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[JimH]

I'll move this later to the Cheap Thrills board, but I heard a program on NPR on Saturday that I've been thinking about ever since.

It was about something called "collective intelligence" and it used ants to illustrate the idea that a group is a lot smarter than any individual member.

I did a quick search just now and found this:
http://news.stanford.edu/pr/93/931115Arc3062.html

In one segment, there was an example of people guessing the weight of an ox, and the resulting average was closer to the truth than any individual guess.

I am reminded of a forum on the web site of an obscure company in the frozen tundra of the upper Midwest of the United States.

It also explains why I'm so often wrong, or at least not as smart as the forum.

[BartMan01]

In many ways it it true - but not always.  Ask a bunch of individuals the same question and you will frequently arrive at a correct consensus.  Ask the same group collectively, they are often way off base.

A quote from MIB that is more true than not:

A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago everybody knew the Earth was the center of the universe. Five hundred years ago, everybody knew the Earth was flat...

[TCube]

It was about something called "collective intelligence" and it used ants to illustrate the idea that a group is a lot smarter than any individual member.

Very interesting.
Overall it's not "collective intelligence" it's called "Compartmental Change Behavior".
So "Collective Intelligence" as you mentioned : this is to be translated into "Survival Collective Intelligence" [sorry to think but "ants" are not "intelligent". You've been misled by Stanford]
It's a bit silly, still it's related in a way. Try to watch this. Somewhat it's trying to compare animal to human behavior to achieve a "consensus" : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3CJ6COdyRo
It's all in the "tickling"  for the Locusts but impossible for Humans.
TC

[CountryBumkin]

It was about something called "collective intelligence" and it used ants to illustrate the idea that a group is a lot smarter than any individual member.

It also explains why I'm so often wrong, or at least not as smart as the forum.

Resistance is Futile

[Walt Whitman]

Andrew Carnegie, one of the wealthiest men of his era, is said to have brought together "Mastermind" groups (groups of like minded individuals with the same or similar goals) to discuss the most important topics regarding his business, and considered "Mastermind" groups a key component for success. He felt that the success achieved when using a "Mastermind" group to drive positive movement toward goals was very much out of proportion to that of a lone individual.

Seems like Carnegie was using the strength of "Collective Intelligence" over a century ago. And you can't argue with his success. Considering inflation, his wealth would approximately equal that of Bill Gates today. 

[KingSparta]

reminds me of "the borg"

[kstuart]

The books "The Peter Principle" and "Parkinson's Law: The Pursuit of Progress" (amongst others) explains why a group is a lot stupider than any individual member.

[John Gateley]

Random comments:

The Peter Principle has nothing to do with groups, it is about individuals who rise to the level of their incompetence.

YADB is crowd sourced intelligence, and I am amazed at how intelligent the crowd is.

If you think that groups are less intelligent than individuals, you have too high an estimate of yourself 

j