“You have to be so smart to understand that.”

“I could never do that, I’m not smart enough.”

The greatest hoax of all-time is certain industries, professions or fields of work telling everyone else they’re not smart enough to do what they do. The greatest hoax is making certain professions or fields of work appear massive and unbreakable. Or making them look complex, hard to see through, or impossible to go over. This is what Wall Street does on a daily basis. It’s what tech firms do today.

“You work at Google? You must be so smart.”

I want to tell you a secret.

Literally everyone on planet Earth can learn to code just like the people at Google. It’s all on the Internet and it’s nearly all free. Sometimes it’s only about following documentation that’s already provided to you by a company or a forum. Or it’s who you follow on Twitter and the free instructional videos you find around the web.

“You work at that investment firm? You must be so smart.”

Anyone out there can learn about the investing world right now. It’s not about any specific school or upbringing. If there’s an internet connection, there’s opportunity. Some of the smartest investors I know have blogs entirely devoted to financial markets. They’re all free to read.

If you’re interested in something today, there’s nothing stopping you from learning about it tomorrow. The next great wave of human capitalism, in my opinion, will come from this profound understanding. It will change everything. It will happen slowly, and then it will simply be. At our finger tips we have access to any concept, equation, thought, or philosophy ever recorded. Yes, you might have to look at an ad for 30 seconds, but after that, welcome to your new line of study. I am definitely not the first person to say this, but it’s worth repeating.

The time it takes an average person to access any source of random information is at its lowest point. Think about that. It took Bobby the Roman four days to get a book on herbs when he was living in Ancient Rome. Joey from the Bronx gets that in four seconds.

The next great wave of achievement is the mass adoption of this realization. That everyone is capable. And that anyone can literally learn anything at a fraction of the cost compared to another point in time.

I can’t think of another moment when something of this magnitude was possible. I find myself thinking of Leonardo Da Vinci, the most well known polymath. He was refined in various domains of art, math, and science. His contributions alone sparked what we now know as a, “Renaissance Man.” But when you step back and realize what’s available to us right now, the massive amounts of information and knowledge online, a question is posed. Why is everyone not a Renaissance Man? Or maybe it looks a little different…

Today, there’s no reason or excuse to not have a strong understanding of anything you’re interested in. You can download a language app on your phone and for 30 minutes a night become proficient at that language. You can find how-to videos on everything. My best friend rode a motorcycle from Alaska to Argentina. He had never rode a motorcycle before. He learned watching and then training by way of YouTube videos.

The greatest hoax of all-time continues to be a wall that does not exist. I believe the last 100 years, while proficient and effective for society, were also some of the most secretive and deceptive. What I mean by that is the mystery, image, and perception of certain industries and titans were built on the back of being mysterious, secretive, and almost mythical.

That has all changed.

Today, the game is as flat and equal as ever, potentially more than ever.

I hope you enjoyed this, and I hope you use it to focus, learn, or appreciate a new field that you previously thought wasn’t possible for yourself. I’m still learning and taking in as much education as I can.

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