NOVA: Wisdom of the Crowds

Ask enough people to estimate something, and the average of all their guesses will get you surprisingly close to the right answer.
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[sinistar99]

I heard a great metaphor for democracy once: Democracy is gang rape... 5 people say Yes, one says No... they ayes have it!

[no2religions]

"You don't hear much argument on the merits of democracy." Agreed. Not from me. "That millions of average people can together make a wise decision"... lol, if only! hehe

[createrainbowz]

ta

one love  :)

[cookeladoo]

More like Modern Intellectual "Managers" following the decisions of the people. Have you noticed how most independent poles predict the outcomes of elections within a few %. Well independent poles can be used to ascertain what the people think about certain issues. As far as I am concerned the "managers" should make sure that whatever the people "decided" in the pole, should be done or they will get the boot. No political agendas, just peoples decisions

[cookeladoo]

You are reading me wrong. Most people are indoctrinated into believing that if you are against "democracy" tghen you are for Communism, fascism or the likes. Frankly I believe that some countries have the technology to make people decide on issues rather than politicians...now that is what I call a real democracy. If you think your Democracy is great when you are stuck with one political party for the next 3-4 years just because they promised but not delivered...well good on you sucker.

[dougmath]

Your disdain of democracy is troubling. I suppose that we should have modern intellectual elites make our decisions for us. People consume information from a variety of sources. In the end, it is the intellectual diversity that serves democracy well.

[studiosound]

You guys are funny. If it floats then it's a witch!

All funny aside, yes elections are not the same as weighing a cow, obviously. Buuuut a crowd is a good way to get an overall median. That's all this segment is about and I agree.

It's not accurate to use what he found and use it for things like presidential elections where 49% are for one side and 50.2%, especially with predetermined biases. But! For general ideologies and such it tends to be accurate :)

[cookeladoo]

If the crowd were brought up using Kg rather than pounds, the answer will be screwed.

Democracy fails in the same way when people are fed bullshit all the time

[Argonaut22j]

"same thing with democracy"

What aspect of democracy? What issue? Electoral reform? Term limits? Specific laws? The Wisdom of the Crowds actually describes Economic issues as one area where the principle applies.

[trianglechoke7]

Also, "common folk" have first hand knowledge about how much things weigh and their relation to size. You wouldn't ask the masses a question about the outcome of an esoteric science experiment, it wouldn't work. Same thing with democracy - people are voting on things that they don't really have knowledge about.