James Surowiecki, in his bestselling book, The Wisdom of Crowds, states “The real key, it turns out, is not so much perfecting a particular method, but satisfying the particular conditions – diversity, independence, and decentralization – that a group needs to be smart.”
I stumbled upon Surowiecki’s book one afternoon while perusing the stacks of my favorite old haunt Borders Bookstore (I miss those days of just going out to look at books on a real shelf). As an adjunct instructor of philosophy, I was immediately captured by the title. After a quick read of the jacket summary, I added the little hardback to my growing tower of purchases that day. Who could ever buy just one book at Borders?
Wisdom turned out to be a great find for me. Surowiecki documented example after example, some case studies and some anecdotal, in several areas including, economics, politics, consumer preference, and psychology to support his theory.
Surowiecki argues for the wisdom of the independent collective over the wisdom of the individual expert.
After spending a whole semester presenting various topics in philo – sophia – Love of Wisdom – Wisdom about God’s Existence, Wisdom about the external world, Wisdom about the Mind or Self, Wisdom about what is the right thing to do, The Wisdom of Crowds was a fun way to end the semester.
So it makes sense, as I was enjoying the best meal I’ve had so far in France, the book came to mind. You see, the reason I was sitting in that particular restaurant last night was because I’d read the TripAdvisor reviews. The restaurant, Mistral Bistro Moderne, with 76 reviews, is ranked #2 of 104 restaurants in L’Isle Sur La Sorgue. The crowd in this case, 76 previous dinners, reported the following:
- Excellent – 61
- Very Good – 12
- Average – 3
- Poor – 0
- Terrible – 0
The crowd was right. I enjoyed every bite of my joues de porc. The pork cheeks, braised to utter tenderness were served with cocos de Provence (large white beans similar to cannellini beans), and a small mound of baked apple, all of course enveloped in a sumptuous sauce. My husband’s Cabillaud Francais Frais (Fresh French Cod) was equally as flavorful.
Imagine, on the other hand, a report that looks like this: from 88 reviewers
- Excellent – 9
- Very Good – 20
- Average – 18
- Poor – 26
- Terrible – 15
This is a review of the restaurant we went to our first night in L’Isle. Since, the purpose of this blog is not restaurant bashing, I’ll keep them anonymous. (But if you really want to know check out Tripadvisor restaurant #79.)
Unfortunately since we were weary from travel and moving in to our little village house, we didn’t take the time to study things out. We simply walked along the canal and selected one of the many restaurants situated along the scenic waterway.
Guess what. The wisdom of the crowd prevailed yet again. This morning before writing this post I had to ask my husband what I’d eaten that night. It was so ordinary, I couldn’t remember. I had a chicken skewer. Not awful, just not that great. On the other hand, my husband’s meal was quite memorable. He ordered duck. You might have to use your imagination a bit here to appreciate the irony. Just behind us, paddling around in the canal were some very noisy ducks. So when my husband took his first bite and the ducks were simultaneously quacking; he looked up at me like he was going to barf. The meal that evening will forever be referred to as the infamous rubber ducky night. Tough, cold, rubber ducky.
Oh how I wish I had read Tripadvisor before dining that evening.
Surowiecki’s book acknowledges sheer numbers can’t tell us everything. With so much data overload, it makes sense for the more important decisions in life, to do extensive research and not simply count on what a bunch of people said on the internet. However, when it comes to travel and dining, I for one will accept the wisdom of crowd.
And, if you chose not to heed this advice, tough duck!
For a nice summary of The Wisdoms of Crowds, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wisdom_of_Crowds
