Continue to find the options analogy highly entertaining – but I’ve a bunch of quibbles.

You talk here of “measurement”. And I saw the link to “quantum states”. But am still not sure if your use is the same as mine below (but it could be).

You were/are sitting on an underlying asset – the babe or the relationship or friendship – with a potential future (binary) payoff. (At least those are the terms in which you view the “payoff”).

But you are in an incomplete info setting. The underlying does not trade (beacuse you avoid a certain type of woman), and its true current value could be much higher or lower than your current estimate. (I.e. jumps).

Besides, unlike your 2-state example in the link, you recognize that there are mulitple (4?) states corresponding to AIDA. I.e. your “measurements are required over time – to reveal the true state at that time. And you *assume* that vol will go down as the state “progresses”. (Negative correlation). Your “model” of future information (i.e. volatility) is whatever AIDA means (don’t know any MBA-stuff; but I saw the link). If and when you’ve been down the relationship path a few times, you might be less sanguine about vol.

So with all the “imperfections” above, you still want to use the delta-hedge label?! Why not stick with humble, plain-old “hedging” instead.

Also note that since, as you point out, the upside-downside total “hedged” payoff is asymmetric (unlimited/flat) – that’s a further nail in any “hedge” label.

You may want to think of phrasing your (regardless-of-labels, highly insightful) discussion of “hedging” in the pursuit of women as the more commonplace “acquisition of human capital” that many of us do as we “learn by doing” at our jobs.

Last point: this post + my other reply to the compound option thing makes me think a good analogy is the R&D process (of a typical, say, pharma firm) in a real option framework. There are academic papers on this.

Really-Last point: The ordinary guy on the street when asked what “hedge” to use when pursuing a woman would probably suggest the time-honored playing-the-field or stable-of-horses strategy.

What a worshtax blog post. What is the matter with you? The day you start comparing chicks to put options and AIDA frameworks, I think you have lost it.

Good luck da, but just be a little more circumspect about being public about the details of your interactions with her should things take the course all of us wish for it to take.

there’s no liquidity in the market. it’s all OTC.

and yeah – you’re right in the sense that the minute minutes of happiness you get by direct blading aren’t worth that much to me. for me, blading is a lot of pain.