The wisdom of crowds is sometimes absent

Crowds have a rather special wisdom.

Surowiecki's book.

In fact the idea that crowds do have a cumulative knowledge that exceeds the individual prompted a staff writer at The New Yorker, James Surowiecki, to write a book about that very topic.

Writing in “The Wisdom of Crowds” Surowiecki explored how and why it is that many seem to instinctively know more than one.

In considering why it is the crowd is wise, he investigated many things and stripped the idea of its finery by reminding readers that on a busy footpath when hundreds are walking toward each other, collisions are almost unseen.

The crowd moving to a fro on the footpath, according to Surowiecki, instinctively avoid each other without uttering a word or making any sign.

That, he argues, is the wisdom of crowds at its most basic.

Democracy is the epitome of that wisdom to which will all unknowingly contribute, but despite the richness of that knowledge we do sometimes get it wrong.

An example of the demos failing to understand its fallibility can be seen in the outcome of the recent City of Greater Shepparton Council elections – 26 people offered themselves for one of seven positions and from that rich bounty we had the chance to assemble a group with the skills and vision to guide the city, but we didn’t.

The Goulburn Valley revolves around Greater Shepparton and so the city needs innovative leaders able to identify our strength and weaknesses, able to escape from the rigidity of repetitive behaviour and ease our communities into a new way of living; a process that will see us prosper primarily socially to give our communities an ecological and subsequently an economic advantage.

We live in world burdened by the idea that economic success is the key to social and environment matters when it is in fact a palatable life arises from exactly the opposite, for once we bring order to social and environmental matters, the economy falls into lockstep.

For too long economic concerns have driven council and although that maybe how it needs to be given the over-riding attitude of society, there comes a time when communities such as ours need to step back from the commercial rush of life and turn our attention to the broader wellbeing of people who live here.

A common, but ultimately destructive, business adage of “what gets measured, gets done” reflects the relatively simple activity of measuring monetary activity, when what we need is a council prepared to address the complex and difficult understand concepts of wellbeing, contentment and happiness.

The contemporary adversarial role of councilors needs to be collaborative, positive and friendly establishing a benchmark from which all other groups and individuals throughout the city would gauge and so adjust their contribution.