Feb
19th
Tue
19th
It is possible that the many, no one of whom taken singly is a sound man, may yet, taken all together, be better than the few, not individually but collectively, in the same way that a feast to which all contribute is better than one supplied at one man’s expense. […]
There is this to be said for the many. Each of them by himself may not be of good quality; but when they all come together it is possible that they may surpass—collectively and as a body, although not individually—the quality of the few best. […]
Provided the mass of the people is not too slave-like, each individual will indeed be a worse judge than the experts, but collectively they will be better, or at any rate no worse.
There is this to be said for the many. Each of them by himself may not be of good quality; but when they all come together it is possible that they may surpass—collectively and as a body, although not individually—the quality of the few best. […]
Provided the mass of the people is not too slave-like, each individual will indeed be a worse judge than the experts, but collectively they will be better, or at any rate no worse.
—
Aristotle on Collective Intelligence, Politics, circa 334-23 BC.
a bunch of Aristotle quotes here, hat tip to Cass Sunstein