Print Story Charles Lieberman, step away from the science textbook please.
Diary
By dr k (Tue Aug 07, 2007 at 06:17:57 PM EST) quantum economics (all tags)
Some "financial expert" on public radio this morning:

What's happened of course is a panic. And a panic just reflects a quantum change in people's thinking. And it can change as quickly going back the other way if all of a sudden people realize that the sky isn't falling.

A quantum change, so that is like a, the... er... what?



A quantum state would be something in an indeterminate state, like a certain Cat I know.

A quantum change would be a very very tiny change, something very small. I would say a "quantum" is the contemporary equivalent to what "microscopic" was in the 1800's, or "atomic" at the turn of the century (which at the time represented something so small it couldn't be made any smaller).

But a quantum change in people's thinking, which goes from "panic" to "not panic"? That seems like a state change, but far from an imperceptible -- let alone indeterminate -- state.

Of course the dictionary tells me that a "quantum" is also a very large quantity of something, which possibly makes some sense out of Lieberman's remark, except that he describes it as something that could change quite quickly. That would be to say:

A panic in the market reflects a very large change in people's thinking which can change quite suddenly in the opposite direction, once people realize that the sky isn't falling.

And that tell me... almost nothing.

< Standard Pablum. | BBC White season: 'Rivers of Blood' >
Charles Lieberman, step away from the science textbook please. | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback
he probably meant it like the way 'quantum leap' by fleece (4.00 / 1) #1 Tue Aug 07, 2007 at 06:45:13 PM EST
is commonly used



I think paradigm is the word he was looking for by georgeha (2.00 / 0) #3 Tue Aug 07, 2007 at 07:18:27 PM EST



[ Parent ]

Definitely. by ni (2.00 / 0) #4 Tue Aug 07, 2007 at 08:26:46 PM EST
He meant to indicate that it was a sudden change from one thing to another without passing through intermediate points.


"Not of this world..." -- 256, on the subject of the New Jersey Turnpike
[ Parent ]

TV show by Merekat (2.00 / 0) #7 Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 09:51:11 AM EST
Now, if people had watched Quantum Leap the TV show properly, they would have learned that the leaps are very very small as that is where the string of time meets.

I miss that programme, though not the later series.

[ Parent ]

maybe should step towards a science textbook? -nt- by clover kicker (4.00 / 1) #2 Tue Aug 07, 2007 at 07:06:59 PM EST




Don't you know anything? by nebbish (2.00 / 0) #5 Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 06:17:24 AM EST
A quantum change is a BIG change, because quantum is a BIG thing

--------
It's political correctness gone mad!


I hate to rain on everyone's parade but... by ObviousTroll (2.00 / 0) #6 Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 08:35:01 AM EST
I think that usage was fine. A quantum state is indeterminate, but that doesn't mean its continuous. For example, the steps between electron energy levels are completely discrete with no intermediate states. In that sense his use of it to describe the effect of a panic on behavior is appropriate.

--
Has anybody seen my clue? I know I had it when I came in here.


Pop psych term, not a science term. by Christopher Robin was Murdered (2.00 / 0) #8 Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 01:23:11 PM EST
I think Lieberman was refering to the work of University of New Mexico psych profs William Miller and Janet C'deBaca, who, in their 2001 book "Quantum Change," defined a quantum change as a sudden insight that causes a profound personal change.

The term has since lost its connotations of insight and positive change, entering the pop psych parlance as any sudden, seemingly complete change in beliefs and attitudes.



that could be possible by dr k (2.00 / 0) #9 Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 02:06:27 PM EST
but it still doesn't make any sense to say that "being panicked" is a quantum change from not being panicked, particularly where the market and/or collective behavior is concerned.

As everyone knows, the scale goes:

  • ecstatic (irrational behavior)
  • confident
  • comfortable
  • calm
  • concerned
  • anxious
  • terrified
  • panicked (irrational behavior)
Once the panic is over, people will still be terrified.

:| :| :| :| :|

[ Parent ]

I think his argument is that there's no scale. by Christopher Robin was Murdered (2.00 / 0) #10 Wed Aug 08, 2007 at 03:00:50 PM EST
Why make small jumps when you can swing wildly between absolute bowel-loosening terror and completely irrational purse-string loosening exuberance?

It is a crappy way to run your investment portfolio, but it sure is exciting.

[ Parent ]

Charles Lieberman, step away from the science textbook please. | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback