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The 5 Basic Laws of Human Stupidity
Delving into
a fascinating and cutting theory.
The
Basic Laws of Human Stupidity is
a short essay written by the Italian economist Carlo Cipolla. The first
edition was written in English and released in 1976. Originally, it was
intentionally distributed only among his friends on a confidential basis. The
reason is simple. That book was intended as a sort of joke, where he faced a
few serious topics in a lighthearted and not-to-be-taken-too-seriously way.
The most
famous excerpt is the one on human stupidity.
When addressing such a sensible
theme, he came up with an extravagant and interesting theory, which earned
him incredible success. Not only was the essay officially published, but it
was also translated into many languages and distributed worldwide.
Let’s dive into the 5 basic laws of
human stupidity.
First Basic Law
Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals
in circulation.
Stupid
people exist, but according to Cipolla you may be deeply underestimating
their number and influence in our society. He was so strongly convinced about
this that he asserted that “any numerical assumption would turn out to be
an underestimate”. This statement was obviously an exaggeration, part of
his playful writing style. On the other hand, such an idea should not be
taken too lightly. After all, this is not the first law by accident.
Please,
think about all the people that you had judged intelligent, before realizing
they were actually behaving stupidly and obtusely. If you are still not
convinced, Cipolla suggested an experiment. Go out in the street and see how
many people insist on obstructing you for no apparent reason. What would you
call their behavior if not stupid?
Second Basic Law
The probability that a certain person is stupid is independent of any
other characteristic of that person.
Cipolla
considered stupidity as a human characteristic, like having blond hair or black
eyes. Consequently, it cannot but be distributed roughly equally in all walks
of society, regardless of people’s level of education. “Whether one
frequents elegant circles or takes refuge among cannibals, whether they lock
themselves up in a monastery or decide to spend the rest of their life in the
company of a beautiful partner, the fact remains that they will always have
to deal with the same percentage of stupid people”, he concluded.
In this
pessimistic view, human beings are doomed to deal with stupidity. Also,
according to Cipolla, there are no safer places or solutions to avoid it. The
only thing you can do is accept this and live with it for the rest of your
existence.
Third Basic Law
A stupid person is one who causes losses to another person or a group
of people while they gain nothing or may even suffer losses.
Carlo
Cipolla considered this the golden and most important law, never to be
forgotten. He did not consider stupidity a matter of IQ, but rather a lack of
relational skills. In particular, he believed that it is possible to classify people based on their behavior.
Stupid people are the ones who harm others and often themselves. On the
contrary, the behavior of intelligent or overly naive people is aimed at
helping others.
Specifically,
he believed that stupid human beings behave in an irrational and
difficult-to-understand way. This does not mean that their actions do not
have an impact on your life.
On the contrary, you are very likely to remember
people who hindered you, causing you difficulties, frustrations, and
suffering. What is even more surprising, that such stupid people may not even
gain anything from their behavior. In fact, Cipolla stated that “there
are people who, by their illogic actions, not only cause harm to other
people, but also to themselves. Such people belong to the genus of the super
stupids.”
Fourth Basic Law
Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid
individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that in any
time and place and circumstance dealing and/or hanging out with stupid people
always turns out to be a costly mistake.
To make
this law clearer, Carlo Cipolla added that “stupid people are deadly
dangerous because reasonable people find it difficult to imagine and
understand stupid behavior”. In such a view, stupid people’s attacks
always catch intelligent ones by surprise. This makes it even more difficult
to come up with a rational defense. On the other hand, this would be of
little use since illogic actions cannot be understood using logic.
As a
result, by underestimating their power, you are vulnerable and always be at
the mercy of stupid people’s unpredictability. He was also convinced that
intelligent people tend to think that the stupid ones can only harm
themselves, that they are immune to their actions. This is a huge mistake
making reasonable people feel invulnerable, dangerously lowering their guard.
Fifth Basic Law
Stupid people are the most dangerous type of people.
This law
comes as a natural consequence of the previous and fourth basic law. Also, if
you have no clue about what Cipolla meant here, he made it even more obvious
by adding the following corollary:
A stupid person is more dangerous than a bandit.
Of the
five laws seen so far, this should be the most understandable and reasonable
one. In fact, common sense tells us that intelligent people, no matter how
hostile they may be, are predictable. In contrast, stupid people are not.
This subtle difference makes stupid people incredibly more fearsome than
intelligent people. In conclusion, this should be regarded as a kind of
compendium of his entire theory on human stupidity.
Conclusion
The
Italian economist Carlo Cipolla taught us that by using only irony and common
sense, it is possible to conceive captivating ideas. As we have just seen, he
was able to lightheartedly address human stupidity in a clear and incisive
way. By summarizing such a complex and controversial subject in five basic
laws, he devised a genuine and fascinating theory. Initially shared only with
his friends, that theory became internationally known, and it is now studied
in many disciplines.
Although it should not be taken too seriously, this
theory is something to keep in mind when inevitably hampered by human
stupidity.
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