Thinking about it, I think you're right: He felt invested, he felt in control. It was illusory. Perhaps his title hints at it, but the "how to give it up" is the falsity in the title. The illusory control needs to be recognised as never having existed.

The illusion of control and how to recognise you never had it

Maybe it was also my misreading: what he gave up was the illusion.

(Btw I did read the article, the above reads like I commented on the HN headline)

In many situations an accompanying PhD in psychology or neuroscience would be useful.

EDIT - I'm throttled (I imagine due to comments like the following), so cannot reply below:

> Nobody needs a phd to understand that circumstances and chance have a much bigger influence...

Some depth in psychology and neurology can also help one realize that you do not actually know the thoughts and abilities of other people - rather, this is how the mind evolved to perceive and model the external world (persons, etc), and how the subconscious communicates predictions based on that model to the conscious mind.

So, I maintain my assertion that an understanding of how the mind (that which most substantially differentiates us from all other living things) works has great utility.

it's a cultural malaise, not a scientific one. Nobody needs a phd to understand that circumstances and chance have a much bigger influence, and that the complexity of playing with hundreds of millions in global markets goes far beyond the capacity of any individual. Picking up Goethe's Sorcerer's Apprentice should be good enough.