Dr. John Coates

John Coates, former research fellow in neuroscience and finance at the University of Cambridge, traded derivatives for Goldman Sachs and ran a trading desk for Deutsche Bank. He conducts research on hedge fund trading floors in London and New York. His studies are designed to understand the role of the endocrine, immune, cardiovascular and motor systems on our ability to effectively take risk, to handle stress, and to generate reliable gut feelings. He finds that the bodies of traders get the market right even when their psychology gets it wrong.

Lately, Coates has turned his attention to understanding our body’s role in producing insight, be it scientific, sporting, or financial. Coates concludes that the human ability to produce revolutionary insights gives us an edge over A.I. And it is our body, and our life in the physical world, that enables us to produce these insights. Coates’ research has therefore spread beyond finance and business into sports and the military. This new research is covered in his forthcoming book, System 3. Insight, Why It Needs A Human Body, How It Gives You An Edge Over AI.

Coates’ science papers have been published by Nature, the Royal Society, and the National Academy of Sciences USA. His best-selling book, The Hour Between Dog and Wolf. How Risk-Taking Transforms Us, Body and Mind, was short listed for the Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year, and the UK Wellcome Trust Science Prize. It was also chosen book of the month by the British Army. The journal, Foreign Policy, named him one of the most influential thinkers of the year. Tom Stoppard’s latest play, about a hedge fund manager who turns to neuroscience, is based on Coates’s research.