Collective Intelligence
From CasGroup
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Collective intelligence can be found in all animal groups. Among humans it has existed since the first humans appeared on earth. Tribes of hunter-gatherers, ancient cultures, modern nations, and large corporations all act collectively with varying degrees of intelligence. New communication technologies now have enabled new forms of collective intelligence. Today the internet allows a huge number of people all over the world to work together on a single project. Wikipedia is the best example for such a distributed collaboration. | Collective intelligence can be found in all animal groups. Among humans it has existed since the first humans appeared on earth. Tribes of hunter-gatherers, ancient cultures, modern nations, and large corporations all act collectively with varying degrees of intelligence. New communication technologies now have enabled new forms of collective intelligence. Today the internet allows a huge number of people all over the world to work together on a single project. Wikipedia is the best example for such a distributed collaboration. | ||
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| + | == Advantages of the Collective == | ||
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| + | === Increased vigilance and faster reaction === | ||
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| + | A collective can make faster and more accurate decisions through collective vigilance. A recent [http://www.pnas.org/content/108/6/2312.full paper in PNAS] shows that groups make faster and more accurate decisions the larger they are (presumably up to a limit). The primary reason is that larger groups have "more eyes" than smaller groups. As long as information transmission through groups is not significantly delayed, larger is better. | ||
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| + | === More resources and deeper knowledge === | ||
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| + | A large group has access to more information, more resources and deeper knowledge, especially if the diversity of the group is high and there are a large number of different experts in the group. Key factors for collective intelligence are diversity, independence, and decentralization. | ||
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| + | == Articles == | ||
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| + | * Ashley J.W. Ward et al., [http://www.pnas.org/content/108/6/2312.full Fast and accurate decisions through collective vigilance in fish shoals], PNAS Vol. 108 No. 6 (2011) 2312-2315, | ||
== Links == | == Links == | ||
