Sublime

E tuttavia i risultati di queste ricerche danno appena una pallida idea dell’impatto formidabile che la condotta dei nostri simili ha sul comportamento umano. Ci sono altri esempi ben più impressionanti. A mio avviso l’esempio più eloquente lo troviamo in un dato statistico apparentemente privo di senso: dopo un suicidio clamoroso che occupa le pri

“In crowds it is stupidity and not mother-wit that is accumulated,” Gustave Le Bon noted in his 1895 classic on crowd psychology.

Human stupidity is one of the most important forces in history, yet we often tend to discount it.

Les dernières décennies ont été l’ère la plus pacifique de toute l’histoire humaine. Alors que dans les premières sociétés agricoles la violence humaine causait jusqu’à 15 % des morts, elle n’en a causé que 5 % au XXe siècle ; aujourd’hui, ce pourcentage est de 1 % seulement

The so-called black plague of European and Asian history—bubonic plague—killed millions. It was caused by a bacterium carried by rats and transmitted by fleas. The authorities of the day had the means to control the spread of the plague, but because bacteriology and epidemiology were unknown sciences at that time, they did not understand the need t

Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.

Otherwise, the author has found that price-revolutions in general are (with some exceptions) entirely unknown to most economists, political leaders, social planners, business executives, and individual investors, even as they struggle to deal with one price-revolution in particular.5

Failing to prioritize stupidity over malice causes things like paranoia. Always assuming malice puts you at the center of everyone else’s world. This is an incredibly self-centered approach to life. In reality, for every act of malice, there is almost certainly far more ignorance, stupidity, and laziness.