Searches for “Jimmy Savile” on Google yield 49,700 results. A search for “Jimmy Saville” – the incorrect spelling – yields 62,100.
So much for the wisdom of the crowds.
Although I meant this as a throwaway observation, it is true that James Surowiecki’s theory is inadequate when it comes to spelling Sir Jimmy’s name correctly. He states that crowds yield better results than a small group of experts provided four conditions are met. Wise crowds need diversity of opinion, independence of members from one another, decentralisation and a good method for aggregating opinions. I reckon that Googling for a spelling satisfies all of these conditions, so a fifth needs to be added:
Wise crowds also need a passing knowledge of eccentric former disc jockeys or presenters of defunct wish-fulfilment programmes.
Or a copy of Who’s Who.
Le Poulet Noir 
Tuesday, July 3, 2007 at 8:52 am |
but the people have spoken (wrongly as it happens). that’s the problem with democracy. i, for one, did not vote for it.
(did he, single-handedly, put the vile in savile?)
Tuesday, July 3, 2007 at 11:36 pm |
Quite, although as Winston Churchill once said: democracy is the worst form of government apart from fighting on the beaches for so few over an iron curtain.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 9:21 pm |
On a similar subject, and in the interests of preserving it for posterity, I’d like to note this limerick compiled by the teams on I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue:
At a function with Sir Jimmy Savile
His tracksuit began to unravel
He said: “Don’t make a fuss.”
And fashioned a truss
Out of cement, three parts sand, two parts gravel.