The computers have won.
Institutional Investor just released its annual list of the top-earning hedge fund managers, and six of the top eight are quants, or managers who rely on computer programs to guide their investing.
The list includes Ken Griffin of Citadel, Jim Simons of Renaissance Technology, and John Overdeck and David Siegel of Two Sigma.
In 2002, by contrast, just two computer-driven investors were included in the ranking, according to Institutional Investor.
The list highlights just how hedge fund investing has changed over the past 15 years.
It is not that the brash, characterful traders of old are a dying breed. There are still plenty of alpha-male risk-takers in a company gilet wandering around New York and Greenwich, Connecticut.
It's just that they're losing ground to tech specialists who program robots to play air hockey in their spare time.
The rise of quant-driven hedge funds is really just a part of the evolutionary shift that is taking place on Wall Street that en
