Booknote: The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

Carlo Cipolla, The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. New York: Doubleday, 2020. ISBN: 978-03-85546478. Book publication day is 10/27/2020.

Genre: nonfiction
Subgenre: social studies, social sciences, human behavior
Format: e-book galley
Source: NetGalley

This is basically a short essay article that for some reason got turned into a book. Cipolla, an economist, presents five laws that show "stupid people can and do rule the world" (from book's description). You might have questioned that statement in the past. Nowadays readers can just read this and nod at how true it is.

The book was initially released in 1988; it was around in private edition before that, and overall, this book has been around the block. This edition is its first American (U.S.) release. Apparently the U.S. has been missing out what the rest of the world knows by now.

Anyhow, the author presents his five laws and explains each one in a short chapter. Some graphs are included, which may or not help clarify the laws. Though the author claims he is not cynical nor defeatist, the reader may end up feeling hopeless if they have any degree of intelligence as they realize the hopelessness of defeating the power of stupidity. Is there really a way to neutralize it? I, for one, am not so sure.

The book overall is an OK read. Between the second and third laws, the author writes an intermission to expand some of the ideas. I think he could have done without it as it adds little to the overall text. Overall, the argument is good, but it is a bit dry at times. In the end, a bit depressing.

2 out of 5 stars.

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Additional reading notes:

The Five Laws:

1. "Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation" (16). 
2. "The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person" (7).
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" (23). 
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 or associate with stupid people infallibly turns out to be a costly mistake" (33). 
5. "A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person" (34). This law has a corollary: "A stupid person is more dangerous than a bandit" (34). 

Book qualifies for these 2020 book challenges:

 ArcApocalypse