Stupidity

It has always been common for us to refer to another person as being stupid. What is different now is that those comments seem to have become acceptable as public statements intended to denigrate another. What is stupidity? That’s a word we often use, but surprisingly, there is no accepted measure of stupidity. IQ scores, even though flawed, have become a measure of intelligence. But what measure do we use for stupidity? Can you have a high IQ score and still be stupid?

Intelligence is a human trait that doesn’t depend on a situation. In contrast, stupidity is very situational dependent. You can be very intelligent in some ways but behave stupidly in others. Intelligence is a human trait, while stupidity can be thought of as our behavior in situations.

What are some examples of stupidity that we find to be common in our society?

  • Lack of rational behavior when evidence is clear that such behavior has undesirable consequences. (e.g., smoking)
  • An inability to transfer knowledge into action (e.g., an inability to balance a checkbook)
  • Holding on to a belief after there is convincing evidence to the contrary (e.g., refusal to accept a medical diagnosis)
  • Overlooking a fact that is obvious. (e.g., blaming shortness of breath on some environmental condition when, in fact, you have gained considerable weight)
  • Being taken in by a hoax or misinformation that is easily proven wrong (e.g., drinking bleach prevents COVID)
  • Overreliance in others (e.g., making yourself too dependent on others for even the simplest of tasks)
  • Failing to realize your biases (e.g., rejecting any valid information that is contrary to your beliefs)
  • Falling for phony influencers (e.g., spending money on miracle weight loss drugs)
  • Ignoring the obvious emotions of others (e.g., not realizing that you have made a hurtful statement)

There could be many more items added to the above list, but hopefully, these will convey the idea that stupidity is rampant in our society today. There is a common thread that runs through each of these: Being stupid is doing something that our intellectual capacity should have warned us against. Why is that? We are increasingly influenced by our identity groups. These can be professional, political, socio-economic, racial, religious, urban vs. rural. The ability of our identity groups to influence us has become more and more sophisticated. If the projections for artificial intelligence hold true, stupidity may become the next pandemic with no conceivable vaccine.

So, what is the prevention strategy for stupidity? You will find some thoughts on this in the next message: A Cure for Stupidity.

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“We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid.”–Ben Franklin

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