In my last post about the book, “The Wisdom of Crowds,” we explored the question…
If you had to meet someone in New York on a specific day but had no way of contacting them, when and where would you meet?
This proved to be a provocative question and the answers varied greatly. In the book, author James Surowiecki explains that when large groups were asked this question, 40% of the respondents all picked the same time and same place. This is pretty amazing given that New York has over 47,000 square miles and there are 24 hours in the day.
When I thought about the question I immediately thought about the Statue of Liberty, while my wife though of the Empire State Building.
The popular 40% answer was Grand Central Station at 12 Noon.
It was interesting that out of the 6 comments on this blog no one picked this location.
As I have continued on in the book one of the other fascinating facts is the accuracy of respondents in the Game show, “Who Wants to be a Millionaire“.
Here is today’s question for you.
Regis Philbin has just asked you a $2000 question on the show.
Would it be best to…
- Listen to the Audience and take their advice
- Phone a friend and take their advice
- Reduce the answers from four to two and increase your odds by 50%
The answer may surprise you as the percentages vary greatly.
I would like to hear your comments and ideas.
I’ll post the answer tomorrow.
In the meantime you can pick up James’ fascinating book here or download the audio version from iTunes.
