Philip Maymin, "Markets are efficient if and only if P=NP"
https://arxiv.org/abs/1002.2284
this seems like it's a hell of a paper
@ultimape hacker news
@KitRedgrave I don't have time to read or understand it, but I appreciate the abstract's hot take
@KitRedgrave I really want to understand how they model the market but I don't have the brain cycles for it
Weird conclusion though, I'd have to wonder if there are any strategies for accommodating issues in a p!=np world
I love the idea it posits, that it's theoretically possible to "program" a market to do computations. Well, kind of. If P=NP at least :P
@KitRedgrave markets trying to find out if the program they're running will ever end. Halting problems literally destroying entire nations, planets even, as the garbage collector prunes an ever increasing tape.
@KitRedgrave @blackle immediate thoughts before even looking:
"if and ONLY if? ?¿"
"wait, this was posted on arxiv? not vixra?"
"hooooo boy we've gone plaid"
@KitRedgrave @blackle this is from TWENTY FUCKING TEN what the ASS
@CoronaCoreanici @blackle I didn't know vixra was a thing?
@KitRedgrave @CoronaCoreanici @blackle I'm so sorry
Also I read the paper and now I think I understand why this is a thing
@KitRedgrave LOL hahahahaha 😂 omg we are so screwed😭
@KitRedgrave whaaaat?
@KitRedgrave I love this paper. Because if P=NP then the resource allocation problem is in principle solvable by a central planner a la #RedPlenty
so either the weak efficiency hypothesis is false and market failure is baked in or else the Hayek argument for the superiority of markets is wrong
It's beautiful
@chi505 or the paper is flawed in a way that isn't apparent to us, because afaik it wasn't peer reviewed
@KitRedgrave I mean yeah it's the arXiv it's about as baseline credible as Medium but the approach is cute regardless
small brain: building a supercomputer to factor numbers
galaxy brain: programming the market to factor numbers for you
@KitRedgrave I mean, according to all the Very Serious People[tm] the Market[tm] is the optimal method for solving _all_ problems, so surely a bit of math would be trivial for the Market[tm] (as long as we eliminate capital-gains taxation)
@KitRedgrave i'm _at least_ two kinds of not really qualified to comment on this kind of paper, but i would agree that it seems like a hell of a thing
Corollary:P≠NP
@KitRedgrave where did you find that gem? Made me "LOL WHUT" pretty hard.