Crowds Are Stupid; Wisdom Is Solitary

Do you even get the feeling when you are online that in spite of Google's claims to order search results primarily according to quality, the good stuff is actually being concealed from you? If so, you will not be surprised to learn that unless you are running TOR and Tails, it is. Some critics of the way the web has been hijacked by a few technology corporations say as much as 96% of online content is inaccessible to Joe Ordinary and you (but not me, I had a long career in data networking; although I would not put the figure as high as 96% unless you use exclusively Google for search. 90% would probably be nearer.). 

A few years ago, tired of hearing that idiotic dictum of  Bill Gates (the man who made 'not fit for purpose' an acceptable quality rating,) and other Silicon valley mind manipulation artists about The Wisdom Of Crowds, I posted online an essay, Shakeaspeare's Proud Loner and The Widom Of Crowds to explore this wisdom of crowds phenomenon.
It's good to see more and more people are thinking on the same lines.  Even if this writer is discussing Democratic and Republican Party political philosophies, if you are patient enough to read the whole article (linked at the end of this extract) he comes to some interesting conclusions about groupthink, and how opinion is manipulated.

from Zero Hedge

Submitted by Robert Gore via StraightLineLogic.com,

Have you ever won or lost a political argument? Have you or an opponent ever said: “Your facts and logic are overpowering, I have to concede that you’re right.” It’s never happened, has it? It doesn’t happen because politics has little to do with facts and logic. It’s anchored in emotions that take root in infancy and are so deeply ingrained they are undoubtedly part of humanity’s evolutionary code. No bond is more enduring than that between parent and child, and none is more laden with psychological baggage. While political argument will always be a frustratingly fruitless endeavor, you can at least understand why this is so, and perhaps avoid wasting your time.

The first lesson infants learn, evolutionarily hardwired, is that mom provides. She supplies the physical basics, and psychological sustenance as well. She smiles and coos, delighted by almost everything her baby does. “Mom,” as in mom and the apple pies she cooks, has a sacred, unrivaled place in the human conscious and subconscious. Insulting someone’s mother is an invitation to a fight. Whether you realize or admit it or not, the person that bore, gave birth, and nurtured you through childhood has a outsize presence in your psyche.

“Branding” is a marketing buzzword, but one of some intellectual value in a field littered with useless emissions. If you’re trying to sell something, you want consumers to associate your product or service with a simple but psychologically powerful concept. Food companies and restaurant chains sell healthy and delicious, or tie eating into warm memories. Purveyors of athletic clothes and footwear link themselves with athletic excellence. The fat blob swilling beer on the couch gets winded going to the refrigerator, but wears Nike sweats. Cosmetic and fashion companies peddle hope to millions of women and men who will never look like the models who show off the merchandise. Insurance and home security companies sell fear.

Read all Crowds Are Stupid, Wisdom Is Solitary  >>





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