ShalmaneserIII t1_itperq2 wrote on October 25, 2022 at 10:26 AM

Reply to comment by vyralmonkey in TIL that in a series of experiments in the 1950s, Solomon Asch asked a group of actors and a single test subject what the longest line was in a "vision test". The actors would intentionally answer incorrectly, causing the subject to also answer incorrectly, despite it being very obvious. by Amateur_Validator

> And you can either think for yourself and act intelligently, or follow the mob

The one problem with "acting intelligently" is that it requires a lot of background information in the situation being considered. For usual situations, you can pick up the necessary background, but for unusual ones you probably don't have time.

"Crowdsourcing" the decision makes a bit of sense there- maybe someone has information and experience that's good and is acting on it, and people near them are following suit.

It's not perfect, of course, but it's not unreasonable.