Cipolla’s 5 Laws of Human Stupidity

In 1976, Carlo Cipolla, a professor of  economic history, derived a social law, by which we can group people into four  categories: The first he called “the helpless”, the second are “the intelligent”, the third are  “the bandits”, and the last are “the stupid”. The stupid person is the most  dangerous type of person, and in groups far more powerful than the Mafia,  the Military or Communism, Cipolla warned. To arrive at this conclusion, we need to  understand his 5 Basic Laws of Human Stupidity.

1: Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates  the number of stupid individuals in circulation. 2: The probability that a person is stupid  is independent of any other characteristic of that person. Education, wealth or  status have nothing to do with it.

3: A stupid person is someone who causes losses  to other people while himself deriving no gain. 4: Non-stupid people always underestimate  the damaging power of stupid people and keep forgetting that to deal with stupid people  always turns out to be a costly mistake. 5: A stupid person is the most dangerous type  of person, even more dangerous than a bandit.

Cipolla then considers four factors of human  behavior. A person can cause benefits to others, benefits to themselves, losses to  others and losses to themselves. If Tom takes an action and suffers a loss,  he’s helpless.

If Tom benefits himself, while also benefiting Jerry, he’s  intelligent. If Tom helps himself, but causes Jerry a loss, he's a bandit. And if  Tom does something that’s of no benefit to him, but causes Jerry a loss he’s stupid. 

Ineffectual people are in the center. Let's now look at the effects  of these groups on society. Helpless people contribute to society  but are taken advantage of by others, especially bandits.

And so  their contribution is limited. Note that extreme altruists  or pacifists may willingly accept a place in this category for moral reasons. Intelligent people contribute  to society and leverage their contributions into reciprocal benefits.

Their actions lead to a net gain to society, which is why helpless people should  always support intelligent ones. Bandits pursue their own self-interest  and enrich themselves, even when doing so poses a harm to society. Helpless and  intelligent people should try to stop them.

Stupid people always contribute to a net loss to society. But not only that. As  they do so for no obvious reason, Their actions also frustrate,  anger and confuse everyone else.

Against major cultural trends among his fellow  intellectuals, Cipolla was convinced that men are not equal. That some are stupid and others  are not, and that the difference is determined by nature and nothing else. One is stupid  in the same way one is red-haired, he wrote.

Cipolla warned that the damaging potential  of the stupid person therefore depends on the amount of stupidity inherited, as well  as their position of power in a society. Among bureaucrats, generals and politicians one has little difficulty in finding clear  examples of basically stupid individuals, whose damaging capacity was alarmingly enhanced  by the position of the power they occupied. What are your thoughts on stupidity?

Are  people born or made stupid? Or is it, as usual, more complex, and is there  an interrelationship between the two? Share your thoughts, and read more  about Cipolla's work and amusing essay — which originally was only intended  for friends — in the descriptions below.

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