“There does seem to be some evidence that as people get older, they procrastinate less, perhaps because they feel the pressure of time more.” PeopleFeelsDoeSeemsEvidencePressureProcrastinating Author:James Surowiecki
“If army ants are wandering around and they get lost, they start to follow a simple rule:Just do what the ant in front of you does. The ants eventually end up in a circle. There's this famous example of one that was 1,200 feet long and lasted for two days; the ants just kept marching around and around in a circle until they died.” IfsLongDoeTwoEndsLostSimpleFeetFrontsExampleArmyDiedCirclesWanderAntsTwo DaysWandering Around Author:James Surowiecki
“The ban on sports betting does exactly what Prohibition did. It makes criminals rich.” DoeSportsRichCriminalsBansProhibitionBettingSports Betting Author:James Surowiecki
“What the investment community does like is short-term measures designed to boost share prices.” DoeTermCommunityShareInvestmentShort TermBoostShare Price Author:James Surowiecki
“Medical tourism can be considered a kind of import: instead of the product coming to the consumer, as it does with cars or sneakers, the consumer is going to the product.” KindDoeCarProductsMedicalConsumersTourismImportsSneakers Author:James Surowiecki
“The truth is that the United States doesn't need, and shouldn't have, a debt ceiling. Every other democratic country, with the exception of Denmark, does fine without one.” NeedsDoeCountryStatesUnitedUnited StatesFineTruth IsDemocraticDebtExceptionCeilingsDenmarkDemocratic CountryDebt Ceiling Author:James Surowiecki
“The fact that cognitive diversity matters does not mean that if you assemble a group of diverse but thoroughly uninformed people, their collective wisdom will be smarter than an expert's. But if you can assemble a diverse group of people who possess varying degrees of knowledge and insight, you're better off entrusting it with major decisions rather than leaving them in the hands of one or two people, no matter how smart those people are.” PeopleIfsMeanDoeTwoMatterFactsWisdomHandsDecisionGroupsDegreesDiversityMajorsSmartLeavingInsightExpertsCollectivesDiverseSmarterBetter OffBeing SmartCognitiveUninformedEntrustingCollective Wisdom Book:The Wisdom of Crowds Source: The Wisdom of Crowds
“Diversity and independence are important because the best collective decisions are the product of disagreement and contest, not consensus or compromising. An intelligent group, especially when confronted with cognition problems, does not ask its members to modify their positions in order to let the group reach a decision everyone can be happy with. Instead…the best way for a group to be smart is for each person in it to think and act as independently as possible.” ThinkingWayPersonsDoeImportantProblemOrderAsksDecisionGroupsPositionProductsMembersDiversitySmartIntelligentIndependenceBest WayCompromiseCollectivesContestsConsensusDisagreementBeing SmartCognition Author:James Surowiecki
