I don't have much patience for someone who critiques a book without reading it. Unless he happens to know the algorithm that defines human intuition and intel

I don't have much patience for someone who critiques a book without reading it. Unless he happens to know the algorithm that defines human intuition and intelligence, I don't think the "wisdom of crowds" is just another name for "the behavior of distributed algorithms." (That's after discounting marketing considerations.) The blogger says: "Naively lauding the alleged "wisdom of crowds" obscures the critical issue, which is the design of the distributed algorithm --- i.e., the social organization of the crowd. What are its mechanisms for passing information?..." Surowiecki believes there are some necessary conditions to have some wisdom from crowds: diversity, independence, and a particular kind of decentralization. He points out in the book that design of the crowd and their interaction is essential to wisdom of crowds. Yadda yadda. The blogger says: "Now, as I said, I have not read Surowiecki's book. It is entirely possible that I'm being utterly unfair to him based on the yammerings of others." Yes, you are being utterly unfair. No up arrow for you.