Cipolla believes that stupidity is a variable in all populations that remains constant. Whether it`s gender, nationality, race, education level, or income, they all own a percentage of stupid people. That is, there are stupid university professors and stupid people in the United Nations General Assembly. In all the nations of the earth there are stupid people, but it is impossible to give a figure; And if you do, you are violating the first law. Constant stupidity, however, is the only coherent thing about stupidity. That`s what makes stupid people so dangerous. Cipolla explains: Cipolla called this the golden law of stupidity. A stupid person, according to the economist, is someone who causes problems for others without having a clear advantage for himself. Let`s take a look at Cipolla`s five fundamental laws of human stupidity as they apply to investing and markets today. No matter how many idiots you suspect you are surrounded by, Cipolla wrote, you are invariably weak. This problem is exacerbated by biased assumptions that some people are smart based on superficial factors such as their job, education level, or other traits that we believe preclude stupidity.
This is not the case. This brings us to this: Cipolla postulates that stupidity is a variable that remains constant across all populations. Every category you can think of – gender, race, nationality, education level, income – has a fixed percentage of stupid people. This law also introduces three other phenotypes that, according to Cipolla, coexist with stupidity. First of all, there is the intelligent man, whose actions benefit both himself and others. Then there is the bandit who favors himself at the expense of others. And finally, there are the powerless, whose actions enrich others at their own expense. Cipolla imagined the four types along a graph as follows: Cipolla calls it the golden law of stupidity. A stupid person, according to the economist, is a person who causes problems to others without having a clear benefit for himself. Uncle couldn`t help but post fake articles on Facebook? It`s stupid. The receptionist at your hotel who keeps you on the phone for an hour, hangs up twice and always manages to ruin your reservation? Stupid².
Bandits? Think of the Balkans. On the other hand, a stupid person is extremely rare. Apart from my former colleague, who assured me that Hiroshima took place during the Vietnam War, I didn`t think of anyone. But this brings us back to the first law of stupidity: everyone always and inevitably underestimates the number of stupid people in circulation. According to Cipolla, stupid people share several identifying traits: they are irrational, they are abundant and they cause problems to others without obviously having any benefit for themselves, which decreases the well-being of society as a disease. The professor also argued that there is no defense against stupidity. Let`s take a look at Cipolla`s five fundamental laws of human stupidity: Cipolla wrote that you invariably keep the total number of idiots low because no matter how many idiots you think you`re surrounded, there are always more. The reason for this is the skewed assumption that people associate smart people with a job title, education level, or other characteristics that are supposed to prevent stupidity. This connects us to Bill 2. The result is that „stupidity” diminishes the general well-being of society and there is no defense against stupidity. According to Cipolla: Declining societies have the same percentage of stupid people as successful ones.
But they also have a high percentage of defenseless people and, Cipolla writes, „an alarming spread of bandits with shades of stupidity.” „A masterful book” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan „A Classic” – Simon Kuper, Financial Times An economist explains five laws that confirm our worst fears: Foolish people can and do rule the worldThroughout history, a powerful force has hindered the growth of human well-being and happiness. It is more powerful than the mafia or the army. It has global catastrophic effects and can be found everywhere from the world`s most powerful meeting rooms to your local bar. This is human stupidity. Carlo M. Cipolla, a well-known professor of economic history at UC Berkeley, created this extremely important book to recognize and neutralize its threat. Both hilarious and deadly serious, it will make you better equipped to deal with political realities, unreasonable colleagues or your next dinner with your in-laws. Laws: 1.
Everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals among us. 2.La likelihood of a particular person being stupid is independent of that person`s other characteristics. 3.A stupid person is a person who inflicts losses on another person without making a profit and may even suffer losses himself. 4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the evil power of stupid individuals. 5. A stupid person is the most dangerous kind of person. Cipolla postulates that stupidity is a variable that remains constant across all populations.
Every category you can think of – gender, race, nationality, education level, income – has a fixed percentage of stupid people. There are stupid university professors. There are stupid people in Davos and in the United Nations General Assembly. There are stupid people in every nation of the earth. How many of us are stupid? It`s impossible to say. And any hypothesis would almost certainly violate the first law anyway. In 1976, a professor of economic history at the University of California, Berkeley published an essay describing the fundamental laws of a force he perceived as humanity`s greatest existential threat: stupidity. This is the golden law of stupidity according to Cipolla.
A person who causes a problem to others without having a clear positive result for himself is apparently stupid. Cipolla says there are three other phenotypes that coexist with stupidity. Stupid people, Carlo M. Cipolla explained, share several identifying traits: they are abundant, they are irrational and they cause problems to others without having any obvious benefit for themselves, thus diminishing the general well-being of society. There is no defense against stupidity, argued the Italian-born professor, who died in 2000. The only way for a society to avoid being crushed by the burden of its idiots is for non-stupids to work even harder to make up for the losses of their stupid brothers.