On a related note, the value of communications networks (email, IM, telephones, blogs, the post office) seem to increase on the order of n log (n) with respect to the number of users. One may even get negative value, because after something reaches a certain level of popularity, spammers start flocking to it and driving out legitimate communication. Consider all the junk mail you get—and note that junk faxes are illegal!
So I suspect our instincts are just plain noise when it comes to the value of joining large organizations.
Could be, but there are diseconomies of scale as well as economies of scale in large organizations.
On a related note, the value of communications networks (email, IM, telephones, blogs, the post office) seem to increase on the order of n log (n) with respect to the number of users. One may even get negative value, because after something reaches a certain level of popularity, spammers start flocking to it and driving out legitimate communication. Consider all the junk mail you get—and note that junk faxes are illegal!
So I suspect our instincts are just plain noise when it comes to the value of joining large organizations.