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Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)

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Re: Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)

#31

Post by yodsanklai »

> Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

I think it's very arrogant and pretentious to call other people 'stupid' and I try to refrain from doing it. We all know people who are much smarter than us, surely we must sound stupid to them. Besides, one can be stupid for one thing (say mathematics) and shine for something else (raising kids or playing the trumpet).

That being said, I can't help thinking a lot of people are stupid, especially when I read news or youtube comments. It's amazing how so many people can be dumb, mean, uneducated and bitter.

Re: Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)

#33

Post by jondubois »

kdamken wrote: post #15

What makes a person stupid? If I have a friend who squanders their money while I save and build up wealth, are they stupid? What if they have a much happier and more fulfilling life than I do? If you have a difficult job (like brain surgeon), but are terrible at most of the other parts of your life, does that make you stupid? Are slow readers stupid? What if they invent a product or start a business that makes them a…

I thought this article was written by Nassim Taleb initially but it sounded too harsh even for him.

Like the author of this article, Taleb also discusses stupid people in several of his books... Often drawing attention to "the educated idiot" which is basically a person who is highly educated, knows a lot of stuff and who is perhaps productive or successful in society but they get caught up in social thinking trends (group think) instead of coming up with their own conclusions - So in essence, you could say that these people don't actually think; they just mindlessly follow popular opinion - Therefore they're idiots.

For example, if I did not see any irony in what I've just written above, then it's possible I could be an idiot too; mindlessly paraphrasing a thought leader...

Re: Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)

#34

Post by srrge »

Sniffnoy wrote: post #30
srrge wrote: post #24

I feel this is one thing that differentiate the European political cultures and the US political culture. In Europe I feel we do better understand that people are stupid (in general). They won't insure their health, they'll kill you for $50, they won't pay the price for an education. That's why we don't have guns, we have mostly free healthcare and universities. In the US, I feel you guys hope or would like that peop…

I'll let Sarah Constantin make this argument for me: https://srconstantin.wordpress.com/2017/06/27/in-defense-of-... :)

I think individualism is a respectable philosophy. Thank you for sharing this article.

I think however that a reasonable person would also consider that social policies may have great benefits for herself as an individual.

For example:

- If stupids don't have access to war weapons, maybe it will be more difficult for them to mass murder ME.

- If the stupids have to vaccinate and can get healthcare, maybe they won't spread viruses and diseases to ME.

- If the stupids have a degree maybe they can create value instead of ruining ME through welfare taxes.

Re: Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)

#35

Post by hectorlorenzo »

leaveyou wrote: post #27
srrge wrote: post #24

I feel this is one thing that differentiate the European political cultures and the US political culture. In Europe I feel we do better understand that people are stupid (in general). They won't insure their health, they'll kill you for $50, they won't pay the price for an education. That's why we don't have guns, we have mostly free healthcare and universities. In the US, I feel you guys hope or would like that peop…

I see your point but it also implies that Europe breeds the stupid while US allows them to extract themselves from the gene pool.. not a very nice perspective for me (as an European)

According to the article, extracting stupid people from the gene pool won't affect the ratio of stupid people present in society. σ remains constant no matter what.

Re: Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)

#36

Post by ckastner »

yodsanklai wrote: post #31

> Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation. I think it's very arrogant and pretentious to call other people 'stupid' and I try to refrain from doing it. We all know people who are much smarter than us, surely we must sound stupid to them. Besides, one can be stupid for one thing (say mathematics) and shine for something else (raising kids or playing the trumpet). T…

> We all know people who are much smarter than us, surely we must sound stupid to them [...]

I believe you misunderstood the article, because the "stupid" it discusses isn't relative. Quite the contrary: the third (and golden) basic law states that

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.

Re: Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)

#37

Post by RikNieu »

warent wrote: post #12

Is this thesis intentionally ironic? What exactly is the utility? On a human level, loss and gain are subjective. The definition of a "stupid" person therefore requires complete context and access to their subjective state. Therefore this doesn't provide any gain to the "intelligent" person to help resolve the situation. However, from the perspective of a potential stupid person who is by definition self-destructive,…

The category you're looking for is 'humour'.

You may not find it funny, but that was it's intent.

Re: Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)

#38

Post by paulajohnson »

kdamken wrote: post #15

What makes a person stupid? If I have a friend who squanders their money while I save and build up wealth, are they stupid? What if they have a much happier and more fulfilling life than I do? If you have a difficult job (like brain surgeon), but are terrible at most of the other parts of your life, does that make you stupid? Are slow readers stupid? What if they invent a product or start a business that makes them a…

"If I have a friend who squanders their money while I save and build up wealth, are they stupid?"

No, they are probably "helpless". If they actually have a more fulfilling life then they may be "intelligent".

The distinguishing feature of "stupid" people in this typology is that they are the ones who cause grief to others with no gain to themselves. This is not the same as being unintelligent; the intro to the article points out that nobel laureates are just as likely to be stupid as anyone else.

Re: Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)

#39

Post by lloeki »

alain_gilbert wrote: post #17
kdamken wrote: post #15

What makes a person stupid? If I have a friend who squanders their money while I save and build up wealth, are they stupid? What if they have a much happier and more fulfilling life than I do? If you have a difficult job (like brain surgeon), but are terrible at most of the other parts of your life, does that make you stupid? Are slow readers stupid? What if they invent a product or start a business that makes them a…

From the text: "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." I think all of your examples give the person some gain, or causes good to others.

The textual definition is slightly off: there are stupid people who cause no loss to anyone but themselves†. Think of stupid people doing stupid things you can see on gifs and youtube where their attempt at doing something ranges from extremely unlikely to completely impossible to achieve in a very obvious way combined with a strong likeliness that Things Go Wrong in a very immediate and physical way. So the value on the Y axis (loss to other) can be zero.

I posit a better definition of stupidity that includes a lack of foresight of "obvious"†† damaging consequences would be more appropriate. A corollary would be Einstein's possibly apocryphal definition of insanity.

† OK unless the guy lives in the most remote area, there will probably be emergency services involved.

†† What's obvious to one may not be obvious to another, and it's a common mistake to conflate lack of knowledge with lack of foresight. We should strive to be kind in our expectations, yet the fact remains that some people are profoundly stupid to the point of being survivally challenged.

Re: Basic Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)

#40

Post by scandox »

I have never met a stupid person. Unwise, thoughtless, ignorant, uncouth, vain, angry - yes. Stupid no. I have never met someone I believed I could not make understand something, if I articulated it in the right way. I never met someone who, if confronted with a wrong action was intellectually incapable of understanding what was wrong: emotionally yes, but not intellectually.

I think stupid is just an inaccurate term and being pejorative brings little to any understanding of a situation or a person.

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