Beware Geeks Bearing Formulas

Cautionary NYT Op Ed on the use of advanced models in finance. I remember attending a meeting at the Santa Fe Institute on the use of complexity models for investment. There was near ovation level reaction from the audience.

It struck me at the time that such models work very well as long as the market is rising. Soon afterward there was a downshift and the very clever analysts did not look so good. I don't recall that any retractions were issued. Even worse when the models begin to close the loop. Caution from a quant.