4 ms·

You don't believe in the "wisdom of the crowds" ?

• AnimalMuppet 5y ago
  Here is a set of people. On a given subject, the median position is likely to be at least reasonable. That's the "wisdom of the crowds". Here is a set of experts. Within the area of their expertise, the median position is probably pretty close to right. The intersection of their views are almost certainly right (though it may be the empty set). But what you can't do is take the union of the views of a set of people, and expect anything except a bizarre jumble of self-contradiction. And that's what the media gives us. (In fact, the media gives us the union, with extra emphasis added to the outliers, because those are "more interesting" and therefore attract more eyeballs.) Wisdom of the crowds? Maybe. Wisdom of the media coverage of the crowds? No way.
  • deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  • musingsole 5y ago
    Union vs. intersection vs. outlier weighting is a beautiful way to put this.