"The reason is that in a group, individual errors on either side of the true figure cancel each other out"

This quote by Michael Shermer is describing the idea of the wisdom of the crowd. This principle recommends that when a large group of people are asked to estimate a worth, the average of their reactions will be more precise than any individual response. The reason for this is that private mistakes on either side of the true figure will cancel each other out. For example, if one person approximates a value to be too high and another approximates it to be too low, the average of their actions will be closer to the true value than either of their private price quotes. This principle has actually been utilized in various fields, such as marketing research, political ballot, and even forecasting the outcome of sporting occasions. The wisdom of the crowd is a powerful tool that can be used to get insight into a range of subjects.