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?
“群体的智慧”已变成了一个现代陈词滥调。它也是一种奇怪的说法——那些参加纽伦堡党代会（Nuremberg Rallies，1923至1938年期间纳粹党一年一度的集会——译者注）的人、“雅各宾专政”(Reign of Terror)时期那些在囚车旁欢呼的人，都根本毫无判断力。许多形容词可能都适用于描述一群聚集在一起、为“亲爱的领袖”金正恩(Kim Jong Un)鼓掌或是为切尔西足球俱乐部(Chelsea Football Club)欢呼的人，但“有判断力”绝非其中之一。任何未参加过这些活动的人都必须问自己一个问题：为何这么多和我们如此相像的人会有那样的表现？他们究竟在想什么？