Collective Science
Almost every generation imagines itself on a precipice, where individual or societal problems seem too complex to solve, and the future is bleak. Yet, society survives each time, often reinventing itself. With global climate change, dying oceans, democide, killer epidemics, and other modern crises, humanity may truly now be at the precipice where our actions in the next decade will determine the future of humankind and our only planet.
This website discusses how proactive collective intelligence (CI) is the game-changing resource that offers hope and functionality beyond the historical model of the “wizard behind the curtain.” Based on research over the last three decades, the advantages and limitations of CI can now be understood – as a science. When compared to the traditional spectrum of problem-solving methodologies and leadership, CI – using diverse groups – can extend the complexity of problems that can be solved, while being more robust.
If you landed on this page, you likely believe in collective intelligence (CI) and are a champion. If you want to learn more about the science of collective systems and intelligence, read on.
A bit of historical perspective first. How groups or collectives make decisions is as old as social processes in humanity. But the science of collective processes isn’t unique to humans. All social organisms – including slime molds, ants, bees, social spiders (you don’t want to know), and primates – need to act collectively, either to collective challenges or to achieve greater efficiency.
While humans have developed many methods for collective decision-making (juries, elections, the dreaded committee, …), these historical resources are often limited or sabotaged by human behavior to the point where many of us are not optimistic about the future. There is hope. Modern information technologies – from the internet to artificial intelligence resources – are changing how humans make decisions, hopefully making better decisions or solving more complex problems.
To make these new technologies as good or better than the historical resources, we must understand the science of these collective processes. The viewpoint taken here is that while human social processes are mind-bogglingly complex, there is a commonality across all social organisms determining how diverse individual information is assembled (or not) into collective decisions. Understanding these common collective processes provides a unique perspective on how to solve the complexities of human collective decision making.
Here is what you find on this website
Introduction to Collective Science and Collectiv Intelligence (CI): How collectives solve problems – how they can be organized to solve grand challenges – better than experts – or go disasterously wrong.
History. The origin of this research started in the mid-90s as the Symbiotic Intelligence Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory, which studied a new approach to solving problems that outperform experts by combining the unique properties of information technologies with diverse human activity. The key concept is Collective Intelligence: how diverse individuals collectively generate a powerful problem-solving capability. Because modern Artificial Intelligences (AIs) are trained on diverse humans activity, AIs can be viewed as an expression of collective intelligence – with all the advantages and disadvantages – and much insight can be gained on AI from a collective science viewpoint.
(new) Framework for the Evolution of Immunity. Illustrates how the evolution of immunity in biological and informational systems develop in parallel –independent of the bio or informational substrate. Providing insights into the origins of social group identity, consiousness, and how AI will evolve.
(new) Social Group Identity – collective survival: How the collective action of social group identity (SGI) can shut down our rational mind when we are uncertain and reward (or penalize) the social copying of our peer/tribal group. The biochemistry of SGI is built on 550-million-years of evolution in all social organisms, from social yeasts (slime molds) to social insects (bee, ants, hornets), social spiders, and lower and higher primates. A new body of research appies SGI understanding to the recent (Jan 2026) phenomenon of the OpenClaw (Claudbot, Moltbot) on Moltbook, with implications on the evolution of bot communities (including sentience) and harmony with humans. (Link to Rapid Release summary.)
Unique Aspects of the Internet for CI: The Internet’s unique capabilities – its breadth (global connectivity), depth (detailed information capture), and accuracy (precise information transmission) – are essential for the emergence of modern CI implementations.
The Importance of Diversity in CI: encouraging the expression of diversity is essential in CI, showing through various examples and studies how diverse groups can solve complex problems more effectively than homogeneous groups or even experts.
Compatibility in Diverse Groups: Historically, the belief was that diverse groups actually perform poorly because of incompatibilities in diverse information or goals. The popularity of collective intelligence, such as Wiscom of the Crowds, has changed this belief. Given the right conditions, diversity is not a curse but an advantage and can be achieved by focusing on how diverse contributions must be compatible, especially at decision points where collective information is combined.
CI and Leadership Models: Surprise, collective intelligence can be viewed as a form of leadership that is self-organizing, distributed, more accurate, and more robust. CI is compared to traditional leadership models, suggesting a shift from power-based leadership to a more distributed, CI-inclusive leadership approach. It posits that leaders in CI environments are more facilitators of collective wisdom, distinctly different from traditional authoritative models.