http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010052017/wall-street-terminators-casinoAnyone who's ever seen a Terminator movie knows that civilization ended when a computer system called "Skynet" came alive and tried to terminate the human race by starting a nuclear apocalypse. After last week's "flash crash" on Wall Street, they might have wondered if Skynet wasn't working on a financial apocalypse instead.
We still don't know what happened more than a week later, and a new SEC study will probably raise more questions than it answers. Here's what we do know: Wall Street has become such a high-speed, high-tech gambling house that it can be plunged into chaos without anybody having a clue what's happening or the wherewithal to prevent it. "Real time" - where the effects of ultrafast computer events are perceived at human speed - is never less "real" than it is where Wall Street is concerned.
As a reggae rapper named Big Youth once said, "If you ride like lightning you'll crash like thunder."
You probably know the story by now: In a few short minutes the stock market - supposedly protected by both regulations and sophisticated software - lost 9.2% of its value. There was wild trading in Proctor & Gamble, once the target of 'satanic cult' rumors. (Hmm ...) Boston Beer Company, which opened at $59.44, dropped to zero. Everything returned to something like "normal" eventually, after the "ghost in the machine" returned to its lair.
More at the link above ---
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