Before Galileo’s death nearly 400 years ago, Conventional Wisdom held that the earth—and not the sun—was the center of the universe. More recently, Conventional Wisdom held that smoking, drinking, stress, and diet caused peptic ulcers. Then, two Australian scientists, Robin Warren and Barry J. Marshall, showed that bacteria caused ulcers. Meanwhile, The Wisdom of Crowds, a book by James Surowiecki, contends that the collective conclusions by groups of individuals are often better than those made by any single member of the group. Well, maybe; maybe not. Remember that Galileo’s belief that the sun was the center of the universe was ultimately proved correct. Maybe conventional wisdom isn’t always right.