRNA technology. In both cases, the technology is moving too quickly for the publishing process of a book to keep pace. In Jordi’s view, this discounts Malcolm Gladwell’s notion of putting in 10,000 hours to become an expert because, by the time you have done so, you’ve missed so many other things. Alternatively, rabbit hole learning is probably more effective for crypto or NFTs, for example, because it is more tethered to the most current knowledge and applications of the space. This information is found on the internet or Twitter, not in books.

Finally, as the CIO of a firm that largely trades public equities, Jordi is so preoccupied with Web 3.0 and crypto because he believes Ethereum, Bitcoin, and the blockchain are disrupting the world. Therefore, there will be winners and losers. It is Weiss’ job to understand which companies stand to benefit from this disruption. In closing, juggling and rabbit hole learning both require neuroplasticity, which will be the theme of 2022.

But don’t read the book on how to juggle, just start!

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Important disclosures: Disclosures: This content (the "Insights Page") is provided by Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers LLC ("Weiss"). The views expressed on the Insights Page are for informational purposes only and are subject to change without notice. Information on the Insights Page has been developed internally and is based on market conditions as of the date of the original post on the Insights Page from sources believed to be reliable. Nothing on the Insights Page should be construed as investment, legal, tax, or other advice and should not be viewed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or adopt any investment strategy. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please consult your own advisers regarding business, legal, tax, or other matters concerning investments. Weiss has no control over information at any external site hyperlinked on the Insights Page. Weiss makes no representation concerning and is not responsible for the quality, content, nature, or reliability of any hyperlinked site and has included hyperlinks only as a convenience. The inclusion of any external hyperlink does not imply any endorsement or ongoing monitoring by Weiss of any hyperlinked site. Investing in securities is speculative and involves substantial risk of loss.

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Important disclosures: Disclosures: This content (the "Insights Page") is provided by Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers LLC ("Weiss"). The views expressed on the Insights Page are for informational purposes only and are subject to change without notice. Information on the Insights Page has been developed internally and is based on market conditions as of the date of the original post on the Insights Page from sources believed to be reliable. Nothing on the Insights Page should be construed as investment, legal, tax, or other advice and should not be viewed as a recommendation to buy or sell any security or adopt any investment strategy. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Please consult your own advisers regarding business, legal, tax, or other matters concerning investments. Weiss has no control over information at any external site hyperlinked on the Insights Page. Weiss makes no representation concerning and is not responsible for the quality, content, nature, or reliability of any hyperlinked site and has included hyperlinks only as a convenience. The inclusion of any external hyperlink does not imply any endorsement or ongoing monitoring by Weiss of any hyperlinked site. Investing in securities is speculative and involves substantial risk of loss.

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