The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

Dear Son

while driving to Beachy Head, we were talking about stupidity. I mentioned about the laws of human stupidity to you. When you grow up, if you are really unlucky, you will be faced with stupidity. In that unfortunate event and to prepare to deal with this unfortunate event, its best to learn about stupidity. So first some quotes and then the laws.

"Many journalists have fallen for the conspiracy theory of government. I do assure you that they would produce more accurate work if they adhered to the cock-up theory." - Sir Bernard

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity, but don't rule out malice" Heinlein's Razor

"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." Hanlon's Razor

THE BASIC LAWS OF HUMAN STUPIDITY
by Carlo M. Cipolla

1.Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
2.The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
3.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.
4.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.
5.A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

You can read the full article here.

First and foremost, remember this, you WILL be stupid sometimes. Don't make the mistake of thinking that stupidity occurs to other people. No it doesn't, you will be stupid yourself. Its the BD law of stupidity. If you do not believe me, just ask your mum, she will corroborate the statement that I am frequently stupid. (for that matter, all women in your life and my life will corroborate this). But I am getting away from the main argument.

The laws are pretty self explanatory. Have a think about it, son, you will find these people in every walk of life, from the checkout girl to the doctors, from the politician to the immigration clerk, from the banker to the journalist. They are everywhere. And the first law states that there are more stupid people than you think. And you can be stupid, 10 academic degrees and you will still be finding stupid elements in that man. But worse is the 3rd law. If these people kept to themselves, then their stupidity will not be an issue for you other than being vaguely funny. But their stupidity is going to impact you one day or other. They will muck up your medical diagnosis, they will screw up your credit card bill, they will write bad things about you, etc. etc. Be warned. And the fourth law says that the impact of their stupidity will be much higher than what you would expect, not least because the person who you turn to help get out of the stupidity impact of the first person can be stupid themselves (count yourself in this category) therefore making matters worse. Ergo the fifth law, a stupid person is the most dangerous type of person. Stay away from them, Kannu, they can really muck up your life.

Love

Baba