Are All People Basically Evil?

If you think all people are basically evil, think Wikipedia. Nine years ago Jimmy Wales and some friends wondered: What if we created an online encyclopedia where anybody could contribute content and anybody could access and edit it?

I’m sure a bunch of people around him (I may well have been such a person who) said, “Aw, you’re crazy. People won’t take it seriously. You’ll end up with a massive chaotic jumble of third-rate information.”

Four years ago Nature did a study to determine the error rate of Wikipedia vs. Encyclopedia Britannica. On average, Wikipedia entries contained four errors, and EB contained three. (Did you hear that? On average, Encyclopedia Britannica articles contain THREE errors!)

It turns out, if you rely on the good will of people to create something amazing, they will. They won’t sabotage it or otherwise destroy it, at least not in any significant way. They will, in fact, create something truly beautiful.

This gives me great hope for humanity.