Irwin
Well-known Member
- Location
- Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
In keeping with @fuzzybuddy's theme for today, here's a question for you... According to the following definitions, into which category do you fit?
These are Cipolla's five fundamental laws of stupidity:
As is evident from the third law, Cipolla identifies two factors to consider when exploring human behaviour:
- Helpless people - contribute to society but are taken advantage of by it (and especially by the "bandit" sector of it); note, however, that extreme altruists and pacifists may willingly and consciously (rather than helplessly) accept a place in this category for moral or ethical reasons
- Intelligent people - contribute to society and who leverage their contributions into reciprocal benefits
- Bandits - pursue their own self-interest even when doing so poses a net detriment to societal welfare
- Stupid people - whose efforts are counterproductive to both their and others' interests
These are Cipolla's five fundamental laws of stupidity:
- Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
- The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
- A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
- Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places, and under any circumstances, to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
- A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.
As is evident from the third law, Cipolla identifies two factors to consider when exploring human behaviour:
- Benefits and losses that an individual causes to him or herself.
- Benefits and losses that an individual causes to others.
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