Monday, March 2, 2009

I Won't Be Writing a Book Any Time Soon

I'm reading a book right now called "The Wisdom of Crowds" by James Surowiecki, which argues that a group is collectively more intelligent than the most intelligent individual in the group. It is an interesting theory and has reminded me of some of the theories I've come up with in my life such as:


- If you tell 20-something guys that you take kick boxing class and have always wanted to actually try out the moves you've learned, most will immediately invite you to punch them in the face or stomach

- The more attractive and non-awkward someone was throughout their adolescence, the less original and interesting their personality is when they grow up...this one may be flawed, though, because if it were totally true I would be much cooler now than I am

- If you're in a large group of people between the ages of 17 and 30 and you randomly shout "To the windooooowww," at least 50% of them will respond with "To the wall!" without any other prompting-there's a good chance they'll go even further into the lyrics, depending on the setting

Perhaps my theories aren't as thought provoking or well-supported by empirical research as that book, but I dare you to test them out tell me they don't work.

2 comments:

dzignjulz said...

That's great... I love the first one- has definitely happened to me!

Anonymous said...

If you told a guy you took yoga would he ask to see down dog?