"Wisdom of the Crowd" takes the viewer on a ride exploring the most important societal issue of our time; Privacy vs Security in the digital age. America is one the most, if not the most voyeuristic societies in the history of the world, we love to watch others. This is evident by the 19 seasons, now going on 20 seasons of the CBS hit reality show, "Big Brother," as well as numerous other movies and shows tackling the issue. That being said, there are few societal luxuries that are held more sacred than that of privacy in the United States. Wisdom, uniquely brings this question to the forefront of American dialogue and debate. The show tackles the question, "how much bad is tolerable if in the end there is more good?"
Wisdom, follows lead character Jeffrey Tanner (Jeremy Piven) on his mission to bring his daughter's killer to justice using a crowd-sourced interface that he created. The basic premise sends chills up my spine as I remember the crowd-sourced Reddit mayhem that ensued after the Boston Marathon Bombings in 2013, in which a photo of an innocent man was posted to a Reddit forum. The open forum that Reddit provides caused the situation to quickly spiral out of control. The trial was opened and closed minutes later with a unanimous vote of guilty. The show takes an interesting look at both the criminal justice system as well as our societal need of 'nowism' and the impact that technology can and will have on both.
Wisdom, finds balance in Detective Tommy Cavanaugh (Richard T. Jones) who sees the danger in the interface and works to draw lines between right and wrong, dangerous and safe. His hesitation can be seen in an exchange of dialogue early in the episode in which Cavanaugh argues; "We have this thing called the Constitution, which protects people's privacy." To which, Tanner responds "Privacy, we gave that up a long time ago so we can watch cat videos on our phone." Cavanaugh and Tanner will surely continue this debate as will those who decide to tune in. In a post-Snowden world, "Wisdom of the Crowd" has the potential to be THE 'water-cooler' show of the season.
