The wisdom of crowds” has become a modern cliché. And a strange one — the crowds that attended the Nuremberg Rallies, or cheered the tumbrils of the Reign of Terror, were anything but wise. Many adjectives might be applied to the assemblies that gather to applaud Dear Leader Kim Jong Un or cheer Chelsea Football Club — but “wise” is not one. Anyone standing back from these events must ask themselves a question: how could large numbers of people, so similar to ourselves, behave like that? What on earth were they thinking?
“群體的智慧”已變成了一個現代陳詞濫調。它也是一種奇怪的說法——那些參加紐倫堡黨代會（Nuremberg Rallies，1923至1938年期間納粹黨一年一度的集會——譯者注）的人、“雅各賓專政”(Reign of Terror)時期那些在囚車旁歡呼的人，都根本毫無判斷力。許多形容詞可能都適用于描述一群聚集在一起、為“親愛的領袖”金正恩(Kim Jong Un)鼓掌或是為切爾西足球俱樂部(Chelsea Football Club)歡呼的人，但“有判斷力”絕非其中之一。任何未參加過這些活動的人都必須問自己一個問題：為何這么多和我們如此相像的人會有那樣的表現？他們究竟在想什么？