Digital Maoism and GroupThink

In Jaron Lanier’s article Digital Maoism, Lanier discusses the resurgence of the idea “the collective is all wise.” His problem lies not with what Wikipedia is, but the way that is has come to be regarded and used, and how it’s been elevated to such importance so quickly. Lanier points out that collectives can be stupid, as stupid as any individual and in important cases even stupider. This argument reminded me of the concept of ‘groupthink’ from political science and psychology classes I took in undergrad where groups reinforce each others bad ideas (or defined on Wikipedia as a phenomenon where group members agree to pursue goals with which the individual members do not agree and that individuals sometimes produce better solutions to certain problems than groups of those same individuals). I was left feeling cynical after this weeks readings, but I was uplifted by Lanier’s argument that both kinds of intelligence – collective and individual – are essential, so I personally think that it's balance that's key.