ABSTRACT
The early writings on collective intelligence said little about government. Yet government is and was the most powerful, and sometimes dangerous, tool available for any society to harness its collective intelligence, solve problems and prepare for the future. In this chapter, the author share perspectives on how to think of government as part of societal collective intelligence making it more like a shared brain that can combine observation, prediction, judgement, creativity and imagination in the way that individual brains do. As the author will show, the application of collective intelligence methods to the practical work of government helps them to become more open, engaged and hungry for information, insights and ideas from any source. Collective intelligence methods have been experimented with by many governments, from Taiwan to Bangladesh, though they remain more unfamiliar in some. A recent report provides a series of case studies and analysis of how different collective intelligence methods could be used.
