Daily Archives: August 11, 2004

2 posts

The Wisdom of Crowds and the INFORMATION CASCADE

On the way back from Michigan last week I listened to the New Yorker’s James Surowiecki’s book The Wisdom of Crowds which Steven mentioned a few weeks ago. It was incredibly interesting and the four hour drive flew by. Surowiecki gathers research from various disciplines concerning the idea that the wisdom of many is usually spot on — better in fact than the wisdom of say one or two geniuses. Take a look at this for more: http://reason.com/links/links062804.shtml An example: folks try plank roads in the 1800s… they seem ok and EVERYONE starts praising plank roads. “Plank roads will change […]