A tale of Stupidity is incredibly interesting since it continuously shapes the history of humankind. Stupidity, without question, has an evolutionary role in human existence: it balances progress while systematically and relentlessly opposing growth, prosperity, and order of societies. It is chaotic, widely spread through the population, and constantly emerges as a driving force behind that one step backward just after humanity makes two steps forward.
Do you sometimes wonder why nature produces those fools you stumble upon daily, who actively or passively engage themselves in efforts producing such miserable results, both for individuals and the society? Well, I have good news for you. There was a man who made an excellent effort to examine the nature of Stupidity and presented his findings in a clear and compelling theory.
Carlo M. Cipolla was an Italian economic historian who lived between 1922-2000 and published (among others) a fascinating essay that later became a book: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. The book is quite short but presents a concise and well-written case. It emphasizes the danger and annoying traits of Stupidity or precisely stupid people. Cipolla formulates five basic laws with a commentary that help to see this problem from a proper perspective. He starts from basics:
‘A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring loses’
He also asserts an important, often overlooked factor – the reach:
‘Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation’…
[This law] … ‘prevents me from attributing a specific numerical value to the fraction of stupid people within the total of population: any numerical estimate would turn out to be an under-estimate’
Look around, and you can easily find those people nearby, they (and their actions) fit the description perfectly. And as you spend enough time thinking about that, you will slowly notice that there are more of such individuals than you have suspected and certainly more than you would like. Some of their faces will talk to you from the tv screens, smile to you from selfies, or shout out in comments under the articles you read.
If you think further, it becomes self-evident that they produce significantly more opinion and influence than merit, almost always overflowing the essential issues. Often taking over or destroying vital narratives. Yes, we always underestimate their number, reach, and influence.
Once you finally recognize the extent of this law, a new question emerges almost instantly: who are the other people who tirelessly endure the company and actions of stupid people faction {stupid faction}? The book gives a compelling answer with the same simplicity and insight:
‘…The fact is that reasonable people have difficulty in conceiving and understanding unreasonable behaviour… We all recollect occasions in which a fellow took actions which resulted in his gain and in our loss: we had to deal with the bandit. We also recollect cases in which a fellow took an action which resulted in his loss and our gain: we had to deal with with a helpless person. We can recollect cases in which a fellow took action by which both parties gained: he was intelligent. Such cases do indeed occur. But upon thoughtful reflection you must admit that these are not the events which punctuate most frequently our daily life. Our daily life is mostly made of cases in which we lose money and/or time and/or energy and/or appetite, cheerfulness and good health because of the improbable action of some preposterous creature who has nothing to gain and indeed gains nothing from causing us embarrassment, difficulties or harm. Nobody knows, understands or can possibly explain why that preposterous creature does what he does. In fact there is no explanation – or better, there is one explanation: the person in question is stupid…’
It is so simple, yet I can’t resist the surprise of how easily it fits into typical experiences. These observations are giving another fresh chance to examine the surrounding reality. Our radars are constantly scanning for the bandits – the most obvious threat. Of course, we notice the intelligent since they often stand out. Still, we are surprised by the new, vulnerable category of helpless and certainly are shocked by vivid underestimation of how we perceive contributions of the stupid.
From the basic laws introduced in the book, Cipolla derives, very convincingly, more troubling (I assume you can read news with some understanding, does not particularly matter if it is about politics, environmental risks, or mortgage financing) conclusions. He examines cases where society lets stupid people acquire power to lead or govern.
‘Stupidity and Power. Like all human creatures, also stupid people vary enormously in their capacity to affect their fellow men. Some stupid people normally cause only limited losses while others egregiously succeed in causing ghastly and widespread damages not only to one or two individuals but to entire communities or societies.’
‘Within a democratic system, general elections are a most effective instrument to insure the steady maintenance of traction {stupid faction} among the powerful….. and election offer to all of them at once a magnificent opportunity to harm everybody else without gaining anything from their action. They do so by contributing to the maintenance of the {stupid faction} level among those in power.’
Once democracy establishes the flowed order and empowers the agents of Stupidity by putting them in charge of our reality or assume any other type of authority – there is no way to avoid obvious (and from historical experience certain) consequences. Where the majority of actions result in no gain and cause harm to the other party – a decline of the whole system is the only possible outcome. Here comes the final and more profound conclusion, which I find particularly timely:
‘In a country which is moving downhill, the fraction of stupid people is still equal to {stupid faction}; however in the remaining population one notices among those in power an alarming proliferation of the bandits with overtones of Stupidity… and among those not in power an equally alarming growth in the number of helpless individuals…Such a change in the composition of the non-stupid population inevitably strengthens the destructive power of the {stupid faction} fraction and makes decline a certainty. And the country goes to Hell.’
Truly pragmatic and recommended lecture for those who want to understand why things so often go against reason and why essential loss to individuals in particular and all the population happens at the end.
There is another vital point that has to be made before I let you go back to your mundane follies or chores. In pre Internet society, within the media, there was a simple safety mechanism that prevented the total proliferation of Stupidity. You could not just publish or air anything that was based on a pure lie, harmful or malicious, at least you could not do that repeatedly or en masse. There was a funnel of people involved and concerned who assured that mainstream information and stories reaching the majority of the population, to a certain extent, were serious enough, fact-checked, and mostly as close to the truth as possible. Distinct exemptions were sooner or later eliminated or eventually downgraded to marginal distribution, I mean, within the scope of being material. There was some responsibility after all that we used to trust.
It is not the case in the age of the Internet when even the most stupid and damaging ideas can surface and flow freely without some significant power players interested in ceasing their existence. Anti-vaccination movements, conspiracy theories, psychologically harmful models of desire, deliberate marginalization/exclusion of groups or false political narratives, are just designed to feed and embolden Stupidity. Share numbers of followers confirm this inaccurate reflection of being right, and it is used as a self-tool to agitate and energize individuals who discovered the anonymity of the net and power of the mob.
Once you embrace this particular angle of view, it seems truly hard to let it go. Maybe what you can find further in the book would shed more light and value. For me, it’s pretty apparent that we tend to ignore Stupidity, we trifle it, we make laugh at it. We feel firmly above it. And yet there are people out there who see it as a precious asset that can be molded, steered, agitated, and focused on achieving their wicked goals. They also may laugh at it, but do not hesitate to use it to grow in power. Power they would otherwise never get, control over society or country we would never give to them consciously.
It happens only when the intelligent people become disconnected from real values, focused on distractions and lenient with abuse. This is where we stand now. Really. I mean, don’t be indifferent, don’t be the helpless one – leave your safe comfort zone and stay involved. Change what you can.