Will Catalonia go it alone?

[RandBlade]

You do realize that the wisdom of the crowds is frequently not particularly wise and that democracy and the wisdom of crowds are not the same?

You do realise that individuals aren't always wise either? You do realise that the scientific evidence is that crowds are wiser than individuals.

Democracy is not the same thing no, democracy is letting the people decide and the people make the best choices because they are wise.

Rand's version of democracy is precisely the kind parliamentary democracy and checks & balances were created to avoid. Again, his loathing of liberal democracy isn't very surprising considering how much his tribe benefited from ditching it.

I love liberal democracy. It is you that wants illiberal authoritarianism were the draconian state is sending the Police into printers and newspapers to intimidate them and stop the public having a say. Yeah so liberal

[Aimless]

You do realise that the scientific evidence is that crowds are wiser than individuals.

No, evidence indicates that this is true of some things in some situations and untrue of other things in other situations. It depends on the type of question, the type of available information, the individuals being compared, the group being compared etc.

Democracy is not the same thing no, democracy is letting the people decide and the people make the best choices because they are wise.

No, that's nonsense. You're confusing the view that democracy is the best available way to make these decisions with the assumption that the decisions thus made are guaranteed to be "best" because they are "wise". Not so. Democracy is also the best way to let people make poor and unwise decisions for their society.

[RandBlade]

No, evidence indicates that this is true of some things in some situations and untrue of other things in other situations. It depends on the type of question, the type of available information, the individuals being compared, the group being compared etc.

It is true the vast majority of the time. Diverse groups trump experts as a rule of thumb.

No, that's nonsense. You're confusing the view that democracy is the best available way to make these decisions with the assumption that the decisions thus made are guaranteed to be "best" because they are "wise". Not so. Democracy is also the best way to let people make poor and unwise decisions for their society.

I never said they are guaranteed. It is the best method of making decisions though.

I agree 100% that democracy is the best way to let people make poor and unwise decisions. If a poor or unwise decision is going to be made then it absolutely should be made by the public. Why should a poor or unwise decision be foisted on the public who haven't had a say?

[Khendraja'aro]

democracy is letting the people decide and the people make the best choices because they are wise.

The IQ of a crowd is usually equal to the IQ of the stupidest member, divided by the number of people in said crowd.

Seriously, Rand, there's no such thing as "people are wise". Because if there was we wouldn't have had Goebbels, Mussolini or Trump.