Include me out …

… Paula Marantz Cohen: We Are All Quants Now - WSJ. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)

This new twist in the culture has existential implications. It affects the shape of the self. It makes our judgments, values and tastes subject to a new context of evaluation. Who we are comes to mimic the tools that analyze us. This may explain why so many people, especially young adults, think that privacy doesn't matter. What do they have to hide? A surface, measurable self has replaced a deep, mysterious one.

The danger, I think, lies in being other-directed, rather than self-directed.