Collective intelligence is when a group of individuals work together towards a common goal, exhibiting more intellectual and problem-solving resources than smaller groups or individuals. Openly sharing thoughts and ideas, subject to criticism and modification, is key. The internet has advanced humanity’s capacity for collective intelligence.
Collective intelligence, also known as shared intelligence, is an emergent property of groups that occurs when many individuals, collaborative or competitive, work towards the same end. This form of “intelligence” is not necessarily restricted to humans – other organisms that live in groups, such as bacteria and ants, and even components of organisms, such as cells, exhibit emergent properties comparable to a collective intelligence or “mind of intelligence”. group”. Groups of sufficient size tend to overcome the tendency of small groups to try to minimize conflict by avoiding controversial activities or issues, even if they are important. Large groups are also much less affected by individual member biases than small groups. With these traits downplayed, a larger group working toward a common goal tends to exhibit far more intellectual and problem-solving resources than smaller groups or individuals.
There are several important characteristics that a group must possess for the emergent property of collective intelligence to be fully manifested. Group members should openly share their thoughts and ideas so that everyone can work with the same knowledge. These ideas, once shared, must be subject to criticism and modification by other group members, provided that these modifications and criticism are also shared. Furthermore, ideas should be examined on their own merits, not on the reputation of the individual proposing them. Collective intelligence manifests itself most strongly when a large group acts almost as a single “mind”, freely sharing information and synthesizing the collective’s body of knowledge.
Collective intelligence is a popular area of study in many fields such as neuroscience, psychology, business and computer science. Computer scientists often build models to determine how various properties, such as group intelligence, might emerge from complex systems. Collective intelligence is of particular practical interest in business, as group decision-making often drives innovation, business plans, marketing strategies, and other important elements. Researchers work to gain greater understanding of the conditions in which collective intelligence emerges for companies to produce an environment that promotes collective thinking and innovation.
Modern advances in communication have rapidly advanced humanity’s capacity for collective intelligence. The Internet, in particular, provides a forum for the wide dissemination, modification, and discussion of many facets of human knowledge. Individuals from all over the world with different backgrounds, areas of expertise, thought processes and cultural conditioning can collaborate on the same topics, minimizing the effects of individual and small group bias and promoting the emergence of a community “hive mind”. complex interactions of many individual minds.
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