Stupidity Law #2 - Deepstash
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Stupidity 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.

209

1.95K reads

MORE IDEAS ON THIS

EURIPIDES

Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.

EURIPIDES

193

940 reads

Consistency Always Wins - The Revenge Of The Stupid

The non-stupid are a flawed and inconsistent bunch. Sometimes we act intelligently, sometimes we are selfish bandits, sometimes we act helplessly and are taken advantage of by others, and sometimes we’re a bit of both. The stupid, in comparison, are paragons of consistenc...

209

1.55K reads

Stupidity 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 certai...

216

2.6K reads

Stupidity 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 ...

232

1.91K reads

Decline And The Composition Of The Non-Stupid

Declining societies have the same percentage of stupid people as successful ones. But they also have high percentages of helpless people and, Cipolla writes, “an alarming proliferation of the bandits with overtones of stupidity.”

“Such change in the...

197

885 reads

Stupidity 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.

W...

200

1.08K reads

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

192

916 reads

Consistent Stupidity Is All The Stupid Have, But It’s Plenty

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

Essentially stupid people are dangerous and damaging because reasonable people find it difficult to imagine and understand u...

208

1.25K reads

Stupid People 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 prof...

226

2.85K reads

GEORGE CARLIN

Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.

GEORGE CARLIN

183

994 reads

ANATOLE FRANCE

Stupidity is far more dangerous than evil, for evil takes a break from time to time, stupidity does not.

ANATOLE FRANCE

188

994 reads

Stupidity Law #5

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

And its corollary:

A stupid person is more dangerous than a bandit.

We can do nothing about the stupid. The difference between societies that collapse under the weight of their stupid citizens ...

206

927 reads

The 4 Phenotypes - The 3 Non-Stupid

This law also introduces three other phenotypes that Cipolla says co-exist alongside stupidity.

First there is the intelligent person, whose actions benefit both himself and others.

Then there is the bandit, who benefits himself at others’ expense.

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ALBERT EINSTEIN

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

187

919 reads

A Double Attack - The Unforeseeable And The Patternless

You can foresee a bandit’s actions, his nasty maneuvres and ugly aspirations and often can build up your defenses.

With a stupid person all this is absolutely impossible as explained by Law # 3. A stupid creature will harass you for no reason, for no advantage, with...

209

1.06K reads

ALBERT EINSTEIN

The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.

ALBERT EINSTEIN

194

916 reads

The 4 Phenotypes Graph

The 4 Phenotypes Graph

Cipolla imagined the four types along a graph, like this:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_M._Cipolla#/media/File%3ACipolla-matrix.svg

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MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

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1K reads

MARK TWAIN

Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.

MARK TWAIN

201

962 reads

CURATED FROM

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xarikleia

“An idea is something that won’t work unless you do.” - Thomas A. Edison

In 1976, Carlo M. Cipolla, professor of economic history at the University of California, Berkeley published an essay outlining the fundamental laws of a force he perceived as humanity’s greatest existential threat: Stupidity. We (still) grossly underestimate the stupid, and we do so at our own peril.

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The basic laws of human stupidity

The basic laws of human stupidity

In 1976, Italian economist Carlo M Cipolla defined the laws as follows:

  • Everyone always underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
  • The probability that a specific person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic

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