We are living in a new Gilded Age—and, like then, the backlash is building

Over a long and industrious career, the investor George Soros developed a theory he calls reflexivity. The basic idea is that expectations don’t form in a vacuum. They are shaped, in part, by our perceptions of what other people believe. The more widely an idea is accepted, the more likely we are to accept it ourselves and that, in turn, reinforces the collective wisdom. 

If many believe that, say, the stock market will go up or that AI will create an economic boom, we’re more likely to believe it too.