APPLIED SCIENCE OF COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE: SOLVING THE GRAND CHALLENGES FACING HUMANITY (original) (raw)

Almost every generation imagines itself on a precipice, where 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 be at the precipice where our actions in the next decade will determine the future of humankind. In this article, we discuss how proactive collective intelligence is the game-changing resource that offers hope, extending its role beyond the “wizard behind the curtain” in the past. Based on research over the last two decades, the advantages and limitations of collective intelligence can be now understood. When added to the traditional spectrum of problem-solving methodologies and leadership, collective intelligence using diverse groups can extend the complexity of problems that can be solved – defining when and how diverse collectives can outperform experts, while being more robust. Because expression and compatibility of diversity are required for collective intelligence, we show how managing social identity (us versus other) is the key to enabling diversity, particularly when diverse views are in conflict or contain bias- es. We conclude that future methodologies may need to embrace biases that have embedded truths captured within situated understandings of the complex problem domain. Finally, a practical example of a grand challenge project illustrates the implementation of the above concepts to solve a problem of international importance. This project used advanced risk assessment methods, similar to Open Spaces and World Café, that efficiently captured diverse knowledge, even when participants were biased and in conflict.