[fighterpilot]

You don't need to be able to discriminate well, you just need a small non-consensus signal that may not even be perceptible to humans.

But you're right to be sceptical. Hedge funds are largely a sales job. How can you convince gullible investors to overlook the terrible performance of your sector and invest in you anyways, and then take a large slice of the profits when you get lucky? Buzzwords and neat sounding strategies help.