Most people recognise that the global financial markets have become too complex for us to control, which is why bear markets sneak up on us so unexpectedly. Now, thanks to social media, public conversation has become a similarly complex system that has escaped our control. The result of this exponentially more connected conversation is that thoughts and ideas can no longer be controlled by the people in power. This is one of the reasons why Brexit and Trump came as such a surprise. They are both the result of an unexpected bear market of political ideas.