The Wisdom Of The Masses And The Barrier Of Money
There is great wisdom to be found in consensus, scientific and otherwise. Developing consensus based on the wisdom of those who’ve spent their lives in pursuit of knowledge, be it farmers or physicians, brings us closest to truth. I believe in the wisdom of crowds.
That is why people tend to clump together into herds, no shame in it. The problem occurs when the perceived wisdom of the crowd has an outside power interpreting it. The problem is when the herd is not led by its collective intelligence but by a power that wants to manipulate the herd mind.
Take science, for example. Centuries ago, the free interchange of information between scientists was interrupted by the church. There were things that could not be said, facts that could not be admitted, because they would be harmful to the narrative that upheld the church. The advancement of the sciences was seriously impeded by the fact that the power of the church did not allow consensus to be built among scholars, that the flow of information had to flow around what was not permitted by the church. Scientists were not permitted to say or even speculate that the Earth rotated around the Sun. A heliocentric universe did not jibe with Christian theology.
The same thing is happening today. It is no longer the church that prevents the open and honest flow of information that leads to superior wisdom through the many endeavoring to find truth, however, it is corporate power. Like the church, which sought to make every accepted scientific fact serve the church’s narrative and thus strengthen it, corporations seek to make every accepted scientific fact serve their profit motive. In both instances, the power and wealth of many hang in the balance, and those who have power and who desire wealth are always willing to place a thumb on the scale.
Like religion, science has its true believers, those who will never question the official narratives even when those narratives are heavily influenced by the powerful in search of wealth. Billions are spent on drugs to make us healthier and happier, while little is spent to promote healthy living and creating a society which works toward the happiness of the average person. Billions are spent to push the narrative that we all need what the pharmaceutical industry is selling, because once that narrative is established the pharmaceutical companies will reap the rewards. Imagine what a truly healthy society should look like. It would look little like what we have now. If a truly healthy society were to be brought into being, it would devastate the profits of those who now benefit from an unhealthy populace.
The big agricultural businesses, the fast food chains, and the makers of processed food also profit from a narrative (created by billions of dollars of advertising, marketing, and lobbying) which encourages us to eat what they are selling. We seek happiness from a Happy Meal rather than spending time preparing food with our family. We are conditioned to turn to junk food as some kind of consolation. The primary function of food is no longer to nourish but comfort us.
When science cannot be persuaded to reinforce the narrative, scientific studies are underreported. Funding is often provided by the very corporations that stand to benefit from the answers. Scientists must know now — as they did in the days of the Spanish Inquisition — that if you do not provide the powerful with what they want at the very least your evidence will not be accepted and your reputation will be smeared.
When power leans heavily upon those trying to build consensus on what is right and wrong, it takes a brave outsider to speak up. And when power grows so conceited that it no longer seeks to hide its influence, many ordinary people can’t help but take notice and applaud anyone with the courage to speak out against an obviously falsified consensus.
For the moment, it seems that the Republican base has a greater appreciation for courage, while the Democratic base has a greater appreciation for pure science, unwilling to admit that the narrative is skewed to benefit the wealthy. Therefore, liberals tend to unquestionably follow what is put forth by the narrative that purports to be the scientific consensus, while conservatives tend to unquestionably believe whatever is said by the rebels willing to take on the system.
In neither case is a healthy consensus established, and therefore the wisdom that results from knowledgeable people openly sharing observations and viewpoints is not achieved.
Consensus is the optimal means of establishing truth. This is something many on the right and increasingly many on the far left do not wish to acknowledge. Those we call liberals have put aside their former skepticism of power and seem to be putting a blind faith in a system that is corrupted by those who stand to benefit from controlling the narrative. Each sees clearly the flaws and ignorance of the other side but somehow remain blind to their own.
I believe there is a wisdom to be had in crowds. I would go so far as to say that consensus built with the most amount of people is the highest sort of wisdom there is. But to approach this sort of wisdom requires two things that are currently lacking: a willingness to listen to others who have contrary beliefs and a skepticism of those who claim to possess an unbiased understanding based on consensus. Power will always seek to influence consensus. It will also seek to play one side against the other in order to stop people from achieving that sort of wisdom that comes from unbiased consensus. Right now, while we have two sides to choose from, neither side shows both a respect for consensus and a skepticism of how that consensus might be manipulated.