Swarm

My argument yesterday sounds appealing, eh?

Don't go that far. There are important differences between managing a forest (if it could be managed at all) and governing a large group of people. In the latter case, as the leader, you want to have all kinds of member - and not only those who think outside the box. Yes, our society need innovations and voices of opposition, but, to keep the momentum and get the swarm moving, you also need a good mass of obedient citizen who follow the rule and stay in the box.


You may ask: How to strike a balance between having the obedient majority and the creative few? Alas, there is now good evidence that a group of individuals would prosper best if 60% of them are timid followers of the leader, while 40% are imaginative and love to challenge the orthodox.

Go read The Perfect Swarm by Len Fisher.

PS. I always suspect there is a theoretical relationship between Len Fisher's findings and the 64%-majority rule proposed by Andrew Caplin and Barry Nalebuff (see http://ccszeto.blogspot.hk/2012/05/036.html), but I have no proof as such.