Ahh the web. well, there are a couple of good pieces i read recently. first an excerpt from The Wisdom of Crowds (Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business,Economies, Societies and Nations) by james surowiecki. i haven’t read the book yet but it looks worth a read, rather in the style of malcolm gladwell. incidentally, gladwell currently has a NYT No.1 in both hardback (Blink) and paperback (tipping point). surowiecki shows how groups make good choices, better choices than any one individual over time, than most individuals any time, and often better choices than the best individual.
i could go on (again) about charles sanders peirce’s ideas on community, but i’ve blooged about that stuff before. suffice to say that community is the ultimate interpretant.
i also thought of peirce (unlimited semiosis) when i read alchemy, seth goldstein’s posts on the internet, automata, algorithm, api, and alchemy. goldstein was instrumental in raising cash for del.icio.us
del.icio.us gives us Community but no communities. however, expect this to change real soon. the delicious api is out there and usable.
photo from flikr
