> Now suppose everybody has access to the same data, and voilà!, your power just vanished I disagree completely. People are far easier to convince or manipulat

> Now suppose everybody has access to the same data, and voilà!, your power just vanished I disagree completely. People are far easier to convince or manipulate if you know just a few things about them. For someone trained in appealing to people/making arguments, it'd be all about dropping in the right words and making the right suggestions. Isn't that what we all do with advertising? It's why (some of) it works so well on Facebook. Everyone has access to the same targeting, some people understand better than others how to make their ads work.