Well, think again.

What if I told you that the world is run by 7 or maybe 9 men? Crazee, you say, impossible others mutter – that guy is a nutter.

Really, well, maybe not.

Chew on this:

http://www.realstreet.co.uk/2012/07/amazing-diagram-shows-who-really-runs-the-world/

At the top of the list of those who run the world, we have the major international banking houses, which control the global central banking system. From there, these dynastic banking families created an international network of think tanks, which socialised the ruling elites of each nation and the international community as a whole, into a cohesive transnational elite class. The foundations they established helped shape civil society both nationally and internationally, playing a major part in the funding – and thus coordinating and co-opting – of major social-political movements.

And this is where it gets really strange…

Purported oldest secret society in the world

The world’s oldest secret society…NUM.
The society is named as the NINE UNKNOWN MEN.

(Some claim it is a council of seven rather than nine (like me) – the point is that it is claimed that the number of individuals controlling many aspects of our lives is very small indeed.

It is possible to entertain such a small number because of the pyramidal and compartmentalized structure of general society and the secret societies.)

It was founded by Ashoka the great, the Indian ruler who converted to Buddhism after the Kalinga war.

The ruler felt that to maintain peace, the technology should be kept hidden from the evil men, so he formed a council of this NINE scholars of his court (navaratnas) and gave them this responsibility of performing high researches and keeping it underground until unless required to save humanity from extinction. Some versions of the story include an additional motivation for the Emperor to conceal scientific knowledge: remnants of the Rama Empire, an Indian version of Atlantis, which according to Hindu scripture was destroyed by advanced weaponry 15000 years ago.

Theories have also begun to surface claiming that Rama and Atlantis might have had war using nuclear technology, and destroyed each other.

Among conspiracy theorists the Nine Unknown is often cited as one of the oldest and most powerful secret societies in the world. Unusually for the conspiracy subculture, the image of the group is largely though not entirely benign. Theosophists also believe the Nine to be a real organization that is working for the good of the world.
Nine men are believed to have great powers, they are ascended masters and generally have no contact with the outer world. But there are few instances where they seemed to had contact with some of the humans like the one of pope Sylvester II also known as Gerbert d’Aurillac.

Each of the Nine is supposedly responsible for guarding and improving a single book. These books each deal with a different branch of potentially hazardous knowledge. Traditionally, the books are said to cover the following subjects:

1. Propaganda and Psychological warfare.
2. Physiology, including instructions on how to perform the “touch of death.” One account has Judo being a product of material leaked from this book.
3. Microbiology, and, according to more recent speculation, Biotechnology. In some versions of the myth, the waters of the Ganges are purified with special microbes designed by the Nine and released into the river at a secret base in the Himalayas. Multitudes of pilgrims, suffering from the most appalling diseases, bathe in them without harming the healthy ones. The sacred waters purify everything. Their strange properties have been attributed to the fact that they contain bacteriophages.
4. Alchemy, including the transmutation of metals. In India, there is a persistent rumor that during times of drought or other natural disasters temples and religious organizations receive large quantities of gold from an unknown source. The mystery is further deepened with the fact that the sheer quantity of gold throughout the country in temples and with kings cannot be properly accounted for, seeing that India has only ever had one gold mine.
5. Communication, including communication with extraterrestrials.
6. Gravitation. Book 6 is said to contain the instructions necessary to build a Vimana, sometimes referred to as the “ancient UFOs of India.”
7. Cosmology
8. Light
9. Sociology, including rules concerning the evolution of societies and how to predict their downfall

Source:

http://troolyunbelievable.blogspot.com.au/2007/07/oldest-secret-society-on-earth.html

Personally, I believe there are seven people (?) at the top of the hierarchy but that’s just nitpicking…