Prognosis Markets, Anyone??

Posted on January 12, 2007 by Chris F. Masse

Only one instance of “prognosis markets” in the Google search results —guess who.

I like the Greek etymology of “prognosis”:

[...] literally fore-knowing [...]

Compare with the Latin etymology of “prediction”:

[...] from præ- “before” plus dicere “to say” [...]

Starting today, I’m going to talk about “prognosis markets” —”prediction markets”, bye bye.

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NOTE TO SELF: Wait three days till Google index this present blog post. Then, perform a search for “prognosis markets” —this present Midas Oracle blog post will pop up as #1, probably. Then, rush to Midas Oracle writing some bombastic entry, like… “MIDAS ORACLE RANKS #1 AT GOOGLE…“.

About Chris F. Masse

Founder and President of Midas Oracle
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5 Responses to Prognosis Markets, Anyone??

  1. George Tziralis says:
    January 12, 2007 at 11:06 AM

    I agree that the etymology of pro-gnosis (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Prognosis) is more adequate for capturing the concept of PM.
    For example, in Greek I’m referring to ‘Προγνωστικές Αγορές’, namely ‘prognosis markets’ aka ‘prediction markets’.

    But I think that the cost of switching is higher than the gain of accuracy and what we need is a unique descriptor.

  2. Chris Masse says:
    January 12, 2007 at 11:23 AM

    From Fortune magazine #1, 2007:

    - Google seems to enjoy thumbing its nose at the outside world. True?

    - Sergey Brin: It’s important for people to always ask, “Why not?” What’s accepted is often arbitrary.

  3. Daniel Reeves says:
    January 13, 2007 at 5:03 PM

    Note that “prognosis” is most often used for predictions of disease outcomes. Even when used more broadly it retains some of that flavor. Basically, “prognosis” means “pre-diagnosis” — the connotation is just too specific for what we’re after. Also, its verb, “prognosticate”, is cumbersome.

  4. Chris Masse says:
    January 13, 2007 at 5:15 PM

    Would “foreknowing markets” pass muster???

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