Under the right circumstances, groups are remarkably intelligent, and are often smarter than the smartest people in them.James Surowiecki
Diversity and independence are important because the best collective decisions are the product of disagreement and contest, not consensus or compromise.James Surowiecki
It's not that crowds, or the people of which they're made, are always right, but rather that they're often right.James Surowiecki
What we are only now beginning to fully realize is that in a world where knowledge is power, no one knows everything, everyone knows something, and what any one person knows is enhanced when connected with what others know.James Surowiecki
The best way for a group to be smart is for each person in it to think and act as independently as possible.James Surowiecki
A group’s decision-making skills depend heavily on a kind of internal friction, the contest and interplay of ideas.James Surowiecki
The intelligence of the group lies not in the group itself but in the connections among its members.James Surowiecki
With most things, the average is mediocrity. With decision-making, it's often excellence. You could say it's as if we've been programmed to be collectively smart.James Surowiecki
The more influence we exert on one another, the more alike our decisions become, the less value there is in our aggregation of our choices.James Surowiecki
There is no single right way to structure a marketplace or a democracy, but what’s clear is that however you organize them, their outcome will always be best if they incorporate the collective wisdom of all their participants.James Surowiecki