The Wisdom Of Crowds

Preamble:- Being a Mac user, I found a clue in The Wisdom of Crowds (2004) where James Surowiecki suggests that large groups tend to make 'acceptable' decisions and that the view of a single member is effectively drowned and influenced by a 'collective wisdom' towards a single viewpoint, steered by those who cry the loudest, rather than those who think the smartest hence, not unlike the herd-mentality of the buffalo, the smartest in the group who decides to embrace a Mac, for example, is effectively steered away from his ‘enlightened’ decision by the mass who cries the loudest.

  

The commentary involves the 'collective wisdom’ of buyers of Windows-based personal computers from the perspective of a Mac user. 

The general science is that such buyers are a 'tolerating' bunch in that they willingly accept malware-ridden platforms. The Mac user would suggest they are not 'tolerating' anything, but doing quite well in an all-encompassing ‘religion’. The Windows user is the proverbial fundamentalist applying quirks of his doctrine to full effect and that his form and practice, deemed awkward and hilarious (to the Mac-user), appear quite normal to him. He is numbed into treating the issue of malware-breach as a 'sidebar' rather than an 'emergency'. Akin to a game of badminton where injury is treated as an ‘emergency’ the Windows user is the proverbial ‘thai kickboxer’ where injury or even death is another day in the office.

Analogy:- Two houses are on the market. Both models bear common features of a typical home, but one has a major flaw. Its foundation is not termite-treated. The other model is sound and comes with a termite-proof guarantee.

Question! Why do majority of home owners prefer the termite-ridden model over the one with a termite-proof guarantee?

Analogy:- You are handed keys to a car you purchased and the salesman reminds you that the vehicle is manufactured and sold without brakes. On behalf of the maker of the vehicle, he further insults your intelligence by reminding you that installing brakes is necessary to prevent crashes. He reminds you that the brand and level of brakes you install are your responsibility and not the duty of the maker.

While you absorb the insults and bizarre terms of purchase, you are aware of another brand of vehicle available on the market. You are aware that this particular car is also manufactured and sold without brakes but, despite the lack of brakes, the vehicle is designed to avoid crashes and the maker, like a good corporate citizen, accepts full responsibility in the event its intelligent design fails.

Question! Why do majority of car owners prefer the crash-prone model over the one that is crash-proof? You see my point! The hypothetical ‘preference’ for the termite-ridden home and crash-prone car is analogous to preference for a Windows-based computer.

It is well known that the integral bane of the Windows platform is its ability to attract malware. The existence of a billion-dollar spyware industry underscores this weakness and despite dominance of Windows of the IT media, this fact is too cold to ignore.

Akin to assuming responsibility for installing brakes in your car, Windows users are put in a shameful position of being forced to pay for security of malware-ridden platforms they purchased, when it ought to be the responsibility of the maker.

Question! Although the home user retains the power to choose his personal computer platform, why do 95% still choose a malware-ridden platform over one with a malware-proof guarantee?

I reiterate that Surowiecki suggests that large groups tend to make 'acceptable' decisions and that the view of a single member is effectively drowned and influenced by a 'collective wisdom' which then coalesces the group-think into a single viewpoint, steered by those who cry the loudest, rather than those who think the smartest hence, not unlike the herd-mentality of the buffalo, the smartest in the group who decides to embrace a Mac, for example, is effectively steered away from his ‘enlightened’ decision by the mass who cries the loudest.  

Words, Videography – Tommy Peters

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