Tuesday, May 24, 2005
james surowiecki's "the wisdom of crowds" - 6/10. sometimes its better to follow the crowd. js analyzes how crowds can be smart and how crowds can be dumb. for instance, in cognition problems his studies show that the average wisdom of a group will be better than the smartest people in the group most of the time. this is the simplistic summary, there are conditions that must be met for this to be the case. he also spends a lot of time discussing the stock market - how stock prices normally represent collective wisdom and how bubbles are formed. in other types of problems - cooperation, and coordination -crowds can behave in unexpected ways.
one interesting point js brings up is how uninformed the average american is about national issues. how can the crowds that participate in democratic elections be wise if they are so uninformed about policy? answer - politics is a division of labour. politicans learn the issues and try to make group decisions based on them. the average american can remain uninformed on social and fiscal policy and use their brian power [sic] in more productive ways.
one interesting point js brings up is how uninformed the average american is about national issues. how can the crowds that participate in democratic elections be wise if they are so uninformed about policy? answer - politics is a division of labour. politicans learn the issues and try to make group decisions based on them. the average american can remain uninformed on social and fiscal policy and use their brian power [sic] in more productive ways.
# posted by epn : 12:36 PM
