A HOST OF LABORATORY experiments, as well as countless instances of real-world rituals, show that it’s possible to activate the group mind—to flip the hive switch, as it were—by “hacking” behavioral synchrony and physiological arousal. The key lies in creating a certain kind of group experience: real-time encounters in which people act and feel together in close physical proximity. Yet our schools and companies are increasingly doing just the opposite. Aided by technology, we are creating individual, asynchronous, atomized experiences for students and employees—from personalized “playlists” of
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