The Madness of Crowds - Now Online - Future IQ
Description
Why do crowds so often lose their minds? History is full of moments when ordinary people, once gathered together, transformed into something uncontrollable, such as riots, lynch mobs, revolutions, stampedes, or even the tulip mania of 17th-century Holland. But today, the most dangerous crowds are no longer in the streets. They’re online.Digital mobs, cancel culture, trolling campaigns, and viral pile-ons can erupt faster, spread wider, and hit harder than any physical crowd ever could. Anonymity lowers empathy, algorithms amplify outrage, and group belonging fuels the fire. What begins with a few angry voices can quickly cascade into a storm where responsibility disappears and cruelty thrives.In this episode of Future IQ, we explore the strange psychology behind why people behave so differently in groups than they do alone. From Freud’s theories to modern neuroscience, from stock market bubbles to Instagram’s “kindness prompts,” the story reveals how easily crowds can tip into madness and how small design choices can make them wise again.This is not just about history or theory. It’s about the world we live in right now, every time we log in.
United States
