There are stupid people at Davos and at the UN General Assembly. Every category one can imagine-gender, race, nationality, education level, income-possesses a fixed percentage of stupid people. Law 2: The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.Ĭipolla posits stupidity is a variable that remains constant across all populations. 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 certain people are intelligent based on superficial factors like their job, education level, or other traits we believe to be exclusive of stupidity. Law 1: Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation. Let’s take a look at Cipolla’s five basic laws of human stupidity: The only way a society can avoid being crushed by the burden of its idiots is if the non-stupid work even harder to offset the losses of their stupid brethren. There are no defenses against stupidity, argued the Italian-born professor, who died in 2000. Cipolla explained, 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. In 1976, a 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. While I almost couldn’t stop laughing, I also couldn’t help but to admit it was spot on. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.I ran across this article last week. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals.

A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person while deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses themselves.

The probability that a certain person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.

Everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals among us. Both hilarious and dead serious, it will leave you better equipped to confront political realities, unreasonable colleagues, or your next dinner with your in-laws.ġ. Cipolla, noted professor of economic history at the UC Berkeley, created this vitally important book in order to detect and neutralize its threat. It has global catastrophic effects and can be found anywhere from the world's most powerful boardrooms to your local bar.Ĭarlo M. It is more powerful than the Mafia or the military. Throughout history, a powerful force has hindered the growth of human welfare and happiness. 'A masterly book' -Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan 'A classic' -Simon Kuper, Financial TimesĪn economist explains five laws that confirm our worst fears: stupid people can and do rule the world

The fundamental laws of human stupidity