Mark Valorian

Below is collection of some of my more developed ideas. I like to write about cool things that make you think from the realms of economics, psychology, financial markets, AI, and (when warranted and tasteful) politics. I love good natured debate so if something piques your interest please, let me know what you think! Also happy to answer any questions. Thanks for checking out my stuff!

@ProfRobAnderson So deeply emblematic of California in every way

The reality is even more ridiculous than the headline. The whole reason for this bridge is so that a handful of isolated and extremely inbred mountain lions in the Malibu area can breed with normal mountain lions on the other side of the freeway to diversify their genetics. One of these inbred mountain lions killed my dog in my backyard on a college campus in 2022. The National Park Service had a tracking collar on the animal and knew where it was at all times. They didn’t give any warning to the college or anyone else. After this happened, they only admitted it was their animal after a reporter questioned them. The animal was so inbred that its father was also its grandfather, and then it mated with its father/grandfather. Mountain lions are not endangered in California in the slightest. There are actually too many of them in this area, causing them to kill each other over territory. The NPS catches all these animals every few years to replace the batteries in their tracking collars. They could literally just drive them to the other side of the freeway in a pickup. The mountain lion that killed my dog was hit by a car and killed a few months later. What a waste.

@northead Well done lol 👏

@markvalorian They tried, but met averse criticism.

Thank god they didn’t do something crazy like rename their entire company after this idea.

@kane @RoKhanna I’m not a fan of his but trade volume is a really poor metric to evaluate wealth. Especially with 37,172 trades, you’re looking at an average trade value of only ~$16.4k.

> @RoKhanna > “anti-elite” > $609M of trades while in Congress

With LLMs we’ve basically invented digital candy. LLM written content is designed to maximize engagement in a way human text will never be able to match. It’s why AI-written posts constantly go viral on here. AI will win not because it’s better but because it’s more delicious.

@atmoio Great analogy. I guess that implies people will only naturally start to correct when they get too fat. Or in this case, dumb. And some probably never do and go to whatever the cognitive equivalent of “My 600lb Life” is.

Whether the application of the hype cycle heuristic to the current AI market is an ironic example of a Dunning Kruger effect itself remains to be seen.

Makes you think. Hype cycles are essentially just the macro version of the Dunning Kruger effect; overconfidence in outcomes based on limited familiarity with the subject matter.

@PoetsAnonn @meadandjuniper People that do not enjoy the taste of tomato infused gasoline

@markvalorian @meadandjuniper I like bloody marys, made with low-sodium V-8 because I hate salt. What's the other type of people?

It’s weird there aren’t more savory drinks. Take broth for instance. There are so many broths I would absolutely drink straight out of a mug. So how come there’s no Starbucks for broths? Am I just weird?

The best feature you could add for articles is a little gauge that says the likelihood it’s AI. It’s a huge risk to the consumer that you dedicate time and energy to dive into an article and then get the rug pulled out from under you when you realize it’s slop. Literally makes me scroll by every article I see just because the chance of AI is so high it’s not worth the time to even check.

We’re rolling out summaries for Articles now. Just tap the Summarize button if you want to know if it’s worth your time to read it (or if your attention span is 12 seconds).

Saying we “should” do anything fundamentally misunderstands fashion. Traditional clothing in particular is whimsical because it was organic. It arose from the local environment based on local customs and local materials. Deliberately forcing it into an environment where it does not naturally occur invalidates the whimsy you’re trying to cultivate by “reviving” it in the first place.

@themoviedadsc So what you’re saying is no meaningful subject should be taught in high school?

One of my "hotter" takes on this subject is every high school could implement this tomorrow, and it wouldn't make a big difference. 99% of 14-18 year olds don't care about money. They care about dating, friends, making varsity, and getting As & Bs so mom/dad don't yell at them.

@GordonJohnson19 Is there precedent to expect large traders would unwind the hedge of a position before they could neutralize the reason for the hedge? Seems like a risky “shoot from the hip” non-standardized kind of move…not really something I’d expect from someone capturing IV

$MU's stock is falling b/c it needed to clear an options wall of ~$500/shr. So, given A LOT of folks were long calls into the print, & it didn't clear $500, brokers are selling stock to reverse sold calls. It's that simple. This isn't fundamentals. It's market mechanics.

@dollarsanddata Why is it even necessary to commingle?

There's a simple solution to this: -Joint bank account (all income goes in, all shared expenses come out) -Each spouse keeps separate account -Any surplus (in joint account) gets split (50/50) and sent to separate accounts -For big purchases, each party deposits back into joint

@guinnesschen @OpenAIDevs So you’re cannibalizing the existing shortcut you have for the ChatGPT desktop app? Why would you not make it something different?

You can now summon Codex from anywhere on your desktop. It's easier than ever to reach for Codex.

@VicVijayakumar I do not do my own cooking. Please share

If you did your own cooking, the answer to this is obvious.

@JessePeltan Saying we “should” do anything fundamentally misunderstands fashion.

We should revive traditional clothing. So many cultures have really cool traditions and manufacturing techniques shaped by local materials and climate. Everything has become so homogenized now that many people don’t even know how their ancestors dressed.

@JessicaNutt96 What is the argument saying that a futures curve is not an indication of price expectation?

The econ pedants really need to stop with their “futures curve is not a price forecast” nonsense. If it’s a liquid tradeable asset what else could it be?

@A1an_M I get frustrated from time to time with little things like “Liquid Glass” or whatever and then I see stuff like this and realize I need to be more grateful

It's mid March. Click on the calendar on a Windows 10 machine - you see the whole month of March. Like any other calendar you've ever used. Click on the calendar on a Windows 11 machine - you get a calendar labelled April that starts half way through the month of March. Why? Why change this? Who asked for this? What maniac decided it was a good idea? This is Windows all over. Changing stuff that previously worked that didn't need to change. Like moving the Start menu. Just stop it!

@wispem_wantex There’s nothing I’m aware of that shows you can meaningfully improve it. Or for that matter, protect from losing it…outside of good sleep, exercise, healthy habits etc. People like to talk about things they have control over

I'm surprised that eyesight isn't discussed more in health circles. People want to bench press 315 lbs, have a resting heart rate of 40 bpm, reach 10% body fat, etc. 20/10 vision feels like it belongs in this category