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I wrote previously about Tim O’Reilly’s vision of “harnessing collective intelligence” and stated that it may not always be ideal. Presumably, the more that people connect with each other and collaborate on the Internet, the better off we are. There are a few new web sites where you can vote for or against something, the idea being that if enough people participate then they’ll arrive at a definitive answer. If most people say cold pizza is great for breakfast, then it must be true, right?
The first problem is that these sites don’t represent the masses. If the people with the most life lessons under their belt (read: old) are not participating on the Internet, then results will skew towards immaturity, naivete, and inexperience. Likewise, if faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Christians aren’t participating, the Internet will skew towards secular notions instead of Gospel principles. That’s okay when discussing food, but not okay if people are expecting to learn and feel spiritual things. Good people everywhere need to participate on the Internet to counteract online trends toward secularism and faithlessness.
The second problem with “collective intelligence” is that it may leave out God and his authorized servants. That is, we (even all of us collectively) “[don't] comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend” and no one has a better grasp on “moral and societal issues” than God’s prophets.
Interestingly, one of these group voting sites is called Convince Me, the same tone used by Korihor when challenging the prophet Alma.
(I must mention parenthetically that I greatly admire Tim O’Reilly’s insight and vision. I’m being a bit facetious here, but the issue of online reputation is a real concern. To be truly useful, our online “collective intelligence” must include experienced and virtuous voices, and must not overshadow the divine.)
