The wisdom of crowds
July 8, 2008
I met a man at interesting2008 that is interested in the wisdom of crowds. I’m definitely interested in collective intelligence, especially when it comes to web stuff. This is why I love ffffound. I love how there is no communication between the users yet everyone maintains a similar standard for their posts. Here’s my ffffound to so you can judge whether I make the grade. I’ve blogged about it not suffering from tragedy of the commons before and it’s still remaining glorious eye-candy. Have a look if you’ve got 5 minutes. I’ve also got one invite if anyone wants one. I’ll judge on some arbitrary basis of merit (tea making, Dr Who nerdery perhaps) 
On the other end of the collective intelligence spectrum is the vicious hive mind of that cesspit of the internet /b/ (no link, you’ll have to find that particular perverse playground by yourself I’m afraid). This is perhaps collective stupidity but it’s a fine example of how all the individuals follow the rules and rarely deviate despite there being no leader given that everyone is anonymous.
I’m rambling now as I’m killing time waiting for my brilliant friend Max to arrive. I think I want to learn more about the wisdom of crowds. There seems to be a lot of books out there that I’ll probably get around to reading sometime.
Question though: if crowds are so wise then why do people keep on ploughing into the train carriage doors when you’re trying to get out? Is that because the hive mind think: too late loser, you should have packed up your knitting earlier to leave this train? Or because commuters are arses?
As my friend says: none of us is as mean as all of us.
More on this later. First I must drink.
