Comments on Want to be a free thinker but still a nice person: The wisdom and madness of crowds

Elizabeth, that is ABSOLUTELY the gospel truth. S...

2008-04-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth, that is ABSOLUTELY the gospel truth. Several factors at play:

1) In a volunteer situation, one is free to stomp off at any point, in a huff, when things don't go to suit one. You cannot, after all, be fired from the Junior League or a church women's group!

2) One is generally in a volunteer situation because one wants to be there---for altruistic purposes (I guess these things are social boons, an important aspect for some climbers and herd-animals:) Money is not an object, as belonging to these things generally COST bigtime!

But I disagree that there's no money in play, in a volunteer committee...my daughter's school had several very rich families, and trust me, if some Money Mama was on the committee, it was Her Way or the Highway, so to speak. I also served on the board of the MHJA (Mississippi Hunter-Jumper Association) that ran the horse shows, etc., and WHOOOOA---you have never seen so much venom and bile. There were two women in particular, whose daughters had 5/6-figure Thoroughbreds, who ran the whole thing like Caligulas. I soon opted out of that honored board!

Bowing out of office politics is probably not an option, if one wants that next paycheck.

"sclerotic processes of big companies" -- since my...

2008-04-24T00:33:00.000-07:00

"sclerotic processes of big companies" -- since my mother just died of Multiple Sclerosis, I would assume 'sclerotic processes' mean diseased processes?

An interesting point you raise. I work in a big co...

2008-04-24T00:27:00.000-07:00

An interesting point you raise. I work in a big corporation and have served on volunteer groups/school committees and the politics are MUCH worse in the volunteer sector. Henry Kissinger said that where there's less money involved, there are more politics. In big corporations, there's big money on the line so people have to get stuff agreed and out the door, but in volunteer groups, no one is paid to do well so you can be as contentious as you like.

I thought that William F. Buckley died! But here ...

2008-04-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

I thought that William F. Buckley died! But here he is on this post, using a big fancy word like "sclerotic." Well! Have you run this by the Committee, Big Company Employee?:):) Might want to simplify (dumb down) your terminology so's not to hurt no feelin's and alienate the stoopid folkses like me...

Well, all tomfoolery aside, I loathe groups, committees, teams, and all such agglomerations---couple of years of Junior League was quite enough of that silliness, thanks very much. I suspect that women's civic groups aren't much different from corporate organizations...by the time you water things down so that everybody's happy, nobody's offended---well, you get a lame product every time.

I'm all for benevolent dictatorships...as long as I get to be the BD...

I think (although I can't quote a reference) exper...

2008-04-23T14:06:00.000-07:00

I think (although I can't quote a reference) experiments have shown groups to make more cautious decisions than individuals.

Which is fine if the decision is a simple one.

When things get more complicated, groups tend to reach "compromises" and nothing significant ever gets done. You see this in the sclerotic processes of big companies.

Yes, I agree with you bwj. Committee decisions alw...

2008-04-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, I agree with you bwj. Committee decisions always seem worse than individual ones but I thought I'd put the info up to see what people think. I was expecting Kaz to make a comment on this as she is v. knowledgeable on this subject.

I hope that when people try and guess my weight th...

2008-04-23T07:27:00.000-07:00

I hope that when people try and guess my weight they estimate the "true butchered weight;" that would probably shave off a few pounds of skin and cartilage, don't you think? :)

As for groups making better decisions than individuals, I'm not so sure. One of my favorite quotes is "a camel is a horse designed by a committee."