Tuesday, July 19, 2011

JPMorgan Supermodel Examines Life Beyond the Greek Crisis

The Swiss supermodel, now JPMorgan summer intern, Xenia Tchoumitcheva has recently returned from a trip to Greece, reports CNBC's John Carney.

Carney keeping an eye on her musings ran  some of her views on the Greek crisis through online translators and has come up with this as her take:

Forget the Greek debt crisis and the concerns of the EU! I have just come back from a trip to Chalkidiki, the birthplace of Aristotle. I could not help but enjoy the warmth and positive lifestyle of the Greeks.
And, although most of them are going through a difficult time, the magic of ancient times is palpable at every turn — and it is inspirational...

Our brain has not evolved since the Sophists, who spent their lives trying to criticize outdated theories about the world?

Maybe this is already the whole truth: Life and business have accelerated...

But the opposite could be the case.

TV, Internet, magazines, radio: They just throw us all out snacks, small, consumable doses that do not widen our perceptions. The concept of far-reaching debate over important questions and their integration into a larger context has fallen by the wayside. More than that, our appetizers of internalized consumption threatens the kind of transfer of knowledge over the long run. Millions of daily blog posts, dedicated Facebook and Twitter messages, the mere linking of information that arises elsewhere.  As we “reduce to the max,” there is a risk that we’re losing entirely our interest in deeper thoughts...

 The collection of impressions and information we gather from the orgy of discordant information that surrounds us, can cause a flash of inspiration. But the human brain needs time to process it well. The misunderstood "reduce to the max” must be a properly understood. Less is more!

18 comments:

  1. Wow. I couldn't read a word of that I was so distracted. I think we have a winner for the cover of the "Women of EPJ" calendar.

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  2. Suddenly its obvious why JPM execs might keep her around. Her expertise with the effects of consumerism on traditional societies floors me.

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  3. Brilliant analysis. I am in love with her ah...err...mind.

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  4. "Musings", is that what we're calling them now?

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  5. Just because we're now all Greek, why can't you post a translated English version?

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  6. (Sort of to the tune of Bicycle Built for Two)

    Xenia, Xenia,
    Tell us your answer do,

    Wenzel's mean, you
    know what he likes to do

    To Keynes and Keynesians -
    Tell us you're not one too

    Cos it's never a pretty sight
    To watch ole Wenzel fight,

    But if you can pack your Mises,
    Somewhere between your squeezes,

    Or tuck him in your "musing"
    with Rothbardian enthusing,

    Then just maybe,
    we'll forget that "JP"...

    And call your Swiss a** Austrian too.

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  7. When most of us lose the shirt off our backs, it's a bad thing.

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  8. Forget "1984" - "Idiocracy" is in full throttle.

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  9. Okay, who was the prankster that told her that her ridiculous pseudo-philosophical thoughts were interesting and to express them?
    This is what happens when you tell a supermodel that she's smart. Now she's ruined.

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    Replies
    1. Since when is she a supermodel ? she's barely 169 cm tall; moreover she's already too old for that, born in 1987 despite her lying ab her age. She's everything but what she'd like to be seen as...

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  10. @Tony

    Actually, she sounds pretty smart and those are valid and interesting insights that could be expanded into quite a profound book.

    Why are our blog comments any smarter?

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  11. In fact, I thought enough of her smarts to go and check her blog, where I learned this:

    "She speaks five languages fluently (Italian, Russian, English, German and French) and recently graduated from University a Degree in Economics"

    and I'll bet that coming from Europe, her undergraduate degree is close to a graduate degree in the US.

    Told you she sounded like a smart cookie.
    How many of you guys spoke five languages at her age and knew your Nietzsche?

    And she probably earns much more than any of us did at her age...

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  12. @ Lila,

    I'm only going to say this once because i'm not here to justify my opinions about the main articles. If i would do that, i'd have to spend considerable time logically explaining every comment i make, and this is a comment section, not a debating section.

    My advise to you regarding the main article would be to differentiate being pretentious from being intelligent; there is a BIG difference. No amount of language knowledge changes the fact that the above article has her spewing nothing but self-important, irrational and purely subjectivist fluff. Seriously, is there anything other than meaningless pontification in her diatribe?
    It is what some people would rudely call a "brainfart".

    P.S. Her earning more money is relevant to my point, how exactly? This is known as a logical fallacy. You know how many dumb athletes there are who are multimillionaires?

    Another P.S. because it is a pet peeve of mine. Reading a bunch of books and retaining information does not necessarily make you intelligent either; merely someone who has retained a lot of other people's thoughts.

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  13. @Tony.

    Methinks I detect some insecurity.

    My reference to her earning capacity was to show you - since you obviously don't consider learning of any importance - that besides learning, she also has abilities that make her more money than anyone else here.

    I think you can be very smart AND read a lot of books. It's not mutually exclusive.

    For everyone genius who never read a book, I can show you ten thousand fools who never read one either.

    Most people are not so innately smart that they can do better than the greatest thinkers.
    They need to read. That will probably be their first encounter with genuine thought.

    The few that really are that smart usually don't scoff that much at learning either.

    That is just the pose of a certain kind of anti-intellectual.

    I'm not one of them.

    I venerate learning, almost as much as pure intelligence. Sometimes more.

    Pure reason, rude, self-regarding and bumptious, without any understanding of history, tradition, culture, manners and context, is of less value to me than a mediocre intellect which has been refined by culture and good manners.

    And I say that as someone who I believe can hold her own with anyone in a logical debate.

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  14. Lila, I'm one of your biggest fans, but I have to agree with Tony- there is not one single observation of substance in the entire (translated) article. She may be smart, but her analysis of information overload (which is obvious to anyone with a 'net connection) is vapid and superficial.

    Her internship with JPM just makes her a pretty tool to use in the war on humanity that the power elite continues to incessantly wage.

    Dale Fitz

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  15. @Dale Fitz

    Thanks for your kind words.
    But hey - the girl wrote a random BLOG POST....not an magnum opus.

    Just take a look at each post on EPJ and see if taken individually, they are all so much more profound.

    I give her the benefit of the doubt..and apparently so does JPM....

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  16. @ Lila Rajiva, I think she's getting or JPM is more likely GIVING more than a benefit of a doubt.

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