Emergent Systems & Collective Intelligence - Lessons From Schools Of Fish

• Ignorance and uninformed can be a positive thing. Having uninformed individuals participating in this decision making actually democratizes the group decision making. This prevents extremist individuals from having a disproportionate influence. (what a lot of dictators did decades ago, now its tv/radio talk show heads turn to ruin our civilization)
• When you broadcast the same information to multiple individuals, you have eroded the capacity for collective intelligence.  (I don't see too much difference between people in North Korea and religious nut cases here and how these tv/radio talk show hosts are creating impotent minds) 
• Collective intelligence relays on the individual to gather evidence themselves towards the problem. Not to be told what to think. (constant bayesian updates, keeping the mind as a river and keeping an open mind until we kick the bucket)
• Animal groups evolve strategies to avoid overly correlated information. Unfortunately, in human society, we rely on highly correlated information. 

The insight that there is collective intelligence, an intelligence that goes beyond an individual that is "embedded somehow" into this collective has been the focus of research for the last few years. 

Wow! What a brilliant insight!! You can read more about this here.

Many great philosophers and thinkers have been warning for centuries about thinking too much about "self",  too much of "outsourcing" our thinking process and too much dependence ("insourcing") on everything our mind confabulates without any sense of external realities.

Each one of the fish in the school has a brain and sense which learns based on evidence and does an "almost perfect" bayesian update to their brain and senses. The process repeats, ad infinitum.

Yes, "almost perfect".

A multiple "almost perfect" bayesian updates from all the fish in the school then creates "better than almost perfect" bayesian update to the collective brain and senses. The process repeats, ad infinitum.

Nature is indeed beautiful. I am so grateful to be part of this wonderful planet and given a chance to experience this beauty.

Thank you Max, for helping me see the world through your eyes.