[FoRK] Practicing Science: No Ideology, No False Agenda?

[Dr. Ernie Prabhakar]

Hi J.,

On Jan 9, 2008, at 12:43 PM, J. Andrew Rogers wrote:
> I have noticed that on too many occasions that the "wisdom of  
> crowds" is not wise, and that not everyone nominally participating  
> in the "marketplace of ideas" is carrying currency.

Of course.  In fact, the book of that name makes a point of studying  
such failure modes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wisdom_of_Crowds#Failures_of_crowd_intelligence

Heck, I'll go further -- most of the "religious evil" problems Jeff is  
fond of complaining about can be traced directly to Surowiecki's list  
of failures:

* homogeneity
* centralization
* divisions
* imitation
* emotionality

-- Ernie P.