“In ancient times, having power meant having access to information. Today, having power means knowing what to ignore.”
Kevin here....
This is a fascinating article by Yuval Noah Harari the author of Sapiens: A Brief HIstory of Mankind (highly recommended, BTW). Harari states:
We are the only mammals that can cooperate with numerous strangers because only we can invent fictional stories, spread them around, and convince millions of others to believe in them. As long as everybody believes in the same fictions, we all obey the same laws, and can thereby cooperate effectively.
While this has many applications, I encounter this in my field every day. Money and investments are faith-based objects; they're only as real as the human belief in it.
With an abundance of information, I find my role is to help my clients figure out what information to ignore, avoid panic, and stay humble.