Computers were among the most valuable things I acquired, because of how they helped me think. Without them, Bridgewater would not have been nearly as successful as it turned out to be.
“He who lives by the crystal ball is destined to eat ground glass” is a saying I quoted a lot in those days.
(“靠水晶球生活的人注定要吃磨砂玻璃”)
Between 1979 and 1982, I had eaten enough glass to realize that what was most important wasn’t knowing the future—it was knowing how to react appropriately to the information available at each point in time. In order to do that, I would have to have a vast store of economic and market data to draw on—and as it happened, I did.