Back in 2013, Improbable reported on the emergence of a new organisational concept – ‘Functional Stupidity’, see ‘A Stupidity-Based Theory of Organizations’. Now, the idea of ‘Functional Stupidity’ has been refined by Roland Paulsen, who is a researcher at the Department of Business Administration, Lund University, Sweden. “I distinguish 10 ‘stupidity rationales’ emanating from reflective types […]
Tag: stupidity
What is stupid(ity)?
Despite many decades (or some might say centuries) of concerted scholarly effort towards answering the question ‘What is intelligence?’ there still isn’t an answer that everyone can agree on. Perhaps then, the time has come to tackle the problem from another direction and ask instead ‘What is stupid(ity)?’ ? A team of researchers from the […]
Stupidity – special issues
It was back in May last year that Improbable drew attention to the forthcoming special edition of the journal ‘parallax’ – the ‘Stupidity’ issue. We are delighted to announce that it’s no longer forthcoming, as it’s now been published. The journal carries at least four scholarly papers which focus directly on stupidity – and which […]
A Stupidity-Based Theory of Organizations
Stupidity, organizations, and the combination of stupidity and organizations all receive consideration in this study: “A Stupidity-Based Theory of Organizations,” Mats Alvesson, André Spicer [pictured here], Journal of Management Studies, vol. 49, no. 7, November 2012 pages 1194–1220. (Thanks to investigator Mats Andersson for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at Lund University, Sweden […]
Magazine: “Randomness and Stupidity” Issue
The special Randomness versus Stupidity issue (vol. 18, no. 3) of the magazine (the Annals of Improbable Research) is now online. It’s got lots about randomness and stupidity—and much more. The pleasing-paper version was mailed to subscribers a short while ago. Click on the magazine cover (below) to download a free PDF, or buy a high-quality […]
Stupidity papers called for
In Spring 2013 the scholarly publication parallax is likely to become the very first journal to have had an entire issue devoted to the theme of ‘Stupidity’. The ‘call for papers’ outlines the theme(s) for potential authors. “We invite papers that respond to stupidity by examining its marginalisation within philosophical practice whilst also encouraging contributors […]
Choosing politicians randomly produces better results
Democracies would be better off if they chose some of their politicians at random. That’s the word, mathematically obtained, from a team of Italian physicists, economists, and political analysts. The team includes the trio whose earlier research showed, also mathematically, that bureaucracies would be more efficient if they promoted people at random. Alessandro Pluchino, Andrea Rapisarda, Cesare Garofalo, […]
The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity
The basic laws of human stupidity are ancient. The definitive essay on the subject is younger. Called The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity, it was published in 1976 by an Italian economist. Professor Carlo M Cipolla [pictured here, below] taught at several universities in Italy, and for many years at the University of California, Berkeley. He also […]
Stupid stories and subsequent stupidity
Can reading a ‘stupid story’ make you behave less intelligently (more stupidly)? Assoc. Prof. Dr. Markus Appel (pictured) has examined this question in a recent experimental study at the Johannes Kepler Universität Linz Institut für Pädagogik und Psychologie, Österreich. 81 participants read a story about an extremely unintelligent right-wing soccer hooligan dressed as a skinhead […]
The Importance of Stupidity
“The Importance of Stupidity in Scientific Research,” Martin A. Schwartz, Journal of Cell Science, June 2008, vol. 1, no. 121, pt. 11, p. 1771. (Thanks to investigator Betsy Devine for bringing this to our attention.) The author, at the University of Virginia, explains: