The collective intelligence of whole societies is called societal intelligence. Societal intelligence involves, among other things, accessible information flows and feedback loops so that relevant information is broadly available forums for effective dialogue where the meaning of such information can be explored the active involvement of citizens in these information flows and dialogues, and the ability of those citizens' perspectives to adapt as fuller understandings emerge. In many social and environmental problems the discourse is often extreme.
Intense discussions occur in widely diverse specialized groups.
Some may fear a catastrophe while others brush the problem off. There is precious little creative middle ground or dialogic space in which the merits of various perspectives can be compared and understood in nuanced ways, and more useful perspectives evolved. This suggests a need for greater societal intelligence. To help us understand how to pursue that objective, we can look at the sort of factors that undermine the three primary conditions for societal intelligence mentioned above. These add up to the cultural co-stupidity we find when we observe how whole societies respond to their pressing collective problems.