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Mob Intelligence

I love reading Terry Pratchett, for the humor, but I just discovered an extremely useful mathematical equation in Maskerade to calculate the intelligence of any mob.

“The IQ of a mob is the IQ of its most stupid member divided by the number of mobsters.”

Now if only we had an accurate definition of what a mob is – a definition that catches mobs even when they are not wielding clubs and other weapons.

By David

David is the father of 8 children. When he's not busy with that full time occupation he works as a technology professional. He enjoys discussing big issues with informed people, cooking, gardening, vexillology (flag design), and tinkering.

2 replies on “Mob Intelligence”

I’ve been thinking about this too recently. (Although, unfortunately, not in a Pratchett sense. :-)) It seems to me that those who would have us jump on a bandwagon without careful consideration of all the facts available would constitute a mob. I arrived at this thought after reading some of Micheal Crichton’s non-fiction work. For context, see ‘aliens cause global warming’ at http://www.crichton-official.com/speeches/speeches_quote04.html. (No, he doesn’t really believe that – but the title gets your attention, no?)

Hyrum

Hyrum,

I like that definition of “mob.” I certainly can’t think of a more accurate one.

And thanks for that link. Aside from the fact that we know which one more people would believe, I would love to put that up right next to An Inconvenient Truth and let people really think about what they are being fed.

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