Homophily

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophily

Tendency of similar people to seek each other. There is a negative side to this: lack of diversity, leading to poor decisions.

To better understand this phenomenon, I spoke with Scott Page, one of the leading researchers of diversity in the world and a Professor of Complex Systems, Political Science, and Economics at The University of Michigan. He shared an example that flipped my perspective on the importance of diversity:

If you could ask 5 people for advice on the value of a new home you’re purchasing, who would you rather ask? 5 realtors (ie - experts)? Or 5 people from different professions (realtor, neighbor, local politician, an architect, and a handyman)?

It is very likely that if you ask 5 realtors, you are going to get a lot of the same data; just said slightly different. If all people in one group are coming to the same conclusion, you may want to be skeptical, because you may be in an echo chamber. Conversely, if very different people are saying the same thing, they’re probably right. The likelihood of people using very different data and perspectives and arriving at the same conclusion is low.