Imagine a nuclear power plant. There’s a need to determine how to distribute the fuel load in the reactor. Where to place which fuel with what enrichment, where to transfer partially burned assemblies, where to put fresh ones, and so on. There is a standard regulation that outlines the principles for doing this. The regulation is the result of the work, knowledge, and many years of experience of a large number of scientists and engineers.
But let’s imagine that at the nuclear plant, they decide that in order to make the right decision and consider everyone’s opinions, they need to gather a “fuel committee” and hear what the transporters have to say about the most efficient way to transport the assemblies, what the economists think about costs, what the accountants say regarding finances, what the procurement team has to say about the purchasing schedule, and what the waste management team suggests about how and where to dispose of the fuel. They also need input from the HR department regarding the availability of specialists and their vacation schedules, as well as from the sanitation service concerning the planned radiation doses.
Yes, of course, all departments are involved in the fuel loading process. And if you ask all of them, the solution will be obvious — do not load the fuel. However, the voice of the one engineer who is familiar with the regulations will simply be drowned out or lost in the voting. Or worse, they will get into unproductive debates and postpone the decision for another month. That’s why this doesn’t happen at nuclear power plants. Yet, for some reason, in other fields, it is commonly believed that ten incompetent people can make a more competent decision than one competent person (or, at the very least, someone who is genuinely responsible according to their job description), despite the existing experience, regulations, and knowledge. And if these people have doubts about their own competence, they decide to call in a couple more people, whose competence will be evaluated by… the same ten.