Paul Jorion
Encyclopedia
Paul Jorion is by training an anthropologist, sociologist with a special interest in the cognitive sciences. He has also written seven books on capitalist economics.
Paul was born and raised in Belgium, and has been a Professor at the universities of Brussels, Cambridge, Paris VIII and University of California at Irvine. He was a Visiting Scholar of the "Human Complex Systems" Program at UCLA from 2005 to 2009. He currently lives in France where he runs a popular blog on financial and economic matters.
and of French mathematician Georges-Théodule Guilbaud in modeling kinship systems with algebraic models, Jorion has made several contributions to the field, solving in particular the marriage pattern of the Pende of the Congo (in collaboration with Gisèle de Meur and Trudeke Vuyk), reconciling also conflicting interpretations of the kinship system of the Australian Murngin (from research done jointly with Edmund Leach
, his teacher at Cambridge University). Collaborating with Douglas R. White
he has published several papers in the formalization of kinship algebra.
which goes beyond the Freudian notion that some of our decisions have unconscious motives by suggesting that in fact all our decision-making has unconscious roots, revealing freewill to be an illusion. Consciousness is shown to be a consequence of a mechanism allowing us to perceive as simultaneous the sensations produced separately by our five senses, a necessary preliminary to creating memory traces, that is, also, the prerequisite to any learning process. Drawing the consequences of an observation made by Benjamin Libet
, that intention is an artifact as it springs to consciousness half a second later than the action it is supposed to have generated, Jorion further suggested that consciousness errs when it assumes to be the cause of human actions while it is nothing more than an ancillary consequence of the registration process that allows memory
to accrue.
In 1981, while lecturing at Cambridge University, he devised the P-Graph (a variety of a dual of a graph
) which found its use in the analysis of networks
, of genealogies in particular.
unit of British Telecom. There he developed "ANELLA" (Associative Network with Emerging Logical and Learning Abilities) whose “intelligence” is guided by a dynamics of affect
– acting at the same time as a dynamics of relevance
. In his book entitled “Principes des systèmes intelligents” published the next year, he made a wager that psychoanalysis
will turn out to offer Artificial Intelligence its genuine theoretical framework.
(Financial Accounting Standards Board
157). He has been instrumental at reviving Aristotle's theory of price, based on the power balance between buyer and seller, and has applied it to understand our current financial systems (Le prix).
On 4 September 2007, in an op-ed for the French daily Le Monde, he proposes that, as is the case for the political sphere, the economy is given a proper constitution (L’économie a besoin d’une authentique constitution). In an interview in L’Humanité published January 2008, Jorion contends that contrary to the title of his 2007 book Is American Capitalism Heading to Crisis? (Vers la crise du capitalisme américain?), the distinctive form of Capitalism
in the United States
has already fallen into crisis.
In his 2008 book The Implosion. Finance vs. the Economy: what the subprime crisis reveals and foretells (L'implosion. La finance contre l'économie: ce qu'annonce et révèle la crise des subprimes) he emphasizes that the economy - unlike the political system with democracy
- has not been raised to the status of a proper human institution
and requires a similar self-domestication.
of quantum physics, Jorion demonstrates however in “Why, like cats, we have nine lives” (2000) that many-worlds allows to reconcile within a single conceptual system Descartes’s “cogito,” Leibniz’s “best of all possible worlds
” and Hegel’s views on the role of Reason in history.
In “The mathematician and his magic" ("Le mathématicien et sa magie : théorème de Gödel et anthropologie des savoirs" – 2001), Jorion analyzes Kurt Gödel
’s demonstration of his second incompleteness theorem on the undecidability of some arithmetic propositions. He shows that the mathematician resorts to modes of proof of various epistemological qualities, ranging from the tight to the lax, including some, like the reductio ad absurdum
which Aristotle
excluded from scientific demonstration (“Analytics”) to confine it to everyday conversation (“Dialectics”).
(The concentration of wealth/richness is a self-amplifying process) http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/essayunddiskurs/1178969/
Paul was born and raised in Belgium, and has been a Professor at the universities of Brussels, Cambridge, Paris VIII and University of California at Irvine. He was a Visiting Scholar of the "Human Complex Systems" Program at UCLA from 2005 to 2009. He currently lives in France where he runs a popular blog on financial and economic matters.
Kinship studies
A student of Claude Lévi-StraussClaude Lévi-Strauss
Claude Lévi-Strauss was a French anthropologist and ethnologist, and has been called, along with James George Frazer, the "father of modern anthropology"....
and of French mathematician Georges-Théodule Guilbaud in modeling kinship systems with algebraic models, Jorion has made several contributions to the field, solving in particular the marriage pattern of the Pende of the Congo (in collaboration with Gisèle de Meur and Trudeke Vuyk), reconciling also conflicting interpretations of the kinship system of the Australian Murngin (from research done jointly with Edmund Leach
Edmund Leach
Sir Edmund Ronald Leach was a British social anthropologist of whom it has been said:"It is no exaggeration to say that in sheer versatility, originality, and range of writing he was and still is difficult to match among the anthropologists of the English speaking world".-Personal and academic...
, his teacher at Cambridge University). Collaborating with Douglas R. White
Douglas R. White
Douglas R. White is an American complexity researcher , social anthropologist, sociologist, and social network researcher at the University of California, Irvine.-Biography:...
he has published several papers in the formalization of kinship algebra.
Memory and consciousness
In an article published in 1999, Jorion offered a new theory of consciousnessConsciousness
Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...
which goes beyond the Freudian notion that some of our decisions have unconscious motives by suggesting that in fact all our decision-making has unconscious roots, revealing freewill to be an illusion. Consciousness is shown to be a consequence of a mechanism allowing us to perceive as simultaneous the sensations produced separately by our five senses, a necessary preliminary to creating memory traces, that is, also, the prerequisite to any learning process. Drawing the consequences of an observation made by Benjamin Libet
Benjamin Libet
Benjamin Libet April 12, 1916, Chicago, Illinois - July 23, 2007, Davis, California) was a pioneering scientist in the field of human consciousness. Libet was a researcher in the physiology department of the University of California, San Francisco...
, that intention is an artifact as it springs to consciousness half a second later than the action it is supposed to have generated, Jorion further suggested that consciousness errs when it assumes to be the cause of human actions while it is nothing more than an ancillary consequence of the registration process that allows memory
Memory
In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and recall information and experiences. Traditional studies of memory began in the fields of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing memory....
to accrue.
In 1981, while lecturing at Cambridge University, he devised the P-Graph (a variety of a dual of a graph
Graph (data structure)
In computer science, a graph is an abstract data structure that is meant to implement the graph and hypergraph concepts from mathematics.A graph data structure consists of a finite set of ordered pairs, called edges or arcs, of certain entities called nodes or vertices...
) which found its use in the analysis of networks
Neural network
The term neural network was traditionally used to refer to a network or circuit of biological neurons. The modern usage of the term often refers to artificial neural networks, which are composed of artificial neurons or nodes...
, of genealogies in particular.
Artificial Intelligence
In 1989, Jorion participated in the work of the Artificial IntelligenceArtificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
unit of British Telecom. There he developed "ANELLA" (Associative Network with Emerging Logical and Learning Abilities) whose “intelligence” is guided by a dynamics of affect
Affect (psychology)
Affect refers to the experience of feeling or emotion. Affect is a key part of the process of an organism's interaction with stimuli. The word also refers sometimes to affect display, which is "a facial, vocal, or gestural behavior that serves as an indicator of affect" .The affective domain...
– acting at the same time as a dynamics of relevance
Relevance
-Introduction:The concept of relevance is studied in many different fields, including cognitive sciences, logic and library and information science. Most fundamentally, however, it is studied in epistemology...
. In his book entitled “Principes des systèmes intelligents” published the next year, he made a wager that psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
will turn out to offer Artificial Intelligence its genuine theoretical framework.
Economics
His interest in behavioral theory has led Jorion to work on stock market behavior as a pricing specialist and, for a period, as a trader on the futures markets in a French investment bank. Despite, or because of, his work Jorion has become a critic of the structure of financial capitalism. He has deplored in particular the shift in accounting standards from a definition of price based on “fundamentals,” i.e. “value,” to “just value” equating with the speculative pricePrice
-Definition:In ordinary usage, price is the quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services.In modern economies, prices are generally expressed in units of some form of currency...
(Financial Accounting Standards Board
Financial Accounting Standards Board
The Financial Accounting Standards Board is a private, not-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is to develop generally accepted accounting principles within the United States in the public's interest...
157). He has been instrumental at reviving Aristotle's theory of price, based on the power balance between buyer and seller, and has applied it to understand our current financial systems (Le prix).
On 4 September 2007, in an op-ed for the French daily Le Monde, he proposes that, as is the case for the political sphere, the economy is given a proper constitution (L’économie a besoin d’une authentique constitution). In an interview in L’Humanité published January 2008, Jorion contends that contrary to the title of his 2007 book Is American Capitalism Heading to Crisis? (Vers la crise du capitalisme américain?), the distinctive form of Capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
has already fallen into crisis.
"We are experiencing the consequences of the planned disappearance of welfare by deregulation. By strengthening the law of the strongest, the United States is heading toward a disaster never seen before, which I can only compare to the one of 1929".
In his 2008 book The Implosion. Finance vs. the Economy: what the subprime crisis reveals and foretells (L'implosion. La finance contre l'économie: ce qu'annonce et révèle la crise des subprimes) he emphasizes that the economy - unlike the political system with democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
- has not been raised to the status of a proper human institution
Institution
An institution is any structure or mechanism of social order and cooperation governing the behavior of a set of individuals within a given human community...
and requires a similar self-domestication.
Philosophy of science
While not committing himself explicitly to Hugh Everett III’s many-worlds interpretationMany-worlds interpretation
The many-worlds interpretation is an interpretation of quantum mechanics that asserts the objective reality of the universal wavefunction, but denies the actuality of wavefunction collapse. Many-worlds implies that all possible alternative histories and futures are real, each representing an...
of quantum physics, Jorion demonstrates however in “Why, like cats, we have nine lives” (2000) that many-worlds allows to reconcile within a single conceptual system Descartes’s “cogito,” Leibniz’s “best of all possible worlds
Best of all possible worlds
The phrase "the best of all possible worlds" was coined by the German polymath Gottfried Leibniz in his 1710 work Essais de Théodicée sur la bonté de Dieu, la liberté de l'homme et l'origine du mal...
” and Hegel’s views on the role of Reason in history.
In “The mathematician and his magic" ("Le mathématicien et sa magie : théorème de Gödel et anthropologie des savoirs" – 2001), Jorion analyzes Kurt Gödel
Kurt Gödel
Kurt Friedrich Gödel was an Austrian logician, mathematician and philosopher. Later in his life he emigrated to the United States to escape the effects of World War II. One of the most significant logicians of all time, Gödel made an immense impact upon scientific and philosophical thinking in the...
’s demonstration of his second incompleteness theorem on the undecidability of some arithmetic propositions. He shows that the mathematician resorts to modes of proof of various epistemological qualities, ranging from the tight to the lax, including some, like the reductio ad absurdum
Reductio ad absurdum
In logic, proof by contradiction is a form of proof that establishes the truth or validity of a proposition by showing that the proposition's being false would imply a contradiction...
which Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
excluded from scientific demonstration (“Analytics”) to confine it to everyday conversation (“Dialectics”).
Books
- Les pêcheurs de Houat: anthropologie économique, Collection Savoir, Hermann, Paris, 1983
- La transmission des savoirs (with Geneviève Delbos), Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris, 1984, ISBN 2-7351-0113-4
- Principes des systèmes intelligents, Dunod, Paris, 1997, ISBN 2-225-81938-6 (original ed. Masson, 1990).
- Investing in a Post-Enron World, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2003, ISBN 0-07-140938-6.
- Vers la crise du capitalisme américain?, La Découverte, Paris, 2007, ISBN 978-2-7071-5092-9; reprint: Éditions du Croquant, Broissieux, 2009, ISBN 948-2-9149-6862-1 (English title: Are we Heading for a Crisis of American Capitalism?)
- L'implosion. La finance contre l'économie: ce qu'annonce et révèle la crise des subprimes, Fayard, Paris, 2008, ISBN 978-2-213-63741-9 (English title: The Implosion. Finance against the Economy: what the Subprime Crisis Foretells and Reveals)
- La crise. Des subprimes au séisme financier planétaire, Fayard, Paris, 2008, ISBN 978-2-213-63860-7 (English title: The Crisis. From Subprimes to Planetary Seism)
- L'argent, mode d'emploi, Fayard, Paris, 2009, ISBN 978-2-213-64404-2 (English title: Money, A Handbook)
- Comment la vérité et la réalité furent inventées, Gallimard, Paris 2009, ISBN 978-2-07-01-2600-2 (English title: How Truth and Reality Were Invented)
- Le prix, Éditions du Croquant, Broissieux, 2010, ISBN 978-2-9149-6878-2 (English title: Price)
- Le capitalisme à l'agonie, Fayard, Paris, 2011, ISBN 978-2-213-65488-1 (English title: The Promised Death of Capitalism).
Articles
- Reasons vs. Causes: Emergence as experienced by the human agent, eJournal of Anthropological and Related Sciences, vol. 2, avril 2007
- Althusser (avec Armel Jorion), Foucault, Lévi-Strauss in New Makers of Modern Culture, 2 vol., Justin Wintle (sous la dir.), New York : Routledge, 2006
- Adam Smith's "Invisible Hand" Revisited. An Agent-Based Simulation of the New York Stock Exchange, Proceedings of the First World Congress on Social Simulation, Kyoto, vol. 1, août 2006
- Stephen E. G. Lea et Paul Webley, Keeping up with the Joneses, Comment on Money as tool, money as drug : The biological psychology of a strong incentive, Behavioural & Brain Sciences, 29 (2), 2006
- Why, like cats, we have nine lives, Papiers du Collège international de philosophie, Reconstitutions, 2000
- Information Flows in Kinship Networks, Mathematical Anthropology and Cultural Theory, vol. 1, novembre 2000
- Aristotle’s Theory of Price Revisited, Dialectical Anthropology, 1999, vol. 23
- What do mathematicians teach us about the World? An anthropological perspective, Dialectical Anthropology], vol. 24, 1999
- An alternative neural network representation for conceptual knowledge, Communication présentée au colloque CONNEX des British Telecom, Martlesham Heath, janvier 1990
External links
- Official website
- Author's blog in English
- Author's blog in French
- Paul Jorion Inteviewed By Jacques Coubard “Yes, American Capitalism Is In Crisis”. L’Humanité, Wednesday 16 January 2008.
- Interview German broadcast with Jorion, 09.05.2010: Die Konzentration des Reichtums ist ein sich selbst verstärkender Prozess.
(The concentration of wealth/richness is a self-amplifying process) http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/essayunddiskurs/1178969/