Marcus du Sautoy TV - J Robert Oppenheimer - Margaret Mead - Friedrich Nietzsche - Sigmund Freud - Ron Paul - George Carlin - Clarence Darrow - John D Rockefeller - Vince Lombardi - C G Jung - Edward Bernays - Star Trek TV - Lao Tzu - Vladimir Nabokov - Cathy Guisewite - R D Laing - Lincoln Steffans - Mark Twain - Eric Hoffer - Richard Dawkins - Dara O’Briain TV - Storyville: The Raft TV - Anonymous -
The accuracy of the group is far greater than the individual – we call this the wisdom of the crowd. Professor Marcus du Sautoy, The Code III: Prediction, BBC 2011
We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. J Robert Oppenheimer
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead, attributed, cited Donald Keys
In individuals insanity is rare, but in groups, parties, nations and epochs it is the rule. Friedrich Nietzsche
Intolerance of groups is often, strangely enough, exhibited more strongly against small differences than against fundamental ones. Sigmund Freud
You have to remember, rights don’t come in groups; we shouldn’t have ‘gay rights’; rights come as individuals, and we wouldn’t have this major debate going on. It would be behaviour that would count, not what person belongs to what group. Ron Paul
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups. George Carlin
No matter how you care to define it, I do not identify with the local group. Planet, species, race, nation, state, religion, party, union, club, association, neighborhood improvement committee; I have no interest in any of it. I love and treasure individuals as I meet them. I loathe and despise the groups they identify with and belong to. George Carlin, Brain Droppings audio
Who decides when the applause should die down? It seems like it’s a group decision; everyone begins to say to themselves at the same time, ‘Well, OK, that’s enough of that’. George Carlin
I don’t like ass kissers, flag wavers or team players. I like people who buck the system. Individualists. I often warn people: ‘Somewhere along the way, someone is going to tell you, ‘There is no ‘I’ in team.’ What you should tell them is, ‘Maybe not. But there is an ‘I’ in independence, individuality and integrity.’ Avoid teams at all cost. Keep your circle small. Never join a group that has a name. George Carlin
With all their faults, trade unions have done more for humanity than any other organisation of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the developing of character in man, than any other association of men. Clarence Darrow
The day of combination is here to stay. Individualism is gone, never to return. John D Rockefeller senior, cited The Economist online April 16th 1998
Individual commitment to a team effort – that’s what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilisation work. Vince Lombardi
A group experience takes place on a lower level of consciousness than the experience of an individual. This is due to the fact that, when many people gather together to share one common emotion, the total psyche emerging from the group is below the level of the individual psyche. If it is a very large group, the collective psyche will be more like the psyche of an animal, which is the reason why the ethical attitude of large organizations is always doubtful. The psychology of a large crowd inevitably sinks to the level of mob psychology. If, therefore, I have a so-called collective experience as a member of a group, it takes place on a lower level of consciousness than if I had the experience by myself alone. C G Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious
The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country ... We are governed, our minds are moulded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society ... In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons ... who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind. Edward L Bernays, Propaganda
Propaganda is the executive arm of the invisible government. ibid.
If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without them knowing it. ibid.
It’s difficult to work in a group when you are omnipotent. Star Trek: Deja Q, Q
The well-run group is not a battlefield of egos. Lao Tzu
There is nothing in the world that I loathe more than group activity, that communal bath where the hairy and slippery mix in a multiplication of mediocrity. Vladimir Nabokov
Defy your own group. Rebel against yourself. Cathy Guisewite
The being of any group from the point of view of the group members themselves is very curious. If I think of you and him as together with me, and others again as not with me, I have already formed two rudimentary syntheses, namely, We and Them. However, this private act of synthesis is not in itself a group. In order that We come into being as a group, it is necessary not only that I regard, let us say, you and him and me as We, but that you and he also think of us as We. I shall call such an act of experiencing a number of persons as a single collectivity, an act of rudimentary group synthesis. R D Laing
Power is what men seek, and any group that gets it will abuse it. Lincoln Steffens
There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded. Mark Twain
A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following ‘by the refuge it offers from the anxieties, barrenness and meaninglessness of an individual existence. It cures the poignantly frustrated by freeing them from their ineffectual selves – and it does this by enfolding and absorbing them into a closely knit and exultant corporate whole’. Of all the cults and philosophies that competed in the Graeco-Roman world, Christianity alone developed from its inception a compact organization. Eric Hoffer, The True Believer
The Cambridge archaeologist Colin Renfrew suggests that Christianity survived by a form of group selection because it fostered the idea of in-group loyalty and in-group brotherly love. Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion p170
Those of us who belittle group selection admit that in principle it can happen. The question is whether it amounts to a significant force in evolution. ibid. p170
The science behind unconscious group behaviour or swarming is new and fascinating. Dara O’Briain’s Science Club: Mindbending s2e1, BBC 2013
It all started with a hijacking in November 1972. I was flying home to Mexico City from an anthropological conference on the history of violence when suddenly a group of terrorists took over the flight. It was too good to be true. Storyville: The Raft, BBC 2019
All my life I had wanted to know why people fight … I realised that if I could create a similar situation it would be the perfect laboratory to study human behaviour, but where can you isolate a group of people and expose them to danger? Then I had the idea … ibid.
May 1973, Las Palmas, Spain: Tonight the ten volunteers arrive in the Canary Islands. It was the first time they met. Ten brave strangers who are about to spend the next three months together isolated on the raft. ibid.
Captain Maria is the only professional sailor on board. ibid.
43 years later there’s only 7 of us still alive. ibid. survivor
The roaring noise of the ocean took over. Finally we are at sea. ibid.
Is violence something that is built into our genes or is it something we learn? ibid.
Instead, we witness a clear example of crowd frenzy, people no longer act as individuals but as part of a dangerous collective. ibid.
The most important question of our time: can we do without war? ibid.
He was a master manipulator. ibid. survivor
I feel completely misunderstood. ibid.
I realised that the only one who has actually showed any kind of violence or aggression on the raft is me. ibid.
Stepping ashore was a very strange feeling. It was 101 days that we had been at sea. ibid. survivor
We started out them and us and became us. ibid.