The five universal laws of human stupidity

[marble falls]

The five universal laws of human stupidity

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A reveller is tossed by a wild cow after the last running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, July 14, 2016.
Not just a danger to themselves. (Reuters/Susana Vera)


Written by
Corinne Purtill
April 29, 2017

https://qz.com/967554/the-five-universal-laws-of-human-stupidity/

<snip>

Stupid people, Carlo M. Cipolla explained, share several identifying traits: they are abundant, they are irrational, and they cause problems for others without apparent benefit to themselves, thereby lowering society’s total well-being. There are no defenses against stupidity, argued the Italian-born professor, who died in 2000. The only way a society can avoid being crushed by the burden of its idiots is if the non-stupid work even harder to offset the losses of their stupid brethren.

<snip>

Law 1: Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

No matter how many idiots you suspect yourself surrounded by, Cipolla wrote, you are invariably lowballing the total. This problem is compounded by biased assumptions that certain people are intelligent based on superficial factors like their job, education level, or other traits we believe to be exclusive of stupidity. They aren’t. Which takes us to:

Law 2: The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.

Cipolla posits stupidity is a variable that remains constant across all populations. Every category one can imagine—gender, race, nationality, education level, income—possesses a fixed percentage of stupid people. There are stupid college professors. There are stupid people at Davos and at the UN General Assembly. There are stupid people in every nation on earth. How numerous are the stupid amongst us? It’s impossible to say. And any guess would almost certainly violate the first law, anyway.

Law 3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

Cipolla called this one the Golden Law of stupidity. A stupid person, according to the economist, is one who causes problems for others without any clear benefit to himself.

<snip>

However, consistent stupidity is the only consistent thing about the stupid. This is what makes stupid people so dangerous. Cipolla explains:

<snip>

Law 4: Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.

We underestimate the stupid, and we do so at our own peril. This brings us to the fifth and final law:

Law 5: A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

And its corollary:

A stupid person is more dangerous than a bandit.

<snip>

[sandensea]

1. Stupidity is also akin to insanity:

Doing the same thing over and over - or applauding those who do - and expecting a different result.

I suppose we all have stupid moments, and a stupid side. But it definitely does help to bounce ideas off each other - hence the wisdom of places like DU.

[LiberalLovinLug]

2. A stupid person is more dangerous than a bandit.

Yup.
Because a stupid person is legion and can elect a bandit to subsequently rob them.

[lindysalsagal]

3. #6: Stupid people think everyone else is dumber than they are.

Even with evidence to the contrary.

[marble falls]

4. Like the entire cheetolini entourage - each person thinks they're the smartest person in the room.