On Stoopid

Sometimes it's just smart people behaving stupidly. But, as Carlo Cipolla points out, in some way or another, we almost always make the mistake of selling The Stoopid short.

5 universal laws of stupidity

1. Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
2. The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
3. A stupid person is one who causes loss to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring loss himself.
4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and in all places, and under every circumstance, to deal with - or even associate with - stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

Even in a room filled with articulate,

accomplished,

highly educated people,

there are some who are destructively stupid.