Sublime

reasonable people have difficulty in conceiving and understanding unreasonable behaviour.

Essentially stupid people are dangerous and damaging because reasonable people find it difficult to imagine and understand unreasonable behaviour.

Source: Carlo Cipolla, The Basic Law of Human Stupidity

Source: Carlo Cipolla, The Basic Law of Human Stupidity

when confronted with stupid individuals often intelligent men as well as bandits make the mistake of indulging in feelings of self-complacency and contemptuousness instead of immediately secreting adequate quantities of adrenalin and building up defences.

«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».

The Third Basic Law assumes, although it does not state it explicitly, that human beings fall into four basic categories: the helpless, the intelligent, the bandit and the stupid.

Cipolla, Carlo M. The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. New York: Doubleday, 2021.