So the "wisdom of the crowd" turns out to work best when it's not allowed to be a crowd. Taking independent votes from non-communicating individuals is in line

So the "wisdom of the crowd" turns out to work best when it's not allowed to be a crowd. Taking independent votes from non-communicating individuals is in line with Surowiecki's original example (estimating the weight of an ox), but far from the common understanding of a "crowd" [1] or from Reddit's core mechanisms. These latter are more about emotional involvement and early consensus (both of which seem to be harmful for the accuracy of conclusions). Infrastructure operating close to Surowiecki's specifications does exist: Mechanical Turk. I'm surprised he's not mentioning it. After some initial hype, its actual uses have turned out to be far less glamorous and revolutionary than originally hoped for. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd#Terminology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd#Terminology