Joseph Reagle wrote:
I don't feel as if I need to defend Surowiecki,
and I don't understand your
point, but I think he's made a useful contribution as your own example
demonstrates.
I should point out that I like Surweicki's thesis just fine, it's just
that I'm not convinced that "swarm intelligence" is very helpful in
understanding how Wikipedia works -- in fact, it might be an impediment,
because it leads us away from thinking about how the community interacts
in a process of reasoned discourse.
But it's a very useful way of looking at the world in many cases.
--Jimbo