“Mimetic Desire (think ‘mime’ or ‘mimicking’) is a theory by René Gerard that shines light on why we desire what we desire. In Gerard’s own words:

"Man is the creature who does not know what to desire, and he turns to others in order to make up his mind. We desire what others desire because we imitate their desires."

This also applies to how we (or the markets) derive value and why popular ideas (or trends) are so alluring.”

https://alexpacheco.substack.com/p/solving-the-signal-to-noise-ratio-problem