Mandevillian intelligence
Mandevillian intelligence
Mandevillian intelligence is a specific form of collective intelligence in which individual cognitive vices (i.e., shortcomings, limitations, constraints and biases) are seen to play a positive functional role in yielding collective forms of cognitive success. The present paper introduces the concept of mandevillian intelligence and reviews a number of strands of empirical research that help to shed light on the phenomenon. The paper also attempts to highlight the value of the concept of mandevillian intelligence from a philosophical, scientific and engineering perspective. Inasmuch as we accept the notion of mandevillian intelligence, then it seems that the cognitive and epistemic value of a specific social or technological intervention will vary according to whether our attention is focused at the individual or collective level of analysis. This has a number of important implications for how we think about the design and evaluation of collective cognitive systems. For example, the notion of mandevillian intelligence forces us to take seriously the idea that the exploitation (or even the accentuation) of individual cognitive shortcomings could, in some situations, provide a productive route to collective forms of cognitive and epistemic success.
Collective Cognition, Group Cognition, Collective Intelligence, Social Simulation, Social Epistemology, Cognitive Technology
4169–4200
Smart, Paul R.
cd8a3dbf-d963-4009-80fb-76ecc93579df
2018
Smart, Paul R.
cd8a3dbf-d963-4009-80fb-76ecc93579df
Abstract
Mandevillian intelligence is a specific form of collective intelligence in which individual cognitive vices (i.e., shortcomings, limitations, constraints and biases) are seen to play a positive functional role in yielding collective forms of cognitive success. The present paper introduces the concept of mandevillian intelligence and reviews a number of strands of empirical research that help to shed light on the phenomenon. The paper also attempts to highlight the value of the concept of mandevillian intelligence from a philosophical, scientific and engineering perspective. Inasmuch as we accept the notion of mandevillian intelligence, then it seems that the cognitive and epistemic value of a specific social or technological intervention will vary according to whether our attention is focused at the individual or collective level of analysis. This has a number of important implications for how we think about the design and evaluation of collective cognitive systems. For example, the notion of mandevillian intelligence forces us to take seriously the idea that the exploitation (or even the accentuation) of individual cognitive shortcomings could, in some situations, provide a productive route to collective forms of cognitive and epistemic success.
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Mandevillian Intelligence
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Mandevillian Intelligence
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Accepted/In Press date: 24 April 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 17 May 2017
Published date: 2018
Keywords:
Collective Cognition, Group Cognition, Collective Intelligence, Social Simulation, Social Epistemology, Cognitive Technology
Organisations:
Web & Internet Science
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 411822
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/411822
ISSN: 0039-7857
PURE UUID: 7d04556c-7801-45cb-8d36-fc3e6bd9dd8d
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Date deposited: 27 Jun 2017 09:41
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:31
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Author:
Paul R. Smart
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