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 one who causes problems for others without any clear benefit to himself.
340
2.79K reads
CURATED FROM
IDEAS CURATED BY
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.
“
The idea is part of this collection:
Learn more about strategy with this collection
How to set clear objectives
How to follow up after a meeting
How to manage time effectively
Related collections
Similar ideas to Stupidity Law #3
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
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 ...
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.
Read & Learn
20x Faster
without
deepstash
with
deepstash
with
deepstash
Personalized microlearning
—
100+ Learning Journeys
—
Access to 200,000+ ideas
—
Access to the mobile app
—
Unlimited idea saving
—
—
Unlimited history
—
—
Unlimited listening to ideas
—
—
Downloading & offline access
—
—
Supercharge your mind with one idea per day
Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.
I agree to receive email updates