Davos Newbies

Dave Winer: “The business of the valley is not publishing. It is not advertising. It is not retailing. It is not pet food. It is cool packages of technology that thrill people with empowerment and novelty.”

There’s been a strand in the last couple of days on Scripting News and elsewhere about whether anyone but the young can be successful innovators and entrepreneurs. It hardly needs saying that the answer is, “Of course.” What’s more difficult to say is whether someone without a few decades of adulthood can be wise. There may be exceptions, but I think the general answer is, “No, they can’t.” There’s an important distinction between wisdom and knowledge. I think wisdom requires lots of time.

Have a look at Shorpy, the 100-year-old photo blog. Hat tip: Cliopatria.

Tony Jackson in yesterday’s Financial Times (subscribers only):

To sum up, if I am asked what the rise in bond yields means for equities, the honest answer is I don’t know. I make no apologies for that. There are simply too many variables. To my mind, anyone who feels sure of the answer at this point has not thought it through.

I can’t recall reading another finance columnist with such refreshing honesty. In financial arguments, for all the reams of analysis published every day, the truth is often that nobody knows anything. Few are willing to admit it.