Executive summary: yeah no we're not doing that today.

"Talking your book"

If you don't know F5 <GO> then the term "talking your book" might be new.

"talking your book" means -- having and sharing world views that help your PnL (profit & loss). Your PnL matters because comp is often tied to it. Make money for the firm, you make more.

Like let's say I'm super long Japanese power utility companies, "talking my book" might sound like hey by the way have you looked at JPY/USD recently, I think there are big things ahead. Also that recent bond issuance was so over-subscribed.

Let's say I am short US treasurys. Talking my book would be me nonstop posting the inflation print and going on podcasts and talking about how everything will collapse.

Consciously or subconsciously, I think we're always talking our book.

Zoom out to the 30 year

This generalizes to pretty much everything.

The reply dude who says the answer to everything is to rewrite it in rust? He's talking his book, just long rust and his career and/or self-image is "rust is the answer"

The guy who writes blog posts about seemingly unrelated topics and tries to connect the dots? He's talking his book, maybe he's net short on "things are complex."

Don't ask "is he talking his book", instead ask what's in his book

"what's in your book" = what validates your (I was about to say Mental Model but then I felt the retardmax army point their lasers at me well gfy I run BGP so good luck cancelling me now)

if we assume someone is always talking their book, aka "we're always already doing the thing that we want to be doing" then the question becomes:

• does he realize he's talking his book?

And also interestingly:

• what's the payoff?

If someone is stuck in a loop and it seems like they're consciously trying to get out of it, and we assume - we're always already doing what we want to be doing, then the question becomes:

• what's the hidden payoff?

Memecoins

not investment advice.

the degen Inner Game of Tennis way of asking "what's in your book" is "what memecoins are in your bags?"

Society always needs a scapegoat, and when we were "WFH" and trading stonks all day, memecoins are a natural extension. "memecoin" is a great word imo, but certain fields have specific words they use to denote who's in the "in group," like a verbal equivalent of All the Sneeches on the Beaches.

after all, it's only champagne if it's made in that specific part of france.

Artificial scarcity

When people (I was gonna say gatekeep but then I was about to point my laser at myself, i don't really care for that word since there was never a gate in the first place, and your kingdom is as big as you want it to be)

I think "the in crowd" is a real thing because categories are real and necessary. After all, if there were no categories, there would be no lego bricks. Imagine how shitty a lego experience it would be if you opened the box and there were no boundaries between pieces - I guess that means it would have to arrive already assembled, and since there are no boundaries, you couldn't edit it. For some people, editing something is a way to make it their own.

Recursing back up the stack:

Shibboleth

shibboleth: "a word, custom, or way of speaking that helps identify someone as a member of a particular group, or separates insiders from outsiders"

Inventing New Words

Sometimes when people invent their own words, it's because it's genuinely useful. Words are boundaries, human memory (and context windows) can only fit so much, so sometimes we benefit from having specific tokens, tailored to the ideas we have. brevity is better. newcomers can read the docs and make anki flashcards to learn. Small price to pay.

so, is "it's trading at par" meaningful or just job security?

Unnecessary question.

It's not that I don't have an answer. I could come up with one, but 86400*365*90 and I'd rather go lift than think about this.

instead of "is calling it par" good or bad, a few weeks ago I was trading a bond and babe look at that bid/ask spread.

It's just data compression, all the way down the stack

if you say a word a lot might as well make it short and easy to say/type/write. and if you have your own ideas and you want to build on them, maybe it makes sense to have your own vocabulary.

plus, when you condense an idea into a word: while yes, you are now making the idea immutable, but the benefit is that now you can use that word in sentences. name it to tame it.

Therefore memecoins are just reflexive markets for memes

Also be wary whenever someone starts a sentence with "therefore" - maybe they're making a point, but also maybe they are just talking their book.

When someone starts a sentence with a word like "therefore" and "surely", there's a good chance the idea that comes after it is in their book.

memecoins are reflexive markets for memes.

"memecoins" as a category is too wide. but to the extent that we'll probably keep using this term:

• First impressions matter,
• but also don't judge a book by its cover.
• A lot of people thought penicillin was a terrible idea for a while
• for a long time the USDA suggested a carb-heavy diet
• occam's razor

could we go into this more? maybe later, but honestly probably never because I have stuff i want to do.

Happy Friday.