Re: Group Think - Wisdom of the Group
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com)
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2011 10:56:04 -0700 (PDT)
On 5 Jul 2011, at 11:59 AM, Norman Gauss wrote:

> There is a book out that focuses on Wisdom of the Group.  Does the group
> have wisdom that individuals do not have?

Only if the group is varied - if it includes people with different styles of 
analysis, a variety of knowledge bases, etc. Otherwise 10 people would only 
have as much knowledge as one person.

There is nothing inherent in a group that makes it wise, or ignorant.

I was talking with a friend who is a mathematician specializing in systems 
analysis about the Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki. He said the majority, 
the crowd, can only be right if it includes people who have the most knowledge 
about a topic and that person shares their knowledge. On any given issue, the 
majority of people often could care less. Thus those who do care only need to 
persuade those people who don't care to vote with them. So the majority is not 
deciding the issue — they are siding with one authority or the other.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org





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