Stupidity Law #4 - Deepstash

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.

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

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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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