Superminds, how hyperconnectivity is changing the way we solve problems, paperback May 2019, reviewed

By @SimonCocking review of Superminds, how hyperconnectivity is changing the way we solve problems, by Thomas Malone. Available here.

Superminds, how hyperconnectivity is changing the way we solve problems

Is Apple conscious? Could a cyber–human system sense a potential terrorist attack?

Or make diagnosing a rare and little-known disease routine? Computers are not replacing us: they are enhancing us. Different intelligences are joining together to do things we thought were impossible.

Whether it’s devising innovations to tackle climate change, helping job seekers and employers find one another, or identifying the outbreak of a serious disease, groups of humans and machines are already working together to solve all sorts of problems. And they will do a lot more.

The future will be like another world – a place where we’ll think differently. In many ways, we are already there.

This book covers a cool idea, the author writes well, and there are some interesting examples emerging in this area. He also has a fantastic network and the number of positive quotes in the preface to the book is truly impressive. So there was a lot we wanted to learn and like about this book, and yet, at times we felt like this book was at times often explaining why this is a good thing, and how it could be a good thing, while being thin on the ground in terms of actual examples of where it could be truly transformational.

There are interesting case studies, like the climate change crowd sourcing of ideas. This could be, potentially a good project, but it still seemed in too early and embryonic a stage, more an outlining of how it might be good, rather than any examples of where it has actually delivered.

The Wisdom of the Crowds is naturally referenced, at the same time as it is acknowledged that this might effectively source great aggregate estimates for things, while also accepting that group think is also something to be guarded against too. Was it the wisdom of the crowd that brought us Brexit and Trump for example? If so then this is actually an example of the limitations of decision making based upon 51% (or some sort of majority) of any group agreeing on something.

Part 6 for example ‘How can superminds help solve our problems?’ seemed to leave us more with the question rather than a detailed road map answering this question. This book addresses an important and interesting question. The author looks at many relevant sectors where this approach can, and will make a significant difference.

Somehow though, for all of the length, research and interesting and influential people he spoke to, this book doesn’t quite seem to deliver the insights and value that it could. Perhaps a second edition will remedy these issues. To return to the very first question ‘Is Apple conscious?’ you feel like exclaiming, no of course it is not, but there are many other entities that could be considered to be, please tell us about this, and apply the same degree of analysis for what would then be  really interesting book.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas W. Malone is the Patrick J. McGovern Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the founding director of the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence. He lives in Boston, Massachusetts.

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