We’ve acknowledged herein of late the millennial-trader phenomenon that some believe helps explain the latest somewhat counter-intuitive rally in stocks off of the March lows. I’ve noted that it reminds me a bit of the dotcom craze of the late-’90s.

Just started reading Jim Kwik’s book on thinking titled Limitless. The following got me thinking about today’s retail day-trader:

“In a digital-first world, where millennials obtain all their answers to problems at the click of a mouse or swipe of a finger, the reliance on technology to solve every question confuses people’s perception of their own knowledge and intelligence. And that reliance may well lead to overconfidence and poor decision-making” 

Which now has me thinking about this from Karl Popper’s essential All Life is Problem Solving:

“We can assert the truth, attain the truth, often enough. But we can never attain certainty. For we know – in the sense of conjectural knowledge – that there are people with a delusion that they are Einstein or a reincarnation of Goethe.”

And especially this, which I personally take to heart:

“We know nothing – that is the first point. Therefore we should be very modest – that is the second. That we should not claim to know when we do not know – that is the third. This is more or less the approach I should like to popularize. It does not have good prospects.”