This is where I am coming from:
I have seen often the following situations happen in life:
1. A salesperson that describes the disadvantages of the product that he is trying to sell, instead of describing the many objective advantages?
I am using ChatGPT as a judge here. This is what ChatGPT says about a salesperson that primarily describes the disadvantages of a product rather than highlighting its advantages:
It is generally not likely for a salesperson to be successful if they primarily describe the disadvantages of a product rather than highlighting its advantages. The main goal of a salesperson is to persuade potential customers to purchase the product or service they are offering. To achieve this, it is crucial to focus on the positive aspects, benefits, and unique selling points of the product. By emphasizing the advantages, a salesperson can demonstrate how the product meets the needs and desires of the customers, ultimately increasing the chances of a successful sale. Describing the disadvantages may lead to skepticism, doubt, and a lack of interest from customers, resulting in a lower likelihood of making a sale.
Correct, this salesperson is stupid. For many reasons.
2. A HR manager that highlights the danger that a candidate may not pass the probation period, instead of highlighting the opportunities that come with the new job?
An HR manager who emphasizes the potential negatives of a position, such as the possibility of not passing the probation period, rather than focusing on the opportunities and benefits that come with the job could be referred to as a “pessimistic” or “risk-averse” HR manager. Such an approach may be seen as discouraging or negative.
Correct, this HR manager is stupid. For many reasons.
3. An executive that a not using a checklist when doing a critical job that cannot be repaired if it goes wrong, such as taking off an aircraft from the ground or filing a divisional patent application, or docketing a deadline or a new enquiry, despite the checklist being there, waiting for being used?
This is what ChatGPT says:
People who do not use a provided checklist for critical, high-stakes tasks—such as launching an aircraft, filing a divisional patent application, or docketing a deadline suggest a lack of regard for established procedures and precautionary measures, which can be quite risky in tasks where a mistake could have severe implications and cannot be easily rectified. It is vital in such roles to meticulously follow the checklists and standard operating procedures to prevent mishaps and oversights, and to ensure safety and accuracy.
Correct, these people are stupid. For many reasons.
What is important here is that stupidity goes far beyond just making a mistake, being unsuccessful, or even dumbness.
What the Bible Says About Stupidity
For a general introduction to the practical aspects of the terms “stupid” or “stupidity”, I recommend reading those very few Bible verses that deal with that concept. The Bible has several thousands of years of track record of manually transporting wisdom from one generation to the next one, and this is what you find there:
https://www.bibleserver.com/search/ESV.NIV.NIRV/stupid
https://www.bibleserver.com/search/ESV.NIV.NIRV/stupidity
In a very simplified way, “stupidity” is located in people that do not have sense, while “foolishness” is found in people that lack understanding. This is a very subtle way of expressing mental deficits.
There are warnings in the Bible about using the word “fool” (and similar) as an arrogant sign of our hatred towards them. Jesus said: “Whoever says, ‘You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into fiery hell” (Mat 5:22). But saying someone is being foolish because they are rebelling against God, and it is true, we have done them a favor. The word “fool” in this context means a person that is wicked and has a reprobate mind (Rom 1:28): “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction”. “The wise in heart will receive commands, but a prating fool will fall… Fools mock at sin, but among the upright there is favor” (Pro 1:7, 10:8, 14:8). Twice the psalmist tells us “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God'” (Psa 14:1; 53:1).
There is no warning in the Bibel about using the word “stupid” for people, and this is why I am pursuing this matter further.
What Sun Tsu says about stupidity
Sun Tsu is part of ancient Chinese wisdom literature. Similar to the Bible, the teachings of Sun Tsu have two thousand five hundred (2,500) years of track record of being manually copied for transporting wisdom from one generation to the next one. That makes it outstanding.
I have been using the 1910 Lionel Giles English translation of this book: Shun Zhu Sun Tsu – The art of war Lionel Giles 1910
Chapter 2 point 5 puts the adjective “Stupid” in contrast to “cleverness”:
Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.
The concept of “stupidity” in Sun Tsu is very similar to that concept in the Bible, for characterizing people that lack sense. “Haste” seldom leads to success, especially not in war.
“Cleverness” is what you seek in leaders, and it is the contrary of “stupidity”.
Why Clinical Psychology Says About Stupidity
“Cleverness”, the opposite of “stupidity”, is often referred to as intelligence, which is not so much a function of knowledge but of processing speed and memory capacity. Clinical Psychology uses IQ tests for assessing intelligence by quantifying our mental abilities. The acronym “IQ test” stands for ‘intelligence quotient' which is a percentage value as compared with an average value.
These mental abilities are sometimes divided into several categories like fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing, and working memory. I don't think that this is very helpful, because people with high fluid intelligence have it easier to build up crystallized intelligence, just to give you one example. Fluid intelligence is about solving new problems and spotting patterns – basically how good you are at thinking on your feet. Crystallized intelligence, on the other hand, is about the knowledge and skills you've accumulated over time. It's like the library of information you've stored up in your brain.
Here is in a nutshell how an IQ test is created. It is a quite simple process that requires an understanding of basic statistics.
To create an IQ test, you first generate a wide range of questions (also called “items”) according to what type of intelligence you want to assess. Questions that are abstract are used for testing fluid intelligence, such as identifying the next shape in a pattern. More specific questions target crystallized intelligence, such as defining a particular word. The key here is to create questions of varying difficulty – some easy, some medium, and some hard. This allows the test to accurately measure intelligence across a broad spectrum of abilities.
Once the questions are ready, a small group of people is invited to take the so-called “pilot test”, and it helps to understand how difficult each question is and how well it differentiates between individuals of differing abilities. After the pilot test, you can use software with a statistical package such as Matlab for analyzing the results, in order to select the best questions for the final test – those that most accurately measure intelligence differences. You want the IQ test to be as short as possible, and I prefer less accurate results over a larger number of questions. It ultimately does not matter whether the result is 5 IQ points higher or lower. The big picture counts: below average, average, above average, far above average, in steps of 15 IQ points. In a sideline only, if you do this scoring without making a difference between males and females, and if you only after that step separate the values for males and females, then you obtain two different distributions: there are more females with an average IQ than males. And there are fewer females with above average IQ than males. If you further know that females tend to seek partners with a higher IQ than themselves, please think about what that means for those females that wait a very long time before engaging in a relationship with a male.
If you want to use the IQ test for professional purposes, you better check its reliability and validity. In other words the consistency of the test results – if you took the test today and then again next week, your scores should reflect the learning that you had from taking the same test one week earlier. This is a weakness in most commercially available IQ tests. And you can verify whether your IQ test really measures what it is supposed to measure, for example by correlating the scores on your new IQ test with scores on other established IQ tests. Yes, the question arises why you then better don't use the established tests right away. This is what I do because for me, the big picture counts and I focus on fluid intelligence only. I don't need a new IQ test, but the exercise alone of building one taught me a lot about measuring intelligence.
If you want to further improve then you give your IQ test to a large and representative sample of people, and you score the test results such that the IQ distribution has the shape of a Bell curve, with the average score being set at 100, and with each 15 IQ points above or below 100 representing one standard deviation from the mean. So, if you score 115, you are one standard deviation above the average, which is still “average” for me. An IQ between 115 and 130 is “above average”, and an IQ above 130 is “far above average”.
When Stupidity Influences the Ability to Recognize the Own Stupidity
The Dunning-Kruger effect occurs when a person's lack of knowledge and skills in a certain area causes them to overestimate their own competence. The original Dunning-Kruger paper is found here /doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1121
This effect has become quite popular because it makes it easy to explain why dumb people are so dumb that they don't even realize that they're dumb, and all that is based on scientific findings. You find this effect throughout the classical literature that touches upon ideas of hubris, overconfidence, or misguided self-assessment. Here are a few examples:
- “Macbeth” by Shakespeare: In this tragic play, Macbeth's unchecked ambition leads him to believe he is invincible and capable of maintaining power, despite his lack of skill in ruling. His overconfidence eventually leads to his downfall.
- “Oedipus Rex” by Sophocles: Oedipus, the protagonist of this Greek tragedy, displays hubris as he attempts to uncover the truth about his identity and solve the riddle of the Sphinx. Despite his lack of insight, he believes that he is capable of solving these complex mysteries, ultimately leading to his own ruin.
- “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen: characters like Mr. Collins and Lady Catherine de Bourgh demonstrate overconfidence in their social status and intellect, leading to misguided judgments and flawed decision-making.
- “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes: The titular character, Don Quixote, suffers from delusions of grandeur and believes himself to be a knight on a noble quest. Despite his lack of prowess and understanding of reality, he charges into battles and attempts to save the world, showcasing the Dunning-Kruger effect in his inflated self-perception.
- Remember that the IQ distribution in the population is set such that it follows a Bel curve. By contrast, this effect also causes the other tail end of the Bell curve where you find those who excel in a given area to think the task is simple for everyone, and therefore overestimate the abilities of their peers. I have watched this effect often in my practice as a patent attorney.
Wikipedia says this about the consequences of the Dunning-Kruger effect:
Dunning-Kruger causes the affected people to make decisions that lead to dire consequences for them or others. This is especially relevant for decisions that have long-term effects. For example, it can lead poor performers into careers for which they are unfit.[7] High performers underestimating their skills, though, may forego viable career opportunities matching their skills in favor of less promising ones that are below their skill level.[7] In other cases, the wrong decisions can also have severe short-term effects, as when overconfidence leads pilots to operate a new aircraft for which they lack adequate training or to engage in flight maneuvers that exceed their proficiency.[5] Emergency medicine is another area where the correct assessment of one's skills and the risks of treatment is of central importance. The tendencies of physicians in training to be overconfident must be considered to ensure the appropriate degree of supervision and feedback.[13] The Dunning–Kruger effect can also have negative implications for the agent in various economic activities, in which the price of a good, such as a used car, is often lowered by the buyers' uncertainty about its quality.[3] An overconfident agent unaware of their lack of knowledge may be willing to pay a much higher price because they are unaware of all the potential flaws and risks relevant to the price.[3]
It goes without saying that people with low IQ also have a low ability to recognize low and high IQs in other people.
The Contrary of Stupidity, but Still Dangerous: When Intelligence Impairs Cognitive Ability
One famous phenomenon that happens on the right side of the IQ Bell curve is the Impostor syndrome. People who suffer from that have persistent feelings of self-doubt, inadequacy, and the fear of being exposed as fraud, despite evidence of competence or accomplishments. Individuals with high IQ experience impostor syndrome more, due to their tendency to set high standards for themselves and to compare their abilities with others. When these people trust you then they will tell you that they suffer from a pressure to live up to their perceived intellectual potential and that they feel insecure and have self-doubts.
Other phenomena that happen to people with a high IQ go back to the fact that they do not realize that their peers are not as intelligent as they are. That can result in a situation where these individuals spend their time with people below their own standard, not maximizing their own potential. Or they excel within their domain, but they do not realize that their peers are not as intelligent as they are.
In short words, and simplified to be understood more easily: people with a low IQ are so stupid that they do not even realize that they are stupid. And people with a high IQ often do not realize that their peers are not as intelligent as they are. That is the reason why both people with very low IQ and people with very high IQ should not become entrepreneurs. Failure is pre-destined.
Conclusion
Stupidity is not just a lack of knowledge. It is when people ignore common sense and make bad decisions. This happens in sales, hiring, and critical tasks when people act against their own success.
Wisdom from the Bible and Sun Tzu warns against stupidity. The Bible links it to a lack of sense, while Sun Tzu contrasts it with cleverness. Both stress that poor judgment leads to failure.
Psychology explains stupidity through the Dunning-Kruger effect. Low-IQ people overestimate themselves, while high-IQ people may doubt their abilities. Both extremes can cause problems in life and work.
You are now ready for what social sciences say about “stupidity”: watch out for part 2 of my above article, soon to be published here on my blog.
IP Lawyer Tools by Martin Schweiger
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