It seems several readers have never heard of Professor Carlo M. Cipolla's five basic laws of human stupidity. I've known of them for some years, and it's astonishing how often they apply!
The five laws, in their basic form, are:
- Always and inevitably each of us underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
- The probability that a given person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic possessed by that person.
- A person is stupid if they cause damage to another person or group of people without experiencing personal gain, or even worse causing damage to themselves in the process.
- Non-stupid people always underestimate the harmful potential of stupid people; they constantly forget that at any time anywhere, and in any circumstance, dealing with or associating themselves with stupid individuals invariably constitutes a costly error.
- A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person there is.
There's an excellent analysis and explanation of the laws in this article, along with some delightful illustrations. Recommended (and amusing) reading.
Peter
"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life son."
ReplyDeleteDean Vernon Wormer of Faber College
Having spent most of my life as a salesman, meeting hundreds of people every year, I can attest to the accuracy of these laws. Despite my world-class level of cynicism, the first law still applies to me. Every day.
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