Outside forces at play - our little universe.

No college Saturday night experience is complete without that "universe/electron" deep discussion...for all of you who didn't have that one, it is in a small scene of the National Lampoon Animal House where Donald Sutherland explains the idea that our little solar system is really just an atom with 9 electrons  and part of a much bigger scheme of things and if we could look closely at the electron, we would find it to be just another solar system and so on.  Men in Black  did a little of the same with the galaxy within Orion's Bell (not belt) and the locker at the train station that contained a micro colony etc.

I read a short sci-fi story in the late 50's...I think it was by Robert Heinlein but that was 50 years ago...called Fesseden's Worlds.  A guy set up this elaborate micro galaxy in his basement and watched it develop.  At one point he or someone couldn't help "playing God" and poking a developed planet with a pin...watching the horror and panic.  I'm not sure of the moral lesson although there must be one.

I sit with traders all day who are, in essence, looking at universes within universes and magic pins or something suddenly appearing in the sky. I suspect a special mindset does this although I'm not sure what kind..but it is infinitely patient and then quick to react.

Part of my job is to think about what makes a good trader..what mental makeup.  I foster the opinion that it is someone who plays chess on a high level and prefers the 3-D version of it...multiple layers so to speak. He/she is quite happy with the slice/size of the universe they inhabit and don't necessarily look with awe or fear at the larger and smaller sizes that surround them. They are very much into the "what if" philosophical school yet their lives are filled with practicality and reality.

Interesting mix.