[peelle]

I head a tale that had the same lesson. Not sure where I heard it, but it went something like this:

>There was a Buddhist monastery up in the mountains. Every day at noon the head monk would call everyone together in the main courtyard to meditate.

>One day a cat that lived on the monastery grounds started to come to the courtyard during these meditation sessions. It would screech at, and scratch the monks while they tried to concentrate.

> After a few weeks the head monk got tired of this. He ordered that every day before they meditate, the cat be caught. They tied up the cat away from the main court yard. After meditation the cat was to be released.

> This went on for a few years and everything was fine. Then the head monk passed away. A new monk was appointed.

> A few more after that the cat passed away. The monks retrieved a new cat from a nearby village and they started typing up this new cat; as is tradition.

[sonnyblarney]

The monkeys are passing intelligent learned behaviour - the monks are not.

In the monkeys case - it makes sense they 'follow the herd'. The learned behaviour of their ancestors is saying something: "you're gonna get sprayed with cold water if you do this"

I'd imagine a lot of things get passed on this way, maybe some right some wrong, but I don't think this really helps the 'go your own way' case so much. That we generally follow crowds millions of years into our evolution might indicate that there is indeed wisdom in crowds. Though perhaps it's helpful to realize that they are not always right.