Good stuff here.The science of understanding complex systems built out of very simple pieces and how they develop. Things like bee and ant colonies, which contrary to my belief are not controlled by the queen. The queen is simply the reproductive mechanism they all work to enable. She does not direct them, nor does any other of the bees/ants. They're basically one interesting example of the whole being vastly more than the sum of the parts.
Your (and my) brain is another. Individual neurons do not carry parts of thoughts, but collectively they convey thoughts.
Once upon a time (and possibly still in some circles) the hoi polloi wanted to keep the rabble from breeding thinking they were unfit to advance human society. Turns out, if you ask a group of rabble to guess the weight of an ox at a fair, while no individual is likely to get the answer right, the average of all of their guesses is likely to be exactly correct. Why is that collective wisdom so much better than the sum of the parts?
Fascinating.
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And how does that related to mob mentality, which is almost certainly DUMBER than any of the individual parts.
A good question, though my take on mobs I think has been long documented.
Mobs are made up of 1% idiots, 19% cheerleaders, and 80% spectators amazed at the ridiculous actions of the other 20%.
My sister's experience with collective wisdom didn't go as well.
No news to any of us who used to dread being assigned to a group project in school - knowing that other, less diligent members of the group would hitch a ride to the bumper of our labor & achievements.
The mob is made up mostly of lemings. Once the leaders go over the cliff, the other, as Meth mentioned, are subject to the same fate because of their struck dumbness.
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