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Chapter 5
Harnessing the Power
of the Crowd
I would suggest that collective intelligence be taken seriously as a scientic and
societal goal, and that the Internet is our best shot at seeing it happen in our
lifetimes.
TOM GRUBER
(2008, 2)
It’s a mistake to romanticize all this more than is strictly necessary. Web 2.0 harnesses
the stupidity of crowds as well as its wisdom.
LEV GROSSMAN
Writing for Time Magazine (2006, Webpage)
In his bestselling business book of 2004, New Yorker magazine columnist, James
Surowiecki, begins by taking the reader to an English country fair at the turn of the
twentieth century. e scientist Francis Galton is wande ...