Five Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)
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Five Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)
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Re: Five Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)
#2"stupidity" I'd rather think of this as "wasted potential" the reason you reach for this pejorative label is due to frustration.
A wise man once said that there is nothing more common than wasted potential, in that sense I agree with some of this article.
Re: Five Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)
#3"stupidity" I'd rather think of this as "wasted potential" the reason you reach for this pejorative label is due to frustration. A wise man once said that there is nothing more common than wasted potential, in that sense I agree with some of this article.
It is vital when reading this to understand that it is descriptive, not proscriptive. It defines a particular definition of stupidity, a very utilitarian one, and then proceeds to classify various portions of the world based on that definition.
It does not spell that out right at the beginning, or even necessarily at all. But it is not discussing all possible uses of the word "stupid". "Wasted potential" definitely doesn't work for discussions about active harm being done (at some points).
(As such, another common critique I see is trying to decide if it's "right" or "wrong", but that's the wrong question. As it proposes a definition, one that I think undeniably does have the ability to be applied to the world, the question is rather if it is useful. I have found it so, but that's debatable. But that's at least the correct debate.)
Re: Five Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)
#4This is so horrible on so many levels
But at the same time oh man do I so totally identify with this
And now I feel a bit guilty
Re: Five Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)
#5I would propose a more measured approach to this subject. To (mis)quote Jesus, "let he who has never done anything stupid in his life cast the first (metaphorical) stone". There certainly are people who do stupid things all the time, but there also are people who do stupid things relatively rarely, and those things can still have costly consequences. For instance, I once totaled a car because I trusted that another stupid person who was signaling a right turn would actually turn right (fortunately nobody was hurt, but my car was wrecked). I felt really stupid for months after that...
Re: Five Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)
#6These are great.
I've always used a rule of thumb.
Dumb = ignorant, seems to get better with more knowledge
Stupid = confidently wrong to the point of net negative for everyone, seems to get worse with more knowledge
Re: Five Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)
#7I would propose a more measured approach to this subject. To (mis)quote Jesus, "let he who has never done anything stupid in his life cast the first (metaphorical) stone". There certainly are people who do stupid things all the time, but there also are people who do stupid things relatively rarely, and those things can still have costly consequences. For instance, I once totaled a car because I trusted that another s…
I find the car signalling problem interesting.
Where I was born people trust the turn signalling and drive early. When I moved to the UK I (luckily) quickly realised you cannot do this here. Everyone waits until the car actually starts turning before driving. Even if it's signalling, no one trusts that, possibly creating less pressure for correct signalling. It makes traffic slightly slower but avoids the possibility of (this type of) accidents.
Counter-intuitively, worse drivers leads to fewer accidents.
Re: Five Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)
#8The thing about this stupidity is that it's the thrill of being the cause and, as the essay observes, it is not just low-IQ or low "class" people who indulge. Some people like to steal stop signs, and some people like to ruin their co-workers' reputations. It has little to do with actual low intelligence, but it is irrational and unpredictable.
The most dangerous people, though, are bandits who figure out how to use stupid people for their own purposes. They can turn uncorrelated human stupidity, moderated by the central limit theorem, into correlated human stupidity and use it as a weapon. They come with armies; they become the bosses.
Re: Five Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)
#9These are great. I've always used a rule of thumb. Dumb = ignorant, seems to get better with more knowledge Stupid = confidently wrong to the point of net negative for everyone, seems to get worse with more knowledge
Sounds like this goes against the old saying "I may be stupid but I'm not dumb", i.e. I'm not book smart but I have common sense.
Re: Five Laws of Human Stupidity (1976)
#10The thing about this stupidity is that it's the thrill of being the cause and, as the essay observes, it is not just low-IQ or low "class" people who indulge. Some people like to steal stop signs, and some people like to ruin their co-workers' reputations. It has little to do with actual low intelligence, but it is irrational and unpredictable. The most dangerous people, though, are bandits who figure out how to use…
Having seen the posted articles quite a few times in past years, this is the first case of a comment contributing a new idea to the riff. Thumbs up!