“People want to see patterns in the world. It is how we evolved.”

— Benoît Mandelbrot

Source: The (Mis)Behavior of Markets (2004, 2008), Ch. 12, p. 245
Context: People want to see patterns in the world. It is how we evolved. We descended from those primates who were best at spotting the telltale pattern of a predator in the forest, or of food in the savannah. So important is this skill that we apply it everywhere, warranted or not.

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Benoît Mandelbrot 56

Polish-born, French and American mathematician 1924–2010

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