... Until a computer system can duplicate the talents of an expert discretionary trader then pure mechanical trading wont replace people, hence the art form analogy. I think that these days the combination of automated, semi-automated, and some discretionary level of decision making is the typical mix for most traders .....
I don't think this is necessarily so, at least that statement assumes one trades in a manner that can be measured with statistics. An edge can go so far the other way as to be considered "anti-statistical", that is, to assume what has worked in the past (edit: within the markets, as opposed to one's own results) will not work in the future and profiting from that.
And what is funny is, most of these people that have no clue about what a real edge is, their money ends up in RenTec, Citadel, DEShaw, Two Sigma, SAC Investment, or a few other high tech trading firms pocket nitro
Absolutely, unconditionally true. However, that leaves much to be desired for those that have never seen it. nitro
It just does not answer the original question, the person who started the thread was looking for examples, not simplistic and obvious definitions.