The ignorance of crowds is a problem for any approach which tries to use the wisdom of crowds. But there appears to be a way around it – maybe.

Originally shared by Jennifer Ouellette

” instead of trying to figure out what’s right based on the most popular answer, a study led by Prelec and published in Nature on Jan. 25 suggests that a better formula for finding a correct answer in a crowd is to give weight to “surprisingly popular” responses to questions. The idea is that this alternative algorithm would account for the probability that there are some outliers in the crowd who know more than most. This way, mathematical methods start to approach how people seriously solve problems: by seeking out the rare few who are knowledgeable on a topic.” https://qz.com/895735/mit-economists-designed-an-algorithm-to-combat-groupthink/