You Cannot Ignore The Power of Stupidity

Every once in a while, StumbleUpon delivers to my desktop something so powerful that it makes me stop everything I'm doing and compels me think deeper and to dive deeper.


That is what happened when I stumbled upon The Power of Stupidity , by Giancarlo Livraghi, first written in Italian, then translated into English. (You can download the book for free, chapter by chapter.)



A sampling of its wisdom...

1. Stupidity is the greatest destructive force in the history of humankind. It can’t be totally defeated. But there is a lot that we can do to reduce and control its power. The more we understand it, the better we can avoid or prevent its awful effects.




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



Even when stupidity is not the original source of a mishap, its
consequences often get worse because of our stupid reactions and clumsy
attempts to find a solution.



3. We cannot really understand ourselves without understanding
stupidity, and if we understand stupidity, we will understand ourselves. (James Welles, Understanding Stupidity)




4. We’ve got to live with power — and its stupidity. But this doesn’t mean that we must accept, tolerate or support its arrogance. Or be deceived too easily by gestures,
words, promises and declared intentions. Power should not be admired, trusted or even respected unless it shows practical
intelligence in what it does to us and to the world.




5. Stupidity is often confused with ignorance. 








There is a mischievous reciprocity of ignorance. When people mutually adjust to other people’s
(real or assumed) ignorance, the level of dialogue spirals downwards.



The amount and the quality of information exchanged tend to zero — or become negative, reinforcing false or distorted notions, increasing prejudice,
commonplace and errors of perspective.



To avoid the effort of thinking, we often fall back on comfortable misconceptions that find easy agreement. We follow the path of habit — or we fear the danger of having to tackle a difference
of opinion for which we might not be adequately prepared.



There are many other unpleasant friends of stupidity and ignorance.
Arrogance, presumption, egotism, selfishness, envy, carelessness, servility,
imitation, gossip, prejudice, meanness, unwillingness to listen and to
understand... etcetera... lurking almost everywhere in human behavior
and communication.


Honor the power of stupidity... Or be trampled by it. Your choice!