6 June

Artificial intelligence is famous, but much more interesting I think is the research in the past couple of decades on collective intelligence. Can groups or even crowds, think? There’s a lot of prejudice against crowds, in fact the word crowd (or mob) is often used as a way to say something is stupid. It turns out crowds or groups are smarter than individuals. They really do think. It’s a mysterious process at first glance, often people refuse to believe it. But it’s real. Every time you use Google, you’re using collective intelligence. Google search works so well because it’s the crowd thinking, not an individual, and not an ‘artificially intelligent’ machine either. Kids who get in trouble for using Google and not ‘actual references’ are being taught badly.