The human brain evolved to find acceptable mates in small groups. Our evening entertainment after a long day of hunting and gathering was to sit around a campfire, tell stories,and dance to demonstrate to the opposite sex we had viable genetic material. Nowadays, almost everyone on our planet has their own portable campfire in their pocket with more entertainment than AT&T's ad team in the 90's could dream up. One thing that hasn't changed since the beginning of recorded history is that there was always a class of people claiming'special' knowledge. Soothsayers, prophets, rabbis, priests, mullahs. They all trafficked in the most precious commodity in the world: trust. Many were tuned into a level beyond their peers. Some were simply charlatans taking advantage of others. Bitcoin seems to be one of the latest manifestations of this.