Previously:
Chapter 6
Stupidity and Power
Like all human creatures, also stupid people vary enormously in their capacity to affect their fellow men. Sorne stupid people normally cause only limited losses while others egregiously succeed in causing ghastly and widespread damages not only to one or two individuals but to entire communities or societies. The damaging potential of the stupid person depends on two major factors. First of all, it depends on the genetic factor.
Sorne individuals inherit exceptional doses of the gene of stupidity and by virtue of inheritance they belong from birth to the élite of their group. The second factor which determines the potential of a stupid person is related to the position of power and consequence which he occupies in society. Among bureaucrats, generals, politicians and heads of state one has little difficulty in finding clear examples of basically stupid individuals whose damaging capacity was ( or is) alarmingly enhanced by the position of power which they occupied ( or occupy) . Religious dignitaries should not be overlooked.
The question that reasonable people often raise is how and why stupid people can reach positions of power and consequence.
Class and caste were the social arrangements which favored the steady supply of stupid people to positions of power in most societies of the preindustrial world. Religion was another contributing factor. In the modern industrial world class and caste are banished both as words and as concepts and religion is fading away. But in lieu of class and caste we have political parties and bureaucracy and in lieu of religion we have democracy. Within a democratic system, general elections are a most effective instrument to insure the steady maintenance of fraction rY among the powerful. One has to keep in mind that according to the Second Basic Law, the fraction rY of the voting population are stupid people and elections offer to all of them at once a magnificent opportunity to harm everybody else without gaining anything from their action.
They do so by contributing to the maintenance of the rY level among those in power.
Chapter 7
The Power of Stupidity
It is not difficult to understand how social, political and institutional power enhances the damaging potential of a stupid person. But one still has to explain and understand what essentially it is that makes a stupid person dangerous to other people - in other words what constitutes the power of stupidity.
Essentially stupid people are dangerous and damaging because reasonable people find it difficult to imagine and understand unreasonable behavior. An intelligent person may understand the logic of a bandit. The bandit's actions follow a pattern of rationality: nasty rationality, if you like, but still rationality. The bandit wants a plus on his account. Since he is not intelligent enough to devise ways of obtaining the plus as well as providing you with a plus, he will produce his plus by causing a minus to appear on your account. AU this is bad, but it is rational and if you are rational you can predict it. You can foresee a bandit's actions, his nasty manoeuvres and ugly aspirations and often can build up your defenses.
With a stupid person all this is absolutely impossible as explained by the Third Basic Law.
A stupid creature will harass you for no reason, for no advantage, without any plan or scheme and at the most improbable times and places.
You have no rational way of telling if and when and how and why the stupid creature attacks.
When confronted with a stupid individual you are completely at his mercy.
Because the stupid person's actions do not conform to the rules of rationality, it follows that:
- a) one is generally caught. by surprise by the attack;
- b) even when one becomes aware of the attack, one cannot organize a rational defense, because the attack itself lacks any rational structure.
The fact that the activity and movements of a stupid creature are absolutely erratic and irrational not only makes defense problematic but it also makes any counterattack extremely difficult - like trying to shoot at an object which is capable of the most improbable and unimaginable movements.
This is what both Dickens and Schiller had in mind when the former stated that «with stupidity and sound digestion man may front much» and the latter wrote that «against stupidity the very Gods :fight in vain».
RECAP of Basic Law of Human stupidity:
- Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
- The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
- 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.
Stay tuned... just two more chapters to come.
