Talk:The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

Isn't there one along the lines of:

"The more harm that will result from stupidity, the more likely stupidity is to occur" or something similar (worded better)?  ^(Toast) _{and marmalade} 06:58, 1 February 2009 (EST)

Bit bdubious about that one, my lightly carbonised slice of baked dough. There must be millions of harmeless stupidities done every day, like putting on odd socks, or leaving the teabag in too long. It's just that major stupidities get more attention because of the consequences. Yours truly^{Dear Sir} 08:52, 1 February 2009 (EST)

Addditions to list:

'There is no cure for deliberate stupidity.'

'Do not assume malice when stupidity will suffice as a reason.'

82.44.143.26 (talk) 15:56, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

How about "All known forms of malice are expressions of stupidity"?

These laws are glorious. Radioactive afikomen ^{Please ignore all my awful pre-2014 comments.} 02:25, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Wizard's First Rule

This whole article reminds me of the Goodkind book.

"Wizard's First Rule: people are stupid." Richard and Kahlan frowned even more. "People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool."

Because of Wizards First Rule, the old wizards created Confessors, and Seekers, as a means of helping find the truth, when the truth is important enough. Darken Rahl knows the Wizard's Rules. He is using the first one. People need an enemy to feel a sense of purpose. It's easy to lead people when they have a sense of purpose. Sense of purpose is more important by far than the truth. In fact, truth has no bearing in this. Darken Rahl is providing them with an enemy, other than himself, a sense of purpose. People are stupid; they want to believe, so they do."

—Chapter 36, p.560, U.S. paperback edition ^{— Unsigned, by: 130.134.50.207 / talk / contribs}

The mathematics of stupidity

How does stupidity combine - if several people meet up is their stupidity added together, multiplied, increases at an exponential rate, goes into puddles (so they are rational on certain topics) or what? And how can this stupidity be utilised against the Basilisk and other nuisances? Anna Livia (talk) 17:39, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

@Anna Livia Huh? People can't be "added up" or "multiplied" or have their stupidity "increased at an exponential rate" because people aren't mathematical variables. When a group of people get together, the stupidity is never lower than the dumbest person and never higher than the smartest one. It isn't like you could get a group together of the dumbest people on Earth and watch their collective IQ's plummet. Also, could you expound upon what you mean by "utilising [stupidity] against the Basilisk and other nuisances"? Vive Liberté! 17:46, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

As the converse of this or this as well as mass delusions etc. How can Roko's Basilisk, the Singularity and other such phenomena. Anna Livia (talk) 18:17, 10 December 2018 (UTC)

Dunning Kruger link - really? RationalWiki should do better.

I find it rather ironic that this page about stupidity has a link to the Dunning Kruger Effect, the most banal ubiquitously referenced and misapplied meme that perpetually permeates every form of social media, when in fact the DK Effect is about over-estimation of skill, not intelligence. The one about intelligence is called the Downing Effect. ^{— Unsigned, by: FairDinkum / talk / contribs}

Murphy's Laws

Some of the derivatives of the above are appropriate here (including 'Nothing can be made foolproof, as fools are so ingenious') Anna Livia (talk) 15:26, 8 August 2022 (UTC)