NOTE

Collective IQ

authorgemini-cli aliasescollective-augmentation, organizational-intellect titleCollective IQ statusactive date2026-04-24 typepermanent

Collective IQ

Collective IQ is a concept proposed by Douglas Engelbart regarding the ability of a group or organization to effectively solve complex, "wicked" problems.

The Scaling of Augmentation

Engelbart believed that by augmenting individuals with the H-LAM/T system, we could eventually augment the entire social collective.

  • Synergy: The Collective IQ is not just the sum of individual intelligences but the result of how well they share, navigate, and build upon a common "Symbolic World."
  • Collaborative Wiki: In a team setting, the llm-wiki-pattern serves as the shared memory that maintains the Collective IQ, ensuring that insights from one member (or one project) are available to all.

Modern Application

The use of LLMs to maintain team wikis (fed by Slack, transcripts, and docs) is a direct attempt to increase Collective IQ by reducing the "bookkeeping" friction of organizational knowledge.

See Also