Alex Krupp wrote:
Good point. Looks like I was a bit overambitious in my initial email.
A little but I think your main point, stated more cautiously, was that the book is interesting and may relate to Wikipedia's development in some interesting ways.
Anyway, I didn't mean for my post to be offensive by putting words in the mouths of othhers, nor did I mean to imply that I believe all of what Surowiecki says is gospel truth. However, I did enjoy the book, I do think that it relates to Wikipedia (even though Jimbo disagrees), and it got me thinking more about the social dynamics of this project. On that basis I still recommend the book.
I should add that I also recommend the book, on the same basis.
I also recommend Friedrich Hayek's 1945 piece in the American Economic Review titled "The Use of Knowledge in Society". It has for a long time been a cornerstone of my way of thinking about the world, and it has significant relevance for my advocacy of openness and individual initiative in our work on Wikipedia.
"Which of these systems is likely to be more efficient depends mainly on the question under which of them we can expect that fuller use will be made of the existing knowledge. This, in turn, depends on whether we are more likely to succeeding putting at the disposal of a single central authority all the knowledge which ought to be used but which is initially dispersed among many different individuals, or in conveying to the individuals such additional knowledge as they need in order to enable them to dovetail their plans with those of others."
--Jimbo