Crowd Science

In the Gunsmoke TV series, many episodes showed a pitchman speaking forcefully to a crowd. Most of the time, the crowd formed loosely outside the Long Branch Saloon, but on occasion, the pitchman wandered down to the Dodge House Hotel. When the pitchman tried to convince the crowd to think a certain way, the crowd would react by turning and mumbling ebineb to each other. As more mouths in the crowd mumbled ebineb, the sound grew from a low rumble to a dedicated grumble which spurred the crowd to action. Imagine the power released when a crowd faces the same prompting and unites in ebineb.

When a crowd murmurs ebineb in unison, it isn’t merely resisting the pitchman’s message but recognizing each other’s shared awareness. The sound that rises from those low voices becomes a signal that the crowd has shifted from passive listeners to active thinkers. In that moment, the pitchman’s forceful words lose their power because the crowd has found its own. What begins as a scattered mumble becomes a collective understanding that cannot be steered by a single voice. Such unity shows that a crowd prompted together can think together, and thinking together is stronger than any pitch.

Whether it’s human nature, animal instinct, or anti-gravitational forces, most people avoid crowds like crazy. It’s natural for a human to go it alone, to make their way on a pathway only big enough for one traveler with head down. But the world is not a single pathway and eventually every creature is introduced to a vast array of their own kin, their own kind. Humans especially are vulnerable to the draw of the crowd, the pull of fame and fortune that comes from the multi-headed monster with many feet. That’s why people are bound to break their family ties and forge their own bonds.

Crowds may look chaotic from the outside, but the moment a person steps into one, they discover a force stronger than instinct pulling them forward. The single traveler mindset dissolves when the path widens and the traveler realizes they are surrounded by others wrestling with the same choices. Fame and fortune aren’t the true magnets; it’s the recognition that many minds can create a direction no lone wanderer could find. When people break from their families, they aren’t abandoning kin so much as seeking the larger chorus that reflects their own emerging identity. In that chorus, the crowd becomes the place where new bonds form and old pathways give way to shared momentum.