Collective wisdom
Encyclopedia
Collective wisdom, also called group wisdom and co-intelligence is shared knowledge arrived at by individuals and groups.
Collective intelligence
, which is sometimes used synonymously with collective wisdom, is more of a shared decision process than collective wisdom. Unlike collective wisdom, collective intelligence it is not uniquely human, and has been associated with animal and plant life. Collective intelligence is basically consensus-driven decision making, whereas collective wisdom is not necessarily focused on the decision process. Collective wisdom is a more amorphous phenomenon which can be characterized by collective learning over time.
, The Bible, The Koran, the works of Plato
, Confucius
and Buddha
, Bhagavad Gita
, and the many myths and legends from all cultures. Drawing from the idea of universal truth, the point of collective wisdom is to make life easier/more enjoyable through understanding human behavior, whereas the point of collective intelligence is to make life easier/more enjoyable through the application of acquired knowledge. While collective intelligence may be said to have more mathematical and scientific bases, collective wisdom also accounts for the spiritual realm of human behaviors and consciousness.
Thomas Jefferson
referred to the concept of collective wisdom when he made his statement, "A Nation's best defense is an educated citizenry." And in effect, the ideal of a democracy is that government functions best when everyone participates.
British philosopher Thomas Hobbes
uses his Leviathan
to illustrate how mankind’s collective consciousness
grows to create collective wisdom. Émile Durkheim
argues in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912) that society by definition constitutes a higher intelligence because it transcends the individual over space and time, thereby achieving collective wisdom. 19th century Prussian physicist Gustav Fechner
argued for a collective consciousness of mankind, and cited Durkheim as the most credible scholar in the field of "collective consciousness." Fechner also referred to the work of Jesuit Priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, whose concept of the noosphere
was a precursor to the term collective intelligence.
H.G. Wells's concept of "world brain
," as described in his book of essays with the same title, has more recently been examined in depth by Pierre Lévy in his book, The Universe-Machine: Creation, Cognition and Computer Culture.
Howard Bloom
’s treatise The Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century examines similarities in organizational patterns in nature, human brain function, society, and the cosmos. He also posits the theory that group selection directs evolutionary change through collective information processing. Alexander Flor
related the world brain concept with current developments in global knowledge networking spawned by new information and communication technologies in an online paper, A Global Knowledge Network(2001). He also discussed the collective mind within the context of social movements in Asia in a book Communication Praxis (2007).
Dave Pollard’s restatement of Collective wisdom:
"Many cognitive, coordination and cooperation problems are best solved by canvassing groups (the larger the better) of reasonably informed, unbiased, engaged people. The group's answer is almost invariably much better than any individual expert's answer, even better than the best answer of the experts in the group."
Collective intelligence
Collective intelligence
Collective intelligence is a shared or group intelligence that emerges from the collaboration and competition of many individuals and appears in consensus decision making in bacteria, animals, humans and computer networks....
, which is sometimes used synonymously with collective wisdom, is more of a shared decision process than collective wisdom. Unlike collective wisdom, collective intelligence it is not uniquely human, and has been associated with animal and plant life. Collective intelligence is basically consensus-driven decision making, whereas collective wisdom is not necessarily focused on the decision process. Collective wisdom is a more amorphous phenomenon which can be characterized by collective learning over time.
History
Collective wisdom, which may be said to have a more distinctly human quality than collective intelligence, is contained in such early works as The TorahTorah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
, The Bible, The Koran, the works of Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
, Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
and Buddha
Gautama Buddha
Siddhārtha Gautama was a spiritual teacher from the Indian subcontinent, on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. In most Buddhist traditions, he is regarded as the Supreme Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama (Sanskrit: सिद्धार्थ गौतम; Pali: Siddhattha Gotama) was a spiritual teacher from the Indian...
, Bhagavad Gita
Bhagavad Gita
The ' , also more simply known as Gita, is a 700-verse Hindu scripture that is part of the ancient Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata, but is frequently treated as a freestanding text, and in particular, as an Upanishad in its own right, one of the several books that constitute general Vedic tradition...
, and the many myths and legends from all cultures. Drawing from the idea of universal truth, the point of collective wisdom is to make life easier/more enjoyable through understanding human behavior, whereas the point of collective intelligence is to make life easier/more enjoyable through the application of acquired knowledge. While collective intelligence may be said to have more mathematical and scientific bases, collective wisdom also accounts for the spiritual realm of human behaviors and consciousness.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
referred to the concept of collective wisdom when he made his statement, "A Nation's best defense is an educated citizenry." And in effect, the ideal of a democracy is that government functions best when everyone participates.
British philosopher Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy...
uses his Leviathan
Leviathan
Leviathan , is a sea monster referred to in the Bible. In Demonology, Leviathan is one of the seven princes of Hell and its gatekeeper . The word has become synonymous with any large sea monster or creature...
to illustrate how mankind’s collective consciousness
Collective consciousness
Collective consciousness was a term coined by the French sociologist Émile Durkheim to refer to the shared beliefs and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society...
grows to create collective wisdom. Émile Durkheim
Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim was a French sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology.Much of Durkheim's work was concerned with how societies could maintain...
argues in The Elementary Forms of Religious Life (1912) that society by definition constitutes a higher intelligence because it transcends the individual over space and time, thereby achieving collective wisdom. 19th century Prussian physicist Gustav Fechner
Gustav Fechner
Gustav Theodor Fechner , was a German experimental psychologist. An early pioneer in experimental psychology and founder of psychophysics, he inspired many 20th century scientists and philosophers...
argued for a collective consciousness of mankind, and cited Durkheim as the most credible scholar in the field of "collective consciousness." Fechner also referred to the work of Jesuit Priest Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, whose concept of the noosphere
Noosphere
Noosphere , according to the thought of Vladimir Vernadsky and Teilhard de Chardin, denotes the "sphere of human thought". The word is derived from the Greek νοῦς + σφαῖρα , in lexical analogy to "atmosphere" and "biosphere". Introduced by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 1922 in his Cosmogenesis"...
was a precursor to the term collective intelligence.
H.G. Wells's concept of "world brain
World Brain
World Brain is a collection of essays and addresses the English science fiction pioneer, social reformer, evolutionary biologist and historian H. G. Wells written during the period 1936-38...
," as described in his book of essays with the same title, has more recently been examined in depth by Pierre Lévy in his book, The Universe-Machine: Creation, Cognition and Computer Culture.
Howard Bloom
Howard Bloom
Howard Bloom is an American author. He was a publicist in the 1970s and 1980s for singers and bands such as Prince, Billy Joel, and Styx. In 1988 he became disabled with chronic fatigue syndrome...
’s treatise The Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century examines similarities in organizational patterns in nature, human brain function, society, and the cosmos. He also posits the theory that group selection directs evolutionary change through collective information processing. Alexander Flor
Alexander Flor
Alexander G. Flor is a Filipino academic known for his transdisciplinary approach to communication and as a pioneer of the Los Baños school of development communication, contributing to the field's understanding and application of ethnovideography, distance learning, strategic communication,...
related the world brain concept with current developments in global knowledge networking spawned by new information and communication technologies in an online paper, A Global Knowledge Network(2001). He also discussed the collective mind within the context of social movements in Asia in a book Communication Praxis (2007).
Dave Pollard’s restatement of Collective wisdom:
"Many cognitive, coordination and cooperation problems are best solved by canvassing groups (the larger the better) of reasonably informed, unbiased, engaged people. The group's answer is almost invariably much better than any individual expert's answer, even better than the best answer of the experts in the group."
See also
- Co-intelligence
- Predictive market
- Group intelligenceGroup intelligenceGroup intelligence refers to a process by which large numbers of people simultaneously converge upon the same point of knowledge.Social psychologists study group intelligence and related topics such as decentralized decision making and group wisdom, using demographic information to study the...
- Information cascade
- Herd instinct
- Herd mentalityHerd mentalityHerd mentality describes how people are influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviors, follow trends, and/or purchase items. Examples of the herd mentality include stock market trends, fashions in apparel, cars, taste in music, home décor, etc...
- GroupthinkGroupthinkGroupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within groups of people. It is the mode of thinking that happens when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without...
- Crowd psychologyCrowd psychologyCrowd psychology is a branch of social psychology. Ordinary people can typically gain direct power by acting collectively. Historically, because large groups of people have been able to bring about dramatic and sudden social change in a manner that bypasses established due process, they have also...
- Delphi methodDelphi methodThe Delphi method is a structured communication technique, originally developed as a systematic, interactive forecasting method which relies on a panel of experts.In the standard version, the experts answer questionnaires in two or more rounds...
- The Wisdom of CrowdsThe Wisdom of CrowdsThe Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations, published in 2004, is a book written by James Surowiecki about the aggregation of information in groups, resulting in decisions that, he argues, are often better...