GG: Gould & competition

[Katherine Lee <klee@dna.bc.ca>]

>Has anyone else noted the contradiction in GG's attitude to competition? He
>loathed competitive behaviour and believed all forms of competition to be
>inherently corrupting; and yet, throughout his life, it is noted that he
>played the stock market -- the prime expression of capitalist competition
>-- extremely successfully....

What do you think was the source of Gould's success in the stock market?
Do you think it had anything to do with his mathematical mind, or his
photographic recall?  Just speculating here, and trying to figure out a way
I could make some extra cash ... ;-)

I'm not sure that "playing" the stock market meant that Gould was
competing.  Of course, it could be argued that in order to be motivated to
play (a sport, a game, etc.) that there has to be some element of
competition or score-keeping.

Andrew Kazdin would agree that Gould's playfulness was indeed a form of
one-upmanship.  And there seem to be many examples of Gould's insecurity
when it came to certain activities that may have been "competitive" in
nature, such as composing.  Gould definitely chose to get involved only
with those activities he did very well.

However, from my brief conversations with others who knew the man, it seems
to me that a large part of Gould's sense of fun came from a genuine desire
to explore.  I cite his experiments with radio documentary and recording
technology.  Sorry if I'm digressing from the subject of stock markets, but
it occurred to me after reading everyone's postings re: Gould and e-mail,
that he would have no doubt put up some kind of website to explore further
what he could communicate through technology.

Comments?


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