The Financial Pipeline hit a major milestone in 2016, marking 20 years of providing timely and helpful financial stories to help “the rest of us” cut through the clutter. Bob Swan, a vice president at Canso Investment Counsel, was one of the original contributors to the site. He told Financial Pipeline co-editor Malcolm Morrison that technology has resulted in big changes in how people digest information – but he’s not sure if they’re all positive.
BS: Well I think you kind of have to think of the difference between technology and data. The ability to manage the data and manipulate it has of course expanded exponentially and the amount of data has expanded. But it’s not clear that all of that data has actually translated itself into insight. I suppose some people might even think that it’s translated into more opaque windows that separate the people that need the information from the people who created it.
MM: Is there such a thing as people having too much information? I mean, my God, by just the click of a mouse the information you get these days is absolutely staggering, but it’s not necessarily more helpful…now is it?
BS: It certainly doesn’t seem to be. We might be at quite an important turning point if interest rates do start to rise in the next little while. We may start to find out where the emperors clothes actually are.