How To Be Less Stupid
Commonplace Newsletter #24
‘How to be less stupid’- about as needlessly inflammatory a title as I have ever used here. But let him who has not been tempted to resort to clickbait cast the first stone. And besides, as Acting Sergeant in my local branch of the Nuance Police, I hope you will extend me the benefit of the doubt here and trust that I am going somewhere with this. Somewhere beyond finger-pointing and building myself up by knocking down some wobbly strawman or amorphous Other.
Stupidity and its avoidance is something well worth considering and so consider it we shall, hurt feelings and all…
Stupid Is As Stupid Does
If you’ve been reading these things of mine (whatever they are) for a while you will know my aversion to beginning the first paragraph proper with a definition. It smacks of schoolboy essays to me, a means of running down the word count clock under the guise of scholarly precision. Same thing goes for quotations to be honest. ‘I’m 300 words shy of the professor dictated minimum, please enjoy this wall of text from Kierkegaard’s Either/Or with my compliments.’
But sometimes you simply have to define your terms.
So. The best definition of stupidity I have encountered comes from Carlo Cipolla’s classic little treatise The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. The glowing foreword is written by Nicholas Nassim Taleb and the total page count is shy of 100, both of which qualify as endorsements by my personal reading heuristics.
Cipolla- with an economists sense of absolutism and a flaneur’s sense of quasi-jaded and Puckish wit- defines stupidity in terms of profits and losses.
‘A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while deriving no gain and possibly even incurring losses.’
That’s a phrase to jot down in your commonplace if ever I saw one.
A stupid action, then, is a lose/lose proposition. It’s behaviour that’s unreasonable, preposterous, chaotic. It’s red tape, it’s Goodhart’s Law, it’s opting to take politics seriously and at face value. It’s also tragically rife as many a shudder-inducing workplace memory will soon remind you.
Yet there is a beauty in this way of conceptualising stupidity. Implied within it is the way out. If stupidity is lose/lose then intelligence is win/win (I quibble with Cipolla’s word choice for these terms, if not their directionality and sentiment. We will get to this in due course).
To focus on and orient your decisions and actions towards finding the win/win scenario is the definition of intelligence. It is also how you live a good life and leave a worthy legacy. Win/wins are acts of creation, lose/lose’s are acts of destruction. The former adds to the collective store of good (whether that be wealth, beauty, good cheer or any other boon you can think of) while the latter takes it away.
This is why, as Cipolla argues, the stupid are more damaging to society than bandits.(Banditry- to complete Cipolla’s four term model- is where I win and the other loses. Helplessness is where I lose and the other wins. Banditry- theft, confidence tricks, multi-level marketing- is reprehensible and one pities the Helpless but it consists of an unethical goods transfer rather than the society diminishing goods eradication of plain old stupidity)
Stupidity, when seen in this light, is something that you can subsequently see by no other. Though it makes stupidity all the more maddening, looking at it through this lens also has a way of making you tactically consider all of your personal moves in terms of finding the win/win, which, as I say, is possibly the greatest thing you can do for both yourself and the world.
Who would’ve thought that an economic historian could induce you to act more ethically!
Which is not to say this stupid/intelligent/helpless/bandit model is perfect. But it does provide a near perfect jumping-off point from which to consider the issue of stupidity and intelligence.
The Stupidity Of The Word Stupidity
Now I’m no logician by any stretch, but there’s a problem in all of this that stands out vividly. And that concerns the word choices used in the theory itself.
By Cipolla’s own logic calling someone stupid is stupid. It’s a lose/lose proposition. The other loses, obviously, because they are insulted and possibly get their feelings hurt, while you as the name-caller lose because the use of such words is the single least effective and persuasive way to get people to alter their actions and make better decisions.
This is my primary gripe with the kind of pseudo-drill sergeant, bullet point, self-improvement ‘content’ that social media insists on foisting upon me despite my protestations and complete lack of interest- it is wholly ineffective.
Insult someone- especially without the mediating influences of vocal tonality and body language and the like- and you will get their backs up and make them double down on their unwise behaviour, out of either defiance or wounded comfort-seeking. Supposed tough-love- especially when impersonally delivered via a computer screen- does way more harm than good.
It’s almost as if these self-improvement guys are Bandits and their audiences consist of the Helpless…
So the use of the word stupid is stupid, as I say. Out man Cipolla has [redacted] himself in the [redacted] there, which as Al Swearnegen explained to Dan Dority in Deadwood is no mean feat, in spite of how often we manage to achieve it.
End of Shift Briefing From The Nuance Police
‘Lord, what fools these mortals be’
~Puck, A Midsummer Nights Dream
The terms Bandit and Helpless, and their meanings are ideal, I’ll say that without reservation. But Stupid needs some work, as we have established.
Me, I would go for the word foolish instead. It serves the same purpose but softens the implication of malice. Call me a hopeless romantic, or improbably lucky, but most of the truly baffling stupidity I have encountered in my life appears to be the product more of bewilderment, laxity or thoughtlessness rather than a vindictiveness worthy of insult (that would take us more into Bandit territory, I would say). And besides the word fool can still be cutting if need be. Plus if you tell me I’m stupid I’ll close my mind to your argument, tell me I have been foolish and I would be much more receptive and likely to take your point and your proposed remedies on board. Perhaps that’s just me.
While we are at it, the word intelligent doesn’t quite cut it for me either. It implies the mere use of brains rather than heart or spirit. If Stupidity is now Foolishness then perhaps Intelligence would be better conceptualised as Wisdom. That seems loftier, more aspirational, truer. To always pursue the win/win in all scenarios is beyond just intelligent, it is at the heart of wisdom itself.
So with this in mind, and with a slight fear of having this piece itself turn into a lose/lose (I lose enjoyment in writing it as you lose by becoming bored and losing patience) I will end it here.
The heart of wisdom is gaining wins as you help those around you do likewise. It’s helping without allowing yourself to become helpless. It’s generosity of spirit mediated by clear boundaries. It’s the delicate balance of self-respect and respect for others. It’s what we should all be cultivating, now more than ever.
Until next time,
Live Well,
Tom.
Well, had to read it again to make sure I understood it all ! A denser newsletter than usual Thomas, thanks for the brain gymnastics.
I agree with most of it, but not so regarding the lose/lose proposition associated with the fact of calling people stupid (with a persuavive/commercial purpose). Indeed, it will cause more harm than good to the "receiving" party, but more often than not, it will be a lose-win situation: not everyone is self-conscious, not everyone has standards. People like you and I (and many others ofc) will either tell the person to fuck off or, if more enclined towards agreableness, politely smile and withdraw our attention (which is a premium currency too easily wasted on the wrong things). But many actually desire, deep inside, to be talked to like this. How many influencers and coaches insult their audience every day (and I mean INSULT, not a playful tough love banter) and are rewarded by tens of thousands of followers and customers? I cannot explain why, but there must be something related to self-loathing and the twisted desire to be humiliated and bullied into submission; trauma-bonding for guys who internalized verbal abuse and debasement and secretely get off to it. In that case, reinforcing the belief that they are stupid while telling them that only your product will "un-stupidify" them go hand in hand, and the crazy part is that many actually ask for it.
I'm also convinced that at the root of most stupidity that is not subnormal-IQ related, there is simply weakness. Which is maybe what you call "bewilderment, laxity or thoughtlessness". Weakness to learn, weakness to be willing to risk being wrong and having the courage to acknowledge it, weakness to say sorry and make amend when you wronged someone, weakness to realize you may not know it all and - in some domains of life - even be "inferior" to others. I've never met a stupid, or foolish person older than 20YO who was also bold, curious and assertive in their personal lives. And to clarify the stupid/foolish difference, I believe that you’re foolish as long as you’re ignorant of a subject. If you persist in your way when it's been proven wrong or untrue, then you (may be) stupid indeed, or delusional, which bears the same meaning to me.
But if I could remember only one piece of this beautiful newsletter, it'd be this one, "To always pursue the win/win in all scenarios is beyond just intelligent, it is at the heart of wisdom itself". Brilliantly thought and written !
Used to start each essay section with a quote each time, kept it up through college, got many compliments for it as a stylistic touch. Suckers.
Immediately bought the book as well. If Taleb and Bevan endorse it, I'm almost certainly going to enjoy it.
Very useful mental model you're discussing here, I found his Matrix/compass and added it to my notes. Especially for businessmen.
There was a book called the Science of Getting Rich, by a Wallace D. Wattles, which is a precursor to Napoleon Hill and the Secret and all the rest of it, but there was one quote that came to mind which is:
"You are to become a creator, not a competitor; you are going to get what you want, but in such a way that when you get it every other man will have more than he has now".
The rest of the book goes into creative visualisation, law of attraction, etc, but there's a great influence focused on the importance of focusing on being creative, rather than being competitive, giving rather than taking and so on.
As far as "New Thought" goes, it's the best one I've read, which, if I'm honest, isn't many - more a curiosity driven pursuit than a desire for legitimate advice.
"It’s almost as if these self-improvement guys are Bandits and their audiences consist of the Helpless…"
Great section here, perfectly articulates the problem with the 'self-improvement' (for lack of a better term, money twitter is much worse) corner of Twitter.
Insults are generally worthless, as is criticism. Praise specifically, criticise (very) generally is the rule I go by, and never, ever offering unsolicited advice, even to friends.
Otherwise known as being "easy to get along with".
The distinction between stupid and foolish is brilliant. I'll be adjusting my verbal repartee accordingly.
Stupid feels like a straight, somewhat childish insult.
Foolish feels more sophisticated, cutting you down from a position of supreme superiority, cutting past the bone and taking a fat chunk out of the ego.
Agreed on Wisdom over Intelligence as well. I've got some negative associations with the word intelligence, but none whatsoever with wise.
"The heart of wisdom is gaining wins as you help those around you do likewise. It’s helping without allowing yourself to become helpless. It’s generosity of spirit mediated by clear boundaries. It’s the delicate balance of self-respect and respect for others. It’s what we should all be cultivating, now more than ever."
Beautiful. You could probably write a damn good self-help book, at the small cost of your soul.
Lots to take away from this, thanks for writing it Tom.