Shared Intelligence in Action
Hive minds have been scientifically observed a number of times by asking several people to guess the weight of an object or animal. Whereas the individual estimates more or less missed the actual weight, the average was nearest to the actual result. Crowdsourcing makes use of this fact. Crowdsourcing also compiles the knowledge of many to create a mutual information database.
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Hive Mind Variations
Collective Consciousness
Collective consciousness is a set of shared beliefs, morals and ideas that are shared within a society. Overall, it refers to a shared understanding of what is normal in society rather than a specific moral compass. This is a also more traditional explanation of the term. More modern examples would be shared experiences, memes, and solidarity in certain matters. Examples of this kind of thinking depend on what area of society is looked at. Society is comprised of varying groups from families to organizations all the way up to nations. The shared experiences of these groups will have an effect on their ideas of what is right and normal.
Collective Intelligence
Also known as group intelligence this variation stems from collaboration, crowdsourcing, and collective efforts. It’s also seen in collective decision making and peer reviews. When used in projects and marketing this kind of intelligence is based on a network of trust. This network has three main components that work together: Groups of Experts, hardware and software, and data, information, knowledge. The application of these three factors would be referred to as collective intelligence.
Groupthink
This is a psychological phenomenon that happens when a group of people desire for confirmity or harmony. A strong urge for cohesion may make a group agree on something at all costs despite it possibly being wrong or even irrational. At its worst, this way of thinking can be seen as cult behaviour. For this kind of thinking to happen the group has to actively avoid raising any issues or alternative ideas and simply agree with the crowd. This can also be heightened by peer pressure, time limitations or even threats and result in the group all thinking in the same way with no disagreements.
Herd Mentality
These groups of people are sometimes referred to as “sheeple” a mix of the words “sheep” and “people”. This refers to the passive, herd-like behaviour of some groups of people. Therefore, groups are easily manipulated or controlled, often by higher or government powers. Likewise, they tend not to question anything and simply believe any information they are given because the rest of the group doesn’t question it either.
Swarm Intelligence
Often used in AI systems, this variation is the collective behaviour of natural or artificial self-organized systems. In nature, this kind of intelligence can be seen in bees, ants, animal herding, bacteria and bird flocking. Human swarming can be formed via the creation of real-time networks of distributed users. An example of this was a study by Stanford University. Doctors connected by real-time swarming algorithms were able to diagnose conditions with a much higher rate of success and individual doctors.
Universal Mind/Egrecore
The universal mind is a metaphysical or spiritual concept. This suggests that there is an underlying force within all beings and in the universe. Discussed by philosophers since 480 BC, it is believed to be true by some to this day. Egrecore is an occult concept that represents a physical entity bourne from the collective thoughts of a group. Such entities are often referred to as angels, watchers, or guardians. In addition, a more modern belief is that this relates to when a group comes together with the same ideas due to a common purpose in life.
