A system and method for algorithmic selection of a consensus from a
collection of ideas is disclosed. A group of ideas is provided to a group
of participants for voting. Voting may occur in a single round or in
several successive rounds, optionally until a consensus idea is chosen.
Typically, the votes that are cast use discrete levels, such as
"approve", "disapprove", "positive", "neutral" or "negative". For ideas
that receive the same votes, a differentiator may be the time spent
casting the vote. A relatively long evaluation time may signal some
internal conflict in the mind of the participant, when compared with a
relatively short evaluation time, which may signal no such conflict. The
evaluation time may be combined with the rating of the participant to
form a weighted rating. Consequently, a short evaluation time of a
positive rating may yield a more positive weighted rating, while a short
evaluation time of a negative rating may yield a more negative weighted
rating.