The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity
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4.3 • 11 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • An economist explains five laws that confirm our worst fears: stupid people can and do rule the world
"A masterly book" —Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan • "A classic" —Simon Kuper, Financial Times
Throughout history, a powerful force has hindered the growth of human welfare and happiness. It is more powerful than the Mafia or the military. It has global catastrophic effects and can be found anywhere from the world's most powerful boardrooms to your local bar.
It is human stupidity.
Carlo M. Cipolla, noted professor of economic history at the UC Berkeley, created this vitally important book in order to detect and neutralize its threat. Both hilarious and dead serious, it will leave you better equipped to confront political realities, unreasonable colleagues, or your next dinner with your in-laws.
The Laws:
1. Everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals among us.
2. The probability that a certain person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person while deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses themselves.
4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals.
5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Stupidity is "one of the most powerful dark forces that hinder the growth of human welfare and happiness," according to this tongue-in-cheek treatise originally published in a 1976 private edition. Cipolla (1922 2000), a professor of economic history at UC Berkeley, argues that, of the four types of human beings ("the helpless, the intelligent, the bandit, and the stupid"), a stupid person is the most dangerous to society because he "causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses." Though every group has the same percentage of stupid people, their actual numbers are always underestimated, Cipolla posits. Previously, class, caste, and religion guaranteed that stupid people rose to power, but nowadays general elections achieve the same ends by offering stupid voters "a magnificent opportunity to harm everybody else without gaining anything from their action." In countries on the decline, Cipolla writes, "bandits with overtones of stupidity" proliferate in the corridors of power, while the rest of the population sees an "alarming growth in the number of helpless individuals." Cipolla never drops his arch, academic tone to reveal his political views, but progressive readers looking for parallels to the Trump era will find plenty in this subtly lacerating account.
