• Collective Wisdom starts with
  1. deep listening,
  2. suspension of certainty,
  3. seeing whole systems / seeking diverse perspectives,
  4. respect for others / group discernment,
  5. welcoming all that is arising,
  6. trust in the transcendent. Alan Briskin, Sheryl Erickson, Tom Callanan, John Ott, The Power of Collective Wisdom. And the Trap of Collective Folly, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1. October 2009

Biologists Roper and Conradt at the University of Essex in Cornwall, England made a study on group decision-making in animals: The alpha deer has only sexual preference choice. The herd makes a majority democratic decision where to graze next. Democracy is wired into the brains of creatures.

• We’ve always assumed that animals are hierarchical in their social structures: that there’s a lead animal who makes decisions for the group. Particularly in mammalian species, there is an alpha male, or in some cases – wolves, for example – an alpha female, and the assumption was that the alpha male or female had absolute control over the group’s actions, like a monarch. But it turns out that’s not true. Roper and Conradt found that if the herd stops chewing grass and heads to the watering hole, it’s not because the lead animal gave the command. Instead, when 51 percent of the animals start pointing toward the water hole, then the whole herd moves. This is how flocks of birds and schools of fish move, too. And the thresholds vary. When there are predators around, decisions require a super majority: two-thirds have to be pointing toward the water hole before they move. And this goes across the spectrum in biology, from insects to orangutans. By their actions, the members of the group all “vote,” if you will. Democracy is in our DNA. Jefferson was right. Interview with Thom Hartmann, author of Threshold. The Crisis of Western Culture, The Crisis of Western Culture, YouTube film, 29:05 minutes duration, posted 30. July 2009