Big Mind

Geoff Mulgan is chief executive of Nesta, the UK's National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts, and a senior visiting scholar at Harvard University's Ash Center. He was the founder of the think tank Demos and director of the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit and head of policy under Tony Blair. His books include The Locust and the Bee (Princeton) and Good and Bad Power (Penguin).

Preface vii

Introduction Collective Intelligence as a Grand Challenge 1

Part I

What Is Collective Intelligence? 9

1 The Paradox of a Smart World 11

2 The Nature of Collective Intelligence in Theory and Practice 14

Part II Making Sense of Collective Intelligence as Choice 33

3 The Functional Elements of Collective Intelligence 35

4 The Infrastructures That Support Collective Intelligence 48

5 The Organizing Principles of Collective Intelligence 60

6 Learning Loops 70

7 Cognitive Economics and Triggered Hierarchies 76

8 The Autonomy of Intelligence 90

9 The Collective in Collective Intelligence 99

10 Self-Suspicion and Fighting the Enemies of Collective Intelligence 119

Part III Collective Intelligence in Everyday Life 129

11 Mind-Enhancing Meetings and Environments 131

12 Problem Solving: How Cities and Governments Think 145

13 Visible and Invisible Hands: Economies and Firms as Collective Intelligence 161

14 The University as Collective Intelligence 174

15 Democratic Assembly 181

16 How Does a Society Think and Create as a System? 193

17 The Rise of Knowledge Commons: It's for Everyone 200

Part IV Collective Intelligence as Expanded Possibility 215

18 Collective Wisdom and Progress in Consciousness 217

Afterword: The Past and Future of Collective

Intelligence as a Discipline 229

Summary of the Argument 237

Notes 239

Index 263