Cycles of revenge between families and cultures (electronically mediated or not) are often viewed as organism behaviors. However they might also be seen as group behaviors elicited among individuals by an evolved survival mechanism for families and cultures.
In a complementary sense, social consensus may also be seen as an evolved survival trait for groups of organisms as well as a skill on the part of individuals. Social consensus in principle can give the group many eyes, many arms, and many brains!
Like most patterns of behavior it is also a double-edged sword. Thus for better and for worse, it has provided a path to domestication for many large mammals in today's human-communities (cf. Diamond 1999).
Consensus itself is also inherently inward-looking. Consider for example (cf. Kuhn 1962) the challenge of paradigm-change in science: Like organisms in a maze, consensus scientists may be good at working the system but have no reliable way to learn about the big picture i.e. about places where the particular maze they are running falls short.
Thus the perception of "experts in the old", i.e. the authorities of consensus, may understandably miss better paths that start below the point on the hill to which they've already climbed. This is a shortcoming that consensus communities should keep their eyes open for...
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