The crowd of futurists

Here’s a conference I wish I could attend: the prediction markets summit.

Smart mobs, swarms, information markets, crowd wisdom, communities, trade exchanges social networks and knowledge markets — all are getting a lot of popular attention today. Why? Because they are highly effective.

Top knowledge scientists, information market practitioners, business school professors, think tanks and prediction market tool providers are converging for a one-day Summit in San Francisco/Silicon Valley on Prediction Markets.

It’s not just about predictions, of course. It’s about the crowd’s ability to define relevance (see: Google) and taste (see: Flickr interestingness) and news (Digg.com) and topics (Del.icio.us).

: There’s a company devoted to prediction markets.