http://andler.dec.ens.fr/pdf/CollWisdom.108.prefinal.pdf - 0 views
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lauraart7 on 02 Jun 17The paper is organized as follows. It starts with a brief clarification of the target phenomenon: wisdom of crowds, in Surowiecki's book, covers a wide variety of phenomena which cannot be encompassed within a single approach, and I will spell out where my focus lies, viz. in the 'mindless' processes of aggregation of individual cognitive competences which tend to result in cognitive progress. I will then propose a contrastive characterization of rationality, intelligence and wisdom, as they apply to individuals. Next I will examine the possibility of extending these terms to collective entities or processes (leaving rationality to the side, for reasons which will become clear) and ask to what extent wisdom of crowds can be regarded as a form or realization of collective intelligence and/or collective wisdom. The answer will turn out to depend on which variety of collective processes one is considering: wisdom of crowds in the sense which is central to Surowiecki's argument will qualify as collective intelligence, not as collective wisdom. I will argue, on the other hand, that there exists a more familiar kind of collective process which does meet the requirements on a reasonable extension of the concept of wisdom to the collective level, but is at best distantly related to what Surowiecki reports on and commends.