More Wisdom...

I guess I'm kind of over this book, because I can't think of anything else interesting to write about it. I think I waited too long after finishing it to get back online. Anyway, you should all read Rahul's comment to the previous post. He makes a lot of good comments about how crowds get hijacked - something I wish Surowiecki did a better job explaining how to avoid.

Nonetheless, here are a couple more comments/recaps that I missed last time around:
*The "four conditions that characterize wise crowds" are: diversity of opinion, independence, decentralization, and aggregation (p 10). When these are missing, you end up with stock bubbles, sheep-like crowds okaying a war in Iraq, etc.
*Football teams should practically always go for it on 4th down instead of punting. Coaches don't make that call b/c of both tradition and aversion to risk. (Also a factor, I think, Monday-morning quarterbacks)
*Surowiecki notes that the sciences are more collaborative than the humanities. It's an intriguing point, and I think would certainly disturb many of my former colleagues and professors. But his main evidence is the fact that many papers in the sciences have tons of co-authors and there's an emphasis on getting information out. I think the humanities collaborate in a different way - certainly I think that the concept of a "crowd" of scholars eventually reaching a wise conclusion isn't as prevalent.

I guess that's about it. I reiterate my earlier point about how much I like Surowiecki. He's a great writer. Two things I take away from the book: 1 - keep reading his columns in the New Yorker and anywhere I can find them; and 2 (the real one) - aim to pose the unpopular opinion from time to time instead of going along with the group. Value debate over consensus - at least sometimes - and get as diverse a group as possible to maximize the group's ability to make a wise decision. All obvious, but it's easy to forget them.