Carlo M. Cipolla (1922-2000) was an Italian economic historian of great brilliance. His studies on spices, specifically pepper, on trade and economic development in the Middle Ages[1]or about time machines (clocks) and war (cannons and candles) in the genesis of capitalism[2]or the shared factors in the economic decline of empires[3]They already give it a prominent role in this dismal, saddening social science, which is economics.
But what is a doctor doing talking about an economic historian? And what does Carlo Cipolla have to do with health economics? While the first question remains unknown, the second has a resounding answer: a lot. Cipolla investigated one of the forces that most oppose the growth of well-being (the welfare so persecuted by economists) and human happiness (the happiness so persecuted by everyone). In his scientific zeal he came to formulate the fundamental laws that govern this force, which is nothing more than human stupidity.[4]
Cipolla addresses the definition of stupidity, the importance of clarifying the terms to understand us all, with extreme elegance. Being that we are social animals, although not all with the same intensity, stupid is the one who, without obtaining any benefit for himself, on the contrary, can also harm himself, harm others (constitutes the third law or golden law). The following Cartesian graph clearly exemplifies this by showing the different types of people (intelligent, gullible, evil and stupid). It is clear that they are not exclusive categories and in the behavior or action of each one one can be in different quadrants. It is important, however, to differentiate between stupid and evil, since the latter, by causing harm to another or others, does obtain personal gain. The unwary, upper left quadrant, is the one who in his actions harms himself, but benefits others, often without intending it. When both parties, oneself and another/others benefit, then it is an intelligent person who carries out the action. As simple as that.
fountain: Cipolla CM. The fundamental laws of human stupidity. In: Allegro ma non troppo. Criticism. Barcelona, 2006.
Cipolla argues that human characters are influenced by genetics (nature) and by education and the social environment (upbringing). He always repeats an assertion that there is no divergence between nature and nurture, so popular and catchy in the English-speaking world. Cipolla, however, defends that, in stupidity, the biogenetic determinants are more powerful, that is, one is born stupid. He also defends that there is a fraction, ε (epsilon), which constitutes a constant that uniformly distributes the number of stupid people regardless of the chosen social group or the size of said group. To reinforce this last point he refers to studies that have repeatedly been carried out in different universities. The population of a university, it is well known, can be classified into janitors, employees, students and teaching staff. When these groups have been studied, when finding a high ε (first law) among the beadles, the result has tended to be explained by their family origin and little education. But the same proportion has been found among the group of employees and students and, even more surprising, the same fraction ε of stupid people among the teachers. The results being so extraordinary, according to Cipolla, the group of Nobel Prize winners has been examined, confirming the existence of the same fraction.
The ability of a stupid person to do harm depends on the genetic load (the number of polymorphisms associated statistically or penetrance as biologists would say) and the position of power they hold. For this reason, Cipolla concludes, that among the bureaucrats, generals, politicians and heads of state there is the most harmful ε fraction that there may be. Among politicians, the same democratic system ensures the rise and stable maintenance of stupid people in power, also taking into account that among voters there is the same fraction ε of stupid people.
These fundamental or basic laws of human stupidity are collected in the following table:
| First. Each of us always and inevitably underestimates the number of stupid individuals circulating in the world. |
| Second. The probability that a given person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic of the same person. |
| Third. A stupid person is a person who causes harm to another person or group of people without, at the same time, obtaining benefit for themselves, or even obtaining harm. |
| Quarter. Non-stupid people always underestimate the harmful potential of stupid people. The non-stupid, especially, constantly forget that, at any time and place, and in any circumstance, dealing with and/or associating with stupid individuals infallibly manifests itself as a very costly mistake. |
| Fifth. The stupid person is the most dangerous type of person there is. The stupid is more dangerous than the evil. |
fountain: Cipolla CM. The fundamental laws of human stupidity. In: Allegro ma non troppo. Criticism. Barcelona, 2006.
With a stupid person, says Cipolla, everything is absolutely impossible. There is no valid rationality. It must be taken into account that the intelligent person, in general, knows that he is intelligent, just as the evil person is also aware of his evil. The unwary is painfully imbued with his naivety to recognize himself. But the stupid, like the ignorant, does not know that he is stupid, on the contrary, sometimes, apparently, wit or sagacity of which he lacks. Sometimes it is believed that the stupid person only harms himself, but then he is confusing stupidity with naivety.
A progressing country, with its ε fraction of stupid people, nevertheless has an unusually high percentage of intelligent people who keep the ε fraction in check and provide benefits to themselves and to other members of society. In a country in decline, however, the percentage of stupid people in power remains constant (ε), but the percentage of evil people increases alarmingly (corruptions so common) and, among those who do not hold power, the number of unwary We enter a vicious circle that leads the country to ruin.
Researchers in the field of biology look for genetic polymorphisms associated with high intellectual capacity, generally measured according to the intelligence quotient (IQ), which Steven J. Gould already revealed at the time as a false . measure of humans.[5] In a genome-wide association study, there are hundreds of genetic polymorphisms that can explain 40-50% of the differences in intelligence according to other measures of intelligence, without knowing which of the variants has a significant effect.[6] Since this path of intelligence is so complex, it could be suggested to examine the biological roots of stupidity, without any type of eugenic desire, since there can only be intelligent people if, at the same time, there are stupid ones.
Cipolla wrote about public health issues (miasmas and diseases) in pre-industrial times,[7] on public health and the medical profession in the Renaissance[8] and about the plague in the 17th century, since he was very clear about the important effect of plagues on the economy and society as has recently been seen. Also about the two cultures, in his case history and economy. Finally, it serves as an example of the distance between the humanities and the sciences, which Cipolla sought to reverse and assuming that economics is between the latter, the Brief treatise on human stupidity,[9] Written by a graduate in mathematics, a doctor in philosophy and a specialist in the history of science. It is in this little book, little longer than Cipolla’s on human stupidity, where the name and work of the Italian economic historian is conspicuous by its absence. Precisely from this last little book we extract this suggestive quote from Bertrand Russell: much of the difficulties the world is going through are due to the fact that the ignorant (we could say stupid) are completely sure and the intelligent are full of doubts.
Bibliography
[1] Cipolla CM. The role of spices (and pepper in particular) in the economic development of the Middle Ages. In: Allegro ma non troppo. Criticism. Barcelona, 2006.
[2] Cipolla CM. Time and war machines. Studies on the genesis of capitalism. Criticism. Barcelona, 2017.
[3] Cipolla CM, Bernardi A, Finley MI, Diehl C, Vilar P, Elliott JH et al. The economic decline of empires. Editorial Alliance. Madrid, 2022.
[4] Cipolla CM. The fundamental laws of human stupidity. In: Allegro ma non troppo. Criticism. Barcelona, 2006.
[5] Gould SJ. The fake measure of man. Ed. Antonio Bosch, Barcelona, 1984
[6] https://www.nature.com/articles/mp201185#citeas
[7] Cipolla CM. Miasmas and diseases; Public health and environment in the preindustrial era. Yale University Press, 1992.
[8] Cipolla CM. Public health and the medical profession in the Renaissance. Cambridge University Press, 1976.
[9] Moreno R. Brief treatise on human stupidity. Forcola editions. Madrid, 2018.
