Mandelbrot's model was of "wild" randomness: periods of limited price fluctuation can be interrupted unpredictably by huge changes. The model initially attracted considerable interest within financial economics (Eugene Fama, in whose work the efficient-market hypothesis crystallized, was the most prominent enthusiast for it), but, as chapter 4 describes, it also met fierce opposition because it undermined standard statistical procedures. In the words of one critic quoted in chapter 4, adopting Mandelbrot's model meant "consigning centuries of work to the ash pile."

Donald MacKenzie, An Engine, Not a Camera, loc. 139