托福听力集合智慧
2018-09-18 17:00阅读：
I thought collective intelligence was the same as something I
studied in my biology class, something called swarm intelligence,
but then after the example you gave, I mean, according to this
biology article we read, swarm intelligence is how all the ants in
an ant colony work together, know what to do ,like looking for food
or repairing the nest.There is no manager but the ants still figure
out collectively which jobs they needed the most.
Professor
The term collective intelligence is loosely related to what you’re
talking about. In the business world companies that use collective
intelligence can often increase their profits. So let’s talk about
that example from class,about the T-shirt company.
Student
How it invites people to create a design that you’d like to see on
a T-shirt and submitted online through the company’s website?
Professor
Yeah. It’s one of several ways to exploit collective intelligence
through the Internet.
Student
Here's
when having trouble. The people who submit designs aren’t each of
them creating their own design independently? How’s their
collective?
Professor
Ah, I see what you mean. Individuals are coming up with design
independently. But look at this way. All of those independent
designers together, they are huge collective.
Student
Oh, I see.
Professor
And the next step in this, collective intelligence initiative, the
designs go on the company website and anyone in the online
community can vote for their favorite.
Student
So the company figures out which designs are most popular, the ones
people would be most likely to buy, right?
Professor
Exactly. It's a form of market research really. So how would you
say a collective intelligence initiative
like this one benefits the company?
Student
I guess the people who voluntarily submit the designs, they're
taking on some of the workload that the company normally would have
to pay employees for?
Professor
Good! What else?
Student
Um, the voting? The company’s getting opinions guidance from
potential customers without having to pay them.
Professor
Right.
Student
Okay. At first I thought the designers that they had to like, work
collectively, different people working on one design together over
the Internet.
Professor
Not necessarily. But actually, what you're describing is another
form of collective intelligence. Um, take a company that needs a
new software program to solve a particular problem and it doesn’t
want to hire a programmer, so it creates competition,offers a few
hundred or a few thousand dollars for the best solution. Sure, solo
programmer or computer scientists might enter the competition but
software development is very complex,so several programmers might
work together online to write and test their program. The company
sponsoring the competition could even hold back the price money if
it doesn't consider any of the submissions to be workable.
Student
So programmers invest their time for free, for just a small chance
of winning?
Professor
Money isn't everything, like maybe you just enjoy writing computer
programs, are creating designs due to its hobby. If you're
artistic, the T-shirt company becomes a creative outlet for you and
programmers might be enticed by a challenge, a puzzle to
solve.
