In his essay, “The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity,” published in 1976, the late Prof. Carlo M. Cipolla opines that stupid people, as a group, are devoid of regulations, leaders, or manifesto but nonetheless operate to great effect and with incredible coordination.
Prof. Cipolla, outlines five universal laws of human stupidity:
Law 1: Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
Law 2: The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
Law 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.
Law 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.
Law 5: A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.
Based on Law 3, Prof. Cipolla then went ahead to categorize people, based on benefits or losses an individual occasion to self, and benefit or losses caused by an individual to others:
Helpless people – Those who immensely contribute to society but are taken advantage by it, especially by bandits.
Intelligent people – contribute to society and leverage their contributions in pursuit of reciprocal benefits.
Stupid people – whose efforts are damaging to their interests and those of others.
Helpless people – Those who immensely contribute to society but are taking advantage of it, especially by bandits. stupid people, as a group, are devoid of regulations, leaders, or manifesto but nonetheless operate to great effect and with incredible coordination.
I wonder what is your take on Amat Bah’s recent identity politics and categorization Of his opponents as Rats . I am curious to know what is your take on his tribal vitriol because I have once read your article on this subject. I am hoping that when we have such a despicable comments from Amat Bah , you will be the first to condemn him like almost every one has condemned him. I don’t see your reaction. In this article, the title did not say anything about the content of the article- thus it is misleading. The stupidity of tribalism is for the tribalists to gain something for their selfish interest at the expense of destroying the country. I look forward to see your reaction on the Amat Bah’s vicious tribal politics when he stupidly claimed that Fula should not vote for the rats because they would suffer if they Do . Mr Bah’s also claim that Fula should vote for Mr Barrow because their existence in the country depends on it . Since you have in the past expressed outrage at the identity politics in more coded language I have observed, it would be interesting to see your reaction this time but so far it is deafening silence . I hope I am wrong .