We’re in the business of making people smarter – giving them the information they need to make better decisions. The premise is certainly logical and borne out by the facts: the more and better information people have about something, the better their ability to plan and execute on specific goals related to that thing.

But sometimes, despite access to all the best information available, things still go horribly wrong.

Recently, it was revealed that a trader at JP Morgan Chase conducted a series of trades that resulted in billions of dollars in lost assets, leading to a much greater loss in company value (market cap). These trades involved, apparently, a type of credit default swap similar to those made famous in the 2008 economic meltdown. These types of derivatives are used to trade risk. Originally created in the commodities markets as a way of hedging exposure