the basic laws of human stupidity by carlo cipolla

Thus in the following pages I will denote the fraction of stupid people within a population by the symbol σ. The First Basic Law prevents me from attributing a specific numerical value to the fraction of stupid people within the total population: any numerical estimate would turn out to be an underestimate. The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity Author: Carlo M. No matter how high are one’s estimates of human stupidity, one is repeatedly and recurrently startled by the fact that:Ī) people whom one had once judged rational and intelligent turn out to be unashamedly stupid.ī) day after day, with unceasing monotony, one is harassed in one’s activities by stupid individuals who appear suddenly and unexpectedly in the most inconvenient places and at the most improbable moments.

Closer scrutiny will however reveal its realistic veracity. The first basic law of human stupidity asserts without ambiguity that: Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.Īt first, the statement sounds trivial, vague and horribly ungenerous. 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. Cipolla RELEASE DATE: ApIn a new edition of a self-published 1976 essay, Italian economic historian Cipolla (1922-2000) posits that the most dangerous people are the stupid ones. Cipolla, noted professor of economic history at the UC Berkeley, created this vitally important book in order to detect and neutralize its threat.

But Cipolla was convinced that we underestimated their number and influence in our lives and in society. In particular, we investigate under which hypotheses his theory is compatible with a. Carlo Cipolla, a former Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley, lists the basic laws of human stupidity: THE BASIC LAWS OF HUMAN STUPIDITY by Carlo M. Always and inevitably, each of us underestimates the number of stupid individuals in the world That there are stupid people in the world is well known. Abstract We set up an agent-based simulation to test Carlo M.

The basic laws of human stupidity by carlo cipolla