The wisdom, and madness, of crowds 英文参考文献.docVIP

Comment The wisdom, and madness, of crowds Gregory A Petsko Address: Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454-9110, USA. Email: petsko@ Published: 1 December 2008 Genome Biology 2008, 9:112 (doi:10.1186/gb-2008-9-11-112) The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at /2008/9/11/112 ? 2008 BioMed Central Ltd In reading the history of nations, we find that, like individuals, they have their whims and their peculi- arities; their seasons of excitement and recklessness, when they care not what they do. We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first…Money, again, has often been a cause of the delusion of multitudes. Sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers, and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper… Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one. Andrew Tobias, who contributed the Forward to the edition I own, had this to say about it: “Once upon a time, there was an emperor with no clothes. For the longest time no one noticed. As you will read in this marvelous book, there have been many naked emperors since. There will doubtless be many more… As with any true classic, once it is read it is hard to imagine not having known of it - and there is the compulsion to recommend it to others.” My favorite chapter is the third, on tulipomania. For those unfamiliar with this psychological illness, which once affected the entire country of Holland in the mid-seven- teenth century, and sp