The Scene
The Bayeux Tapestry, which went on display in the British Museum this week, is one of the wonders of the medieval world.
asserted
which → go → world
“Its grandiosity is overwhelming,” says Igor Tulchinsky, the hedge fund founder who gave £5 million to fund the embroidery’s temporary return to England from France, but he also sees it “a very, very old data set.”
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it → say → France
The billionaire chairman and CEO of WorldQuant has been a pioneer in applying AI and other technologies to vast collections of data, looking to build predictive models from historical information.
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chairman → apply → information
To his eyes, the 11th century record of the Norman conquest offers an extreme example of the value of studying history’s patterns to anticipate future developments.
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record → offer → developments
“My field is about reading patterns in incomplete data, weighing probabilities, and acting intentionally under uncertainty,” he wrote earlier this year.
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he → read → uncertainty
That echoes one of the mottos by which Tulchinsky drives his 1,100-person company: “Everything is information.
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Everything → echo → company
Tulchinsky’s backing of the exhibition will put his name in front of an estimated one million visitors and his company’s brand in front of millions more school children between now and next summer.
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backing → put → summer
Any benefit to WorldQuant will be “a bonus,” he says, but he is driven by efficiently maximising his “impact per dollar,” in philanthropy as in business, and a one-off artwork like the tapestry has an outsized grip on the public imagination.
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artwork → say → imagination
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
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interview → edit → clarity
I’m sure you get a lot of requests for philanthropic support.
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you → ’m → support
Why did you say yes to this one?
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you → say → one
Because it was so unique, and I thought it would be so impactful.
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it → think → ?
Prior to this, I pretty much stayed in [philanthropic] areas confined to more traditional education.
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I → stay → education
But the tapestry is a thousand-year-old object, and seeing a thousand-year-old object gives everybody a piece of history that really existed.
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that → see → history
A lot of history is written, rewritten, overwritten.
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lot → write → history
This actually happened, and you can learn a lot by looking at it.
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you → happen → it
What impact do you hope to have by supporting the exhibit?
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you → hope → exhibit
Once you see it, you don’t forget it.
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you → see → it
It’s going to stick in 10 million heads forever.
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It → go → heads
So that’s impact number one.
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that → ’ → ?
It’s extremely memorable, and then has an inspirational impact as well.
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It → ’ → impact
When you see how people lived a thousand years ago, what they cared about, the story that’s depicted there, you may be inspired in many directions, especially kids.
uncertain
you → see → directions
A child may get inspired to develop an interest in art, in history, in craftsmanship — hopefully not in fighting.
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child → inspire → fighting
And when adults see it, I think it inspires a sense of pride in history, and an appreciation for where we come from and what people have gone through to make our existence possible today.
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existence → see → what
Do you have a broader philosophy about how to use philanthropy for impact?
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you → have → impact
If you’re a philanthropist, you can give something to someone — an object or some money — and then object A moves from person A to person B, and it finishes there.
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it → ’re → B
Or you can give somebody a skill or an education, and in that case, the skill keeps producing results in that person, which affects them, affects those around them, and affects their families downstream.
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which → give → families
So the impact per dollar is likely higher in teaching people how to do different things.
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impact → teach → things
You’ve said quantitative trading is about reading patterns in incomplete data, weighing probabilities, and acting intentionally under uncertainty.
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trading → say → uncertainty
How do you use the study of history in your trading?
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you → use → trading
We use it like all data.
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We → use → data
We tend to focus on more narrow pieces of history, but parts of the firm, like our global macro trading [group], may look at the broader context of history.
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parts → tend → history
But really, everything is history, and you can even view the tapestry as a very, very old data set.
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you → view → set
It shows that the people at that time had the same aspirations, looked at the same sky, and pretty much wanted the same things as people today do.
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people → show → things
However, the means that they had at their disposal to do anything were very different.
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they → have → anything
So, at once, you get a sense of the progress that has happened, and you get a sense of similarity.
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you → get → similarity
Some things never change, but some things evolve and grow.
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things → change → ?
You’ve described your move to America from what is now Belarus when you were 11 as living through history.
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you → describe → history
Do you see any parallels between the story that the tapestry tells and your own life?
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tapestry → see → that
My parents decided to leave the Soviet Union shortly before everything collapsed.
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everything → decide → Union
…and 6 more, not listed.
