One of the big ideas on the web lately has been this idea that there is "wisdom" in the collective actions or decisions of groups of people. This is the so-called "wisdom of crowds".
Well I cannot speak for the Internet, but flying back from the holidays and spending time in the airport shows me that there is very little wisdom of any kind in crowds. In fact, crowds are rather short on common sense, courtesy and patience. Instead you get people walking around with phones surgically attached to their heads, acting as if they are the center of the universe and making decisions that inconvenience everyone else.
You see this in the rush to get on the plane, the rush to get off the plan, and the totally inefficient way people herd around the baggage claim conveyers, effectively keeping anyone else from seeing, let alone getting, their baggage. And you see it in the way people drive everyday.
Wisdom of crowds? Humph.
