Emptiness.

Śūnya is Sanskrit for “empty” — and the word Indian mathematicians used for zero.

ISutra

“Sir, they say that ‘the world is empty’.
What does the saying ‘the world is empty’ refer to?”
“Ānanda, they say that ‘the world is empty’ because it’s empty of self or what belongs to self.

— SN 35.85:1.2–1.4 · The World is Empty · Linked Discourses (Saṃyutta Nikāya)

Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0), as published on SuttaCentral 11 Nov 2026

IIPrinciple

Start from H₀: α = 0. Assume no edge.

Every idea begins empty. Before a strategy is allowed to mean anything, we assume it means nothing: the expected excess return is zero and every pattern is noise until the data forces us to think otherwise.

The burden of proof sits with the hypothesis, never with the skeptic. A result that cannot beat its own null is not a weak result — it is no result.

IIIProof

H₀: α = 0 · t = ᾱ / (s / √n)

Proof · luck under the nullIllustrative · seed 1000

1,000 simulated strategies whose true edge is exactly zero: one year of daily returns each, mean 0. 183 of them still show a Sharpe ratio above 1.0, and the best reaches 2.85. Without a null hypothesis, luck looks like skill.