Joined-Up Thinking

Best known for The Science of Fate, a title that reached the Sunday Times top ten bestseller list, neuroscientist Hannah Critchlow now turns to collective intelligence. This emerging field looks at what happens when many people pool their knowledge, information and skills to tackle problems that no individual could manage alone.

Much of humanity's progress has come from groups working together. Critchlow compares our social, interconnected brains to beehives and flocks of birds, all of which function best as a unit. Many of the challenges we face are too vast or intricate for one person, or even one organisation, to resolve, and collective intelligence offers a route through them.

New technology, and recent advances in artificial intelligence in particular, now allow knowledge and wisdom to travel far beyond their former reach. Critchlow presents this book as a guide to the future shaped by the new science, drawing on examples and stories to show what it reveals about human nature.

The book also looks at practical application. Critchlow explains how readers can think and work collectively in their own lives, with the aim of improving their wellbeing and their prospects.