crowds are dumb, crowds are not dumb..
alright, so what the fuck is it now?
“crowds” on the internet are a misconception. it is not even a group. its people alone behind a computer screen. maybe a friend who sits next to them.
but when you’re tapping the “wisdom of the crowd” on the web, you put together the brainpower of a lot of individual contributors. it is never a “crowd” per se that works together on something.
it is not a process of collaboration, but collecting information from individuals, and sometimes an individual takes something from an other individual and corrects it (because he/she is smarter, more educated, has better experience, etc.).
i think the term “crowd” fits only to gatherings of people, but then it becomes probably a mob. the lowest common denominator produces this thing called crowd identity and intelligence, and usually it does not take much for a very intelligent individual to behave very stupid in a (larger) group or crowd or mob. and i think this all has to do with communication.
intellectual debates and exchange can only happen between a few people. you have a discussion with a large audience maybe, but there are only 3 or 4 people on the stage talking. and the crowd does not interact, except for individuals asking questions.
then youve got mass gatherings where people address a big group of people with simple messages that the dumbest person ought to understand. very often this is not the case, but sometimes it is. still, it is not a dialogue, because a dialogue could not be handled.
the point i am making is: “crowd wisdom” is a misconception. there is no such thing. but i’m going to use it anyway, cause theres groups of people who don’t get it when i explain otherwise.