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Minds over matter

ALEXANDER CHARTRES

Fund Manager

The power of consciousness in markets is neglected by mainstream economics. But the mind’s ability to shape reality is critical for investors. That’s doubly true today thanks to dual evolutionary leaps. First, proliferation of alien intelligence. Second, rapid changes in world order. These shifts are likely to widen the gap between reality and the market’s perception of it, creating historic opportunities and risks. Minds matter more than ever.

PART ONE

MIND VERSUS MATTER

WHAT IS THE MIND’S RELATIONSHIP WITH REALITY?

And how can investors exploit it? In last year’s Ruffer Review, I examined how differences between the two hemispheres of the human brain shape our perception of reality, encouraging us to treat the external world as mechanistic, predictable and manipulable with precision. The problem is, however, that reality is the opposite of mechanistic. That also holds for financial markets and economies. Both are complex adaptive systems which evolve continuously under the influence of conscious participants’ choices. This underpins markets’ eternal ability to surprise.