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RE: The Consensus Series, Part I: The Basics of Collectivity
Good in-depth explanation of how consensus thought works. It can be an advantage but it can also squash or silence creative thought.
Good in-depth explanation of how consensus thought works. It can be an advantage but it can also squash or silence creative thought.
I think that you've somewhat missed the point here. I would argue that there is a huge difference between consensus thought and consensus action because of the nature of each. What they have in common is that consensus requires less resources than diversity. Consensus action is a good thing because actions cannot be simply ignored and can easily get in the way of other actions. Consensus thought is a bad thing because diversity is a key (and safer) instrumental path to almost any goal with the only downside/cost being the additional resources required to "buy" the "rights" to additional options. Having a huge herd thinking the same thoughts -- and worse, enforcing those thoughts -- is a waste of tremendous cognitive resources that could be thinking up new solutions ("a mind is a terrible thing to waste").
Mark, could you spell out what "buy the rights" a little more?
I agree that deserve thought will necessarily lead to more options being considered, and therefore increase the odds of optimization. However, it's not as clear to me what the cost of buy those options might literally be. Would this be something like communication cost, persuasion cost, time, or possibly many other things all rolled into one?