Collective Intelligence and an Application by The Millennium Project

Abstract

There are a range of definitions for “collective intelligence” and applications. I define collective intelligence as “an emergent property from synergies among three elements—(1) data/info/knowledge, (2) software/hardware, and (3) experts and others with insight—that continually learns from feedback to produce just-in-time knowledge for better decisions than any of these elements acting alone.” This paper will briefly discuss why collective intelligence is needed, some early approaches to creating collective intelligence, what specifically is needed today, and an approach to constructing a collective intelligence system proposed by The Millennium Project called the Global Futures Intelligence System. This online integrated platform is designed to help support and improve global foresight as well as to provide a common platform for conducting futures research.