Systems and methods for real-time collaborative computing and collective intelligence are disclosed. A collaborative application runs on a collaborative server connected to a plurality of portable computing devices. During repeated time-steps each portable computing device receives user input regarding a media item and sends an indication of the user input to the collaborative server. The collaborative application determines a Group Approval value based at least in part on the indications of the user inputs and sends an indication of the Group Approval value to the portable computing devices.