Reading a Sanskrit blogger today, of all places, I read of a work entitled “The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity” by the economist Carlo Cipolla (1922-2000). In it, Cipolla humorously illustrates five basic laws of human stupidity.
When I read the five laws, I particularly liked the second law:
The probability that a certain person will be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
The reason I liked #2 is that it seems to have this natural corollary:
Everyone must assume that they themselves are a stupid person.
Now that is real wisdom!
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Sources & Notes:
- sanscrite cogitare, sanscrite loqui: A blog by Elisa Freschi — La Sapienza University of Rome
- The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity: the essay with funny pics
- About Carlo Cipolla (wiki)
- See my post on Compartmentalization for an analogy of law # 2.
- HT to Jayarava for the meeting place for Elisa and his post addressing an aspect of our stupidity — from a Buddhist’s world.
That wuz mean! :P
You didn’t list all five laws. :D Now I have to go hunt’em down since pretty much everyone I know is stupid, including myself. ;)
Ribbit :)
I couldn’t agree more! There was a clever set of Geicko commercials with the same concept: “We all do dumb things. Paying too much for car insurance doesn’t have to be one of them.” I got a kick out of those. :-)
@ George: you are inspiring me to turn off smilies. They are as bad as ALL CAPS.
@ The Wise Fool: Great example.
This subject reminds me to recommend Steve Allen’s brilliant book, “Dumbth.” It’s about mind improvement.
But, perhaps, if you are open to knowing that you are stupid, that will make you exponentially less stupid than someone who denies that they are?
@Ex-Android:
I hadn’t heard of Allen’s book.
@Jessica:
Maybe that is true — on good days! :-)
Great concept! And agree with the all caps comment.
Ha! Then does one prove oneself to be not stupid by realising that one is (stupid)?