I bought it and read it. I wanted help to understand why highly educated Mormons stay in Mormonism so I dove in. Now I understand all too well. I wish I could disagree. I can't. His definition of stupid is the key piece of the puzzle of life.

"The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity" Carlo M. Cipolla

I found it fascinating and increasingly enlightening and then the last page shocking. Shocking because I could not dismiss it. Shocking because it removed my last bit of bliss.



The book is 85 pages and the size of a greeting card. Half hour read. Shook me. And yes. Did answer my question. Why the smart stay. Why they follow Nelson.

Also, why great civilizations decline. Religion, the Right, the Left, the Correctness Police, they are distractions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_M._Cipolla

The Italian Wikipedia articles on the subject suggest that it was intended to be satire.

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_M._Cipolla
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegro_ma_non_troppo_(saggio)

Tyson

Yeah. I had looked at a lot of reviews and the history of the book including a bit on Wikipedia.

Don't know the author's original intention. Does not read as satire to me, at all. Even if it is satire, I must say that satire often hits truth on the head harder than all the wordy tomes ever do.

With my inability to read much of anything anymore. I'll have to ask my therapist. Oh wait, I did a few years ago. He said to read 5 pages at a time. I used to win all the awards in elementary school as I always read the most books in my grade level. The thought of reading a book overwhelms me now.

Maybe I can get through an 85 page book. I'd like to hear why my scientist and chemist friends are still believers. As well as my daughter. I'll order it today.

Here is my careful distillation of Carlo M. Cipolla's essay on what makes me tick (turns out that Wikipedia came up with exactly the same interpretation! What are the odds!):

   First Fundamental Law: Always and inevitably each of us underestimates the number of stupid individuals surrounding us.

   Second Fundamental Law: The probability that a certain person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.

   Third (and Golden) Basic Law: A stupid person is a person who causes harm to another person or group of people without at the same time realizing any advantage for himself or even suffering any loss.

   Fourth Basic Law: Non-stupid people always underestimate the harmful potential of stupid people. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at any time and place, and under any circumstances, dealing with and/or associating with stupid individuals unfailingly proves to be a very costly mistake. (I'm calling this The Cat law)

   Fifth Fundamental Law: The stupid person is the most dangerous type of person there is.  Corollary: A stupid person is more dangerous than a dishonest person and/or a prophet.

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegro_ma_non_troppo_(saggio)



I think that careful consideration and consultation are required in order that we come to a consensus regarding a mutual agreement on just what constitutes a Stupid Person.

We have ALL committed 'stupidities', but just how isolated do our individual stupidities have to be before we can be lifted out of the general population of stupid people?

Everyone can do stupid things without being a stupid person. Stupid is different.

I had already accepted long ago the same premise as Carlo lays out (yes we are on a first name basis) as the definition of stupid people.

I can't accept any Wikipedia explanations or anything from any one else unless they read the book. Like the BoM you have to read it to get a testimony. The book spoke to me and I didn't even have to fast and pray. It needs to be read to be understood although it's probably over most people's heads. :) Yo no soy como la gente. Ese Carlo y yo sabemos. Ahora is mi che boludo. Como vos.

D&D, I have a testimony of the book because I read it with my virtual eyes. :o)

You're learning!

That's good enough for me as long as it was under a bed sheet at the time.

Would it make a good birthday gift to a friend. ?

Please define TMI

I know. I have to look up all the latest acronyms on google all the time.

TMI is Too Much Information. I titled the post that because I had already written another post about the book and wanted to warn people that I was about to go on and on and on about it.

Books is risky like giving art. Falls flat usually. Unless you give "The Farside" by that Larsen guy which is both art and books. Good combo. Larsen's books may also be a good gauge though of who is stupid as for sure being stupid is tied directly to sense of humor. (I laugh a lot--just for the record.)

This was to Kathleen. I guess I just proved something. :)