Individuals do not act the same when they are in a crowd. Crowds can be mad or wise. This book sets the conditions to make a crowd wise. A solution from a wise crowd might not be the best compared to a few individuals within it, but it will generate some of the best answers most of the time. The conditions for a wise crowd are to make the individuals within it diverse, independent, decentralized, and have an aggregation method. Diversity enables thinking about different alternative solutions. Independent ensures people use their ideas rather than reusing others. Decentralized understanding means that people use their specialized local knowledge. An aggregation method facilitates people to come together to share their information. Knowledge is not concentrated in individuals. It is dispersed in a crowd with everyone knowing something.

A group does not depend on the smartest people or require everyone to be experts. Limited understanding to a problem does mean that the collective solution will be limited. A wise group does need people who know about the topic, and use their views on the topic to make a decision. Wise groups talk and learn from members, but too much talking and learning from each other would cause them to be less independent. Disagreement and contest produce better collective decisions than consensus or compromise. Individual independence in a group makes the group wiser as they will keep their diverse ideas creating different alternatives. Errors do not correlate in a group of independent individuals. Homogenous groups have a reduced capacity to come up with alternatives.

There are three problems with which collective intelligence can facilitate solutions which are cognitive, coordination, and cooperation. Cognitive problems lack definite answers, but there is a quality to the answers. Coordination problems are those in which everyone is trying to engage with everyone’s behavior knowing that everyone else is doing the same. Cooperation problems are those in which groups obtain a reward but no individual wants to carry the costs.

In a very eloquent prose, the author describes what makes crowds wise or mad. The complexity of the argument is provided using various fields, perspectives, and examples. The problem with this book is that the book is mainly examples after examples without discussing within them their connection to the core arguments of how to make a crowd wise. Sometimes, the examples which appear to be an example of a wise crowd, requires credulousness from the reader. There are some characterizations of crowds that the author dismisses, but the lack of explanation for their dismissal leaves a misunderstanding. ( )

This struck me as pop management insights: a casual hypothesis with patchy evidence. The examples provided seem cherry-picked, and there is little effort to provide counter-examples or opposing claims. The central idea is worthy of a paper, but the book-length treatment does not build a compelling argument worthy of more than a brief mention in a business studies class. ( )

Not fantastic writing, but very very interesting ideas. Put a bunch of ppl together, if each one has a >50% chance of guessing right on something, the change of the group guessing right approaches 100% ( )

Large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant—better at solving problems, encouraging innovation, making wise decisions, and even predicting the future—as explored in this fascinating book by New Yorker business columnist James Surowiecki. ( )

Das amerikanische TIME Magazin hat zur Person des Jahres 2006 uns alle gewählt, wir alle, die im Internet unterwegs sind und beginnen, eine neue, demokratische partizipative Zeit zu leben & zu arbeiten. Dabei erklärt das TIME Magazin in den einleitenden Sätzen (googlen Sie nach "Time Person of the year"), dass die Geschichte der Menschheit bislang eine (nach Thomas Carlyle) Geschichte großer Männer war.

Mir war das nicht bewusst, aber ich erlebe es täglich im Netz. Was in mir bei diesen Netzarbeiten täglich wächst, ist die Demut. Denn andere wissen vieles besser als ich. Und ich kann zuhören und wir gemeinsam daraus lernen. Und alle Menschen haben eine angeborene Neigung zur Hilfe! Es gibt wohl nichts Schöneres, als anderen etwas beizubringen. Das Netz ist voller wunderbarer Lehrer!

Arno Schmidt sagte in den 50ern wie schön es wäre, wenn sich alle Gehirne der Menschen vernetzen könnten. Sein Traum ist heute Realität. Die wahre Befreiungskraft und demokratische Teilhabe eröffnet die vernetzte Weisheit der Vielen, die im Internet unterwegs sind. Die sich endlich nicht mehr ein X für ein U vormachen lassen.

Die TIME hat übrigens seit 2007 ein neues Redaktionskonzept, in dem teilnehmende Blogger zu Journalisten aufrücken. Die Weisheit der Vielen hat also schon Einzug gehalten in klassischen Institutionen. Ihre Kraft steht erst am Anfang. Dieses Buch sehe ich als Pflichtlektüre für alle, die sich mit dem Internet ernsthaft & positiv auseinandersetzen wollen. Das heißt natürlich nicht, dass man die möglichen negativen Effekte nicht sieht.

2007