Ralf Schmitz erklärt die Regeln von Die Weisheit der Vielen
B2 German listening practice · German · Curated for upper-intermediate learners
What does “die Weisheit der Vielen” mean in German?
The host explains the show’s whole idea: when many people each guess a number, the computer takes their average — and that average usually lands close to the truth, better than one person alone. He dares you to beat “die Vielen” (the many) just once on a strange quiz question and win 10,000 euros. Sounds easy, he says, but it is “verdammt schwer” — really hard. Why? Because the crowd is almost always right.
Spoken in the clip: “wenn ihr nur ein einziges Mal besser geschätzt habt … als die Vielen zusammen” — “if you guess better just one single time … than the many put together.” Here “die Vielen” is the whole crowd of guessers. The full phrase “die Weisheit der Vielen” names the belief behind the game. More examples: - “Die Weisheit der Vielen schlägt oft den einen Experten.” — The wisdom of the many often beats the single expert. - “Wir vertrauen hier der Weisheit der Vielen.” — Here we trust the wisdom of the many. - “Gegen die Vielen anzutreten ist schwer.” — Going up against the many is hard. Usage notes: “die Weisheit der Vielen” is a phrase borrowed from the English idea “wisdom of crowds.” “Weisheit” means wisdom; “der Vielen” means “of the many.” You will hear it used about polls, ratings, or group votes — anywhere a big group’s shared answer beats one lone guess.
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-DE 2011 (spoken). Buckets approximate; exact ranks not stored.