How a reclusive computer programmer became a GOP money powerhouse

&gt; The payments — to support both Cruz and Fiorina — have added to the air of mystery around Mercer. Is he motivated purely by conservative ideology? Or is there something more, such as translating his big-data expertise into campaigning? Cruz is building an aggressive voter targeting operation, bringing in a pro-Republican company specializing in personality profiling that has been paid millions by Mercer-backed political committees.<p>He supports the Club for Growth, NRA, American Crossroads, and GOP Congressional candidates and has since he became wealthy.<p>Its pretty clear its purely ideological.<p>I&#x27;m not sure why he is considered a &quot;mysterious reclusive&quot; type figure given he has been doing so for nearly a decade.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;wonkblog&#x2F;wp&#x2F;2013&#x2F;10&#x2F;11&#x2F;heres-who-pays-the-bills-for-ted-cruzs-crusade&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.washingtonpost.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;wonkblog&#x2F;wp&#x2F;2013&#x2F;10&#x2F;11&#x2F;he...</a><p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.oregonlive.com&#x2F;mapesonpolitics&#x2F;2010&#x2F;10&#x2F;wealthy_financier_is_mysteriou.html" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;blog.oregonlive.com&#x2F;mapesonpolitics&#x2F;2010&#x2F;10&#x2F;wealthy_f...</a><p>He might have been &quot;mysterious&quot; 5-6 years ago when he had only done a couple of things but at this point? Really?

The title makes it out like he is a reclusive lone wolf programmer. He is the CEO of renaissance technologies, a hedge fund with 275 employees. I really feel misled and like they trying to portray him as a mysterious, dangerous loner. As a computer programmer, I take offense.<p>Here is an interview with James Simmons, the founder of Renaissance, fascinating guy.<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=QNznD9hMEh0" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=QNznD9hMEh0</a>

From a &#x27;tech culture&#x27; standpoint, if anything this is a reminder that there are many more computer programmers and companies (wealthy and profitable ones, even) who operate outside of Silicon Valley bubble and the &#x27;tech industry.&#x27; Though it sounds like Mercer and Renaissance Technologies operate in the Wall Street bubble.<p>(Bubble meaning enclosed monocultural environment, not necessarily economic bubble.)

OK, in the 90&#x27;s I interviewed at this company, and had not thought of them since. Basically (according to a guy I interviewed with) they looked for patterns in stock prices and then tried to predict when to buy based on similarity to past patterns, independent of knowledge of world events etc. I don&#x27;t know if that was all they did at the time, or just a part of it. Anyway, I had been a SCO Unix and Linux admin and they were looking for someone to manage their laptops, which they had Solaris on at the time (but were unhappy with). I had done some fractal analysis in my grad work and they were at least passingly interested in that ... I&#x27;m really happy I didn&#x27;t go that route.

Seems to have a reasonably prolific history of academic publications, but suddenly ceased in 1995: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dblp.uni-trier.de&#x2F;pers&#x2F;hd&#x2F;m&#x2F;Mercer:Robert_L=" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dblp.uni-trier.de&#x2F;pers&#x2F;hd&#x2F;m&#x2F;Mercer:Robert_L=</a>

People don&#x27;t like change.<p>Wealthy liberals in coastal communities are NIMBYs. The only time you get change is when the number of renters (and voters) greatly outnumbers the home owners.<p>Wealthy conservatives do not want regulations because changing the rules force them to reconsider their business.

Interesting that he chose to donate to two candidates with almost no chance of winning the election. Makes me wonder where his real allegiances are.

&gt; they fed reams of parallel French and English texts from Canadian parliamentary records into a computer.<p>Wait a minute, where did I hear about this recently?

Rennaisance Technologies as in mrsync? Good software.

I want to be like him.

Oh what a shocking surprise: a hedge fund guy is pouring money into the GOP.