The Cynefin of Stupidity
Stupidity is an interesting topic. People interact in our modern times more than ever before. One stupid act may result in great disruption because of the interconnectedness and the resulting feedback effect. Stupid beliefs that become dominant even if enough proofs disprove them. Just start a rumor on social media about the death of a celebrity and how quickly this rumor spreads like fire without probing the truth of the rumor before acting. I call this phenomenon “Rainy Social Clouds” because the turbid clouds produce rain that is like a mirage. Mirages are in the clouds and not on the grounds only.
Carlo M. Cipolla developed the “Five Laws of Stupidity”. A later report claims that 80% of People are Stupid -- And Don't Even Know It. This reminds me of the Pareto Rule (80%-20%), which is a power law in that few stupid people may cause huge harm to societies and the world beyond our thinking. Being so, I may conclude that stupidity has its Cynefin Framework. There are obvious stupidity acts. There are also some complicated stupidity acts, whose cause and effect must be analyzed. There are also some complex stupidity acts resulting from too many people interacting about a stupid act that could lead to chaos. I suggest the Stupidity Cynefin Framework as is shown below.
Stupidity Cynefin Framework
Like volcanos are, some few stupidity acts may cause the major harm to humanity. As much as these acts may seem trivial, they need probing, sensing and responding to them. When we do so, we are accused of stupidly focusing on trivial issues. What a paradox this is. The global pollution problem with its destructive effect serves as a good example. There are people who still deny it. For them, it is stupid to focus on a problem that isn’t.
Systems that are complex are prone to sudden eruptions if they reach their tipping point. Here lies the danger of complex stupidity for it may lead to disruptive chaos. I give one example of a brand of cigarettes that used to sell like freshly roasted coffee. Competitors spread the rumor that this brand of cigarettes that takes away men’s fertility. Soon, this brand disappeared from the markets. People interacted to warn smoking this brand of cigarettes and thus reinforced it. You can imagine the complexity of our world with a rumor able to disrupt huge businesses. Indeed, our world is developing more unpredictability because of the complexity risks.
Interactions among humans may lead to messy interdependencies. Stupid acts like false news, false beliefs, stupid assumptions and stupid thoughts may spread like fire in a dry wood. And we keep saying that these acts are too stupid to pay attention to them.
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التعليقات
Alan Culler
منذ سنتين #92
Well said Brother Ali
Zacharias 🐝 Voulgaris
منذ سنتين #91
True now as it was when first published. Thank you for the insightful article! I remember posting a Sprouts video on this topic not too long ago (https://sproutsschools.com/bonhoeffers-theory-of-stupidity/)
Ali Anani
منذ سنتين #90
Thank you brother @Alan Culler.
My friend your wise lessons remind me of the fact that humans tend to forget the simple rules. When we do this we may act irrationally.
We cannt have a straight shadow if the tail is crocked. So, people are. If their thinking is crocked we should never expect to get straight answers and straight behaviors from them. As you said Let their water off your back. It is not even clean water.
Alan Culler
منذ سنتين #89
Hello Brother Ali
I get frustrated watching others be thoughtless, fail to anticipate other's reactions, fail to understand consequences -intended or unintended, Fail to understand that they are intervening in a system where small changes in initial conditions can have unpredictable and even disasterous results.
But you “can't fix stupid”
“You can't reason someone out of a position they didn't reason their way into.”
You can't change someone else -ever.
The only things you can do
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #88
Thank you Roberto De la Cruz Utria and I am moved by your good words. If your time would allow you I hope you would enjoy my buzz of today. You are a genuine star. https://www.bebee.com/producer/@ali-anani/the-toxic-beauty-of-rising-stars
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #87
I am impatient to read your buzz dear Fay Vietmeier. I am overwhelmed by your appreciation and the spiritual journey I feel when I exchange comments with you, Fay.
Fay Vietmeier
منذ 4 سنوات #86
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #85
Thank you Roberto De la Cruz Utria and I am so glad to read a comment by you because your comments enrich my mind. You inspire me with a new thought. You wrote "we are prone to follow the majority regardless of why...". Is it that individuals in a group are well-connected to the extent the whole group suffers from the rigidity gap? Is this the cause of our loss of authenticity? It is great to be connected, but it fires back if we are overly-connected. I am still 'digesting" this thought.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #84
Fay- from "heart-to-heart" I say you are authentic
Fay Vietmeier
منذ 4 سنوات #83
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #82
Thanks Fay and I shall respond to them today. I am giving lectures all week daily till 3 P.m. So, I shall respond as soon as I may. Thank you Fay for being such an authentic person.
Fay Vietmeier
منذ 4 سنوات #81
Ali 🐝 Anani, Brand Ambassador @beBee Again, I am appreciative of your thoughtful comments (in this we are like-minded) I must say I think we are a minority ;~) I did read & respond (on the links) to the buzzes you shared below.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #80
Fay Vietmeier
منذ 4 سنوات #79
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #78
Fay Vietmeier, Hi Fay, Please tag me when you post your buzz. I am sure it shall be cracking. You make me think of a paradox "wisdom is stupid". I am not negating you. I am just challenging your thoughts. Thank you for the way you classified stupidity and its levels. Quite interesting
Fay Vietmeier
منذ 4 سنوات #77
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #76
Exactly dear friend. This is what we mean by saying whatever we do to the environment it shall feedback in us.
Cyndi wilkins
منذ 4 سنوات #75
Absolutely my dear friend....Like it or not, we are all connected. Whatever harm we bring upon another we bring upon ourselves....It tears into the very fabric of our shared consciousness...Much like pouring venom into the veins of life itself...we all suffer the consequences...
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #74
If we consider the ups and down of what we do then we may define the maximum stupidity by saying it is the one that gives you no advantage (o up) and all possible harms (100 down). The environmental issue is one example where harming the environment is only harming all parties (humans, animals, plants, resources) and yet there are people who still defend it!!! Thank you dear Cyndi wilkins for emphasizing this issue and for your sharing the buzz as well.
Cyndi wilkins
منذ 4 سنوات #73
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #72
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #71
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #70
True, I may only add that when eventually they get found out, they may be blinded busy with their acting, that they have been found.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #69
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #68
Jim, I just found that you need to click on this part of the URL and ignore the first part http://bit.ly/2ZHShKK,
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #67
Jim, I am not the one who shared it. She was Magdalena-Maria GROSU. So, the click takes you to the discussion and the page should carry the name of Magdalena, who briefed this post.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #66
Sometimes devices go stupid. I have just clicked the link and it works, Jim.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #65
Thank you Jim Murray. I still enjoy your company.
Jim Murray
منذ 4 سنوات #64
Ali...you should repost this comment. The URL doesn't appear to work.
Jim Murray
منذ 4 سنوات #63
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #62
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #61
Rapid changes and free of publishing using fake names have resulted in people finding an easy way to breathe out their inner feelings without being caught. The spread of rumors, fake news and many other chaotic acts are the reflections of the sad reality reflected in your comment dear Proma \ud83d\udc1d Nautiyal. When people act on an increasing scale in such acts we know chaos is arriving fast.
Proma Nautiyal
منذ 4 سنوات #60
John Rylance
منذ 4 سنوات #59
Thanks Ali.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #58
Enjoy your trip to the Swiss Alps dear John Rylance as much as I enjoyed your quote and comment
John Rylance
منذ 4 سنوات #57
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #56
Thank you for sharing the buzz Franci\ud83d\udc1dEugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #55
Great and very relevant quote dear Franci\ud83d\udc1dEugenia Hoffman, beBee Brand Ambassador
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #54
Well-said
Harvey Lloyd
منذ 4 سنوات #53
social media plus branding can equal good or bad. It is the intent that measures
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #52
Great points and the skills of tongues with their hidden toxicity even though they look beautiful and in fact a way to mislead people. Deception is their way in life.
Harvey Lloyd
منذ 4 سنوات #51
I do agree in outside looking in. But make no mistake the people perpetrating the social fabric with their rhetoric are not stupid people. They are smart well beyond my capabilities. Information, skills and the tongue are all tools, just like a gun or a hammer. They can be used for great purposes and malevolent ones. I have seen the stupidest people in the world make social change well beyond their intellect. I have also witnessed the smartest people use their gifts to gain personal gratification without consequence to those who suffer through their thoughts. I believe that stupidity and intellect are mere conditions of status at any given moment that we use for good or evil.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #50
To this I agree "The narrative of both sides are power and financially driven". The issue compounds further when the power and financial strengths are in the hands of stupid people. There are people who got to power because of their financial strength and there are people who used power too secure financial strength. Their actions become focused on these strengths and become blind foolishly to other alternatives.
Harvey Lloyd
منذ 4 سنوات #49
I believe that stupidity creates a narrative that never reaches the problem. In our country we have some deep seeded value issues that are not being created by stupid people. The narrative of both sides are power and financially driven. Each side develops their one hit fixes and brands them as the ultimate solution. We are currently dealing with many of these one hit solutions from the 30’s that were perfected in to a very high level of stupidity during the 60’s and 70’s. I believe if we consider what it takes to get the human mind to act in a malevolent way we can better understand that stupidity is not what we are witnessing. We are witnessing the erosion of a social order through power grabs by the aristocrats. Society is responding out of desperation to both sides.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #48
I read your sober comment again Gerald Hecht and I request you to expand it into a buzz. I truly hope you do.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #47
I must thank you twice dear Gerald Hecht: for your comment and for sharing this buzz in Science and Research Hive. It is very appropriate there. I liked your comment for you are the first one to highlight the mirage point, which I believe is a key point of the buzz. Not only highlighted it, but also added to it and you too enriched my thinking.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #46
Don't you consider malevolent evil as an extreme stupidity? I am just asking.
Harvey Lloyd
منذ 4 سنوات #45
This is where i sense that opinion and the observer get entangled. I dont see recent events as stupid but see malevolent evil. This is quite different than stupidity. When we change the words the solutions require changing. If we look at previous attempts of government to manipulate social structure we see 100% failures over time. Malevolence is a beast that can not be tamed easily. Certainly it can not be tamed through limiting materialism. Illegal materialism will always have its underground markets. Our constitution here is addressing issues that it was never written for, it always assumed folks want to be citizens. What happens when the systems begin to generate malevolent/nihilistic people? I lack answers and fully understand that portions of our constitution will have to be changed to accommodate the lost rights of malevolent people. My fear is always who will make the decision of what is malevolent?
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #44
You are a "deep human" and thinker dear Oswaldo Enrique Diaz Delgado
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #43
Dear Oswals- a lot tp ponder on. "Existence (OUR) a so-called essence of life in "Faith and Hope". The critical point is manifested from the other side of the tunnel called “Duties of conscience”, some human beings enclose themselves without extending the essence of human value, a correlation that leads us towards the development of wanting and being able to “Learn, Teach, Understand, to let the steps of shared teachings flow ”
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #42
Dear Oswaldo Enrique Diaz Delgado for your very kind words. We appreciate them and many thanks to you
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #41
Your comments and examples added great value to the buzz. No wonder I miss you and your comments dear Lisa.
Lisa Vanderburg
منذ 4 سنوات #40
Absolutely - great example! Ya know there was a student in 1980something (I've written about it before) that created the first 'mimic' for Parkinson's disease: MPTP. The designer was trying to make MPPP and gave himself a sort of 'super-Parkinson's'. But, this enabled scientists to be able to induce PD in testing....so it goes. Stupidity is both ally and foe, as you wisely stated.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #39
As I mentioned in an earlier comment dear Lisa Vanderburg stupidity has different levels. What tops the stupidity levels is acting such that one harms self and others. There is no winners and many losers. Innocent stupidity has allowed for great discoveries. I read once that somebody decided to put the two lenses of his eye glasses on top of each other instead of next to each other. The result of this stupidity led to the discovery of the microscope. There are malicious stupid examples such as selling fake diamond as real one. You know the difference in prices. But at least the seller is a winner and all buyers are losers. Mass killing for no good reason benefits no one and this is chaos advancing.
Lisa Vanderburg
منذ 4 سنوات #38
Lisa Vanderburg
منذ 4 سنوات #37
Thank you, dear friend! I have a doozy to send you too! 'The chaos is when rising stupidity is the malicious one.' I don't remember if I told you my (now old!) theory of adolescent America, but she has reached newly-found maturity of sorts; warts, mistakes, stupidity, desire...all with that relentless fervor of a 'new country'. Give her a few good years and she'll sort herself out. BUT, young'uns die easy. Americans must LISTEN to their instinct; their conscience. That doesn't lie in even a majority of white (or any) supremacist-value. America has to dig deeper than that. My concern [IMHO - NOT anyone here!] is that 'low-level' start and the culpability imagined -> guilt -> denial -> aquiescence -> altered belief. Back to your buzz: as @Harvey Lloyd said, stupidity has some value: 'Some times for good reason.' It is relevant, necessary & beneficial to reasoning and learning. It's also essential to further learning as Harvey examples. The 'obvious acts' of stupidity...those both can be used to swing on or off the rope. Great trying to think again - bit like a rowing boat along the QE3, but hey.....
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #36
As much as the news are saddening, at least a bright one is reading a comment by you again after a long time my dear Lisa Vanderburg. Innocent and malicious stupidity- I like your classification. The chaos is when rising stupidity is the malicious one. Such acts start on a low level, but then spread alarmingly. I shall be sending some photos for you by e-mail soon. I hope your husband condition is improving.
Lisa Vanderburg
منذ 4 سنوات #35
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #34
Just now and in less than 34 hours Chicago has witnessed a shooting event in a park. The total number of people killed or injured has exceeded in the shootings 35 victims and more than 40 people injured. Sad, horrible and coincides with your comment Lada \ud83c\udfe1 Prkic
Lada 🏡 Prkic
منذ 4 سنوات #33
Harvey, I am not sure about the statement that stupidity is just an observed behaviour relative to the observer position. Stupidity is the underestimated power that, unfortunately, runs today's world, which is more than evident. For example, how we can call the persistent rejection of gun control despite so many mass shootings anything other than the most dangerous kind of stupidity? As I said in my previous comment, in each of us lurks stupidity. It varies in severity of the consequences of stupid actions.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #32
Great suggestion. My initial thoughts is that the blue shape in the image is called disorder. It is the place where other classifications don't fit in the four domains. Again, my initial thought is that your comment explains the function of this domain.
Harvey Lloyd
منذ 4 سنوات #31
For your consideration i would posit that foolishness may deserve a spot in your diagram. Separating foolishness, knowing the right thing to do and having the skill to do it, but choose poorly anyway. From Stupidity where one is venturing into the unknown with courage and little knowledge/skill. Might make for some reasonable thought in how it would fit.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #30
Your comment and the previous one are a great way to understand self-awareness. I believe now that self-awareness has many levels or what we call fitness peaks. The more we "only extract wisdom from a spirit of teaching", the higher our fitness peak shall be.
Harvey Lloyd
منذ 4 سنوات #29
I do lose my humility when engaged in my own stupidity. This is usually triggered by those who would wish to identify my stupidities without offering their own wisdom. Judgement. If i have established that i am willing to risk my embarrassment within stupidity then my only request is to accept my courage and guide my stupidity towards your wisdom. I am ready to hear. Unfortunately, in todays climate, i am finding that folks have more opinion than wisdom. They offer up false narratives to “combat” my stupidity. I used to engage with this group. Today i merely walk away. One can not extract wisdom from an ideal. We can only extract wisdom from a spirit of teaching.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #28
This new comment reinforces your great thoughts on this topic. The ending line of your comment is simply a wisdom that we all need to adhere to.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #27
Harvey Lloyd- hats off to you for writing such a great comment. Sometimes, we miss a single fact that we are increasingly moving towards complexity. This trend makes us more like a child trying to walk. We are all"children" to new trends, new challenges, new experiences, new technologies and new emergence that show up unexpectedly. It is the foolish act that we tend to ignore this. With the advancement of new technologies and the myriad of societal, behavioral and other changes who is well-informed? What we know today might be invalid tomorrow. We are all learners by trail and error. Not only this, but also the way we learn is changing fast. This is an endless journey that requires humility on our part. It is forgetting this guiding principle that is among the most stupid acts we tend to do.
Harvey Lloyd
منذ 4 سنوات #26
Harvey Lloyd
منذ 4 سنوات #25
#26 Stupidity is an observed behavior and is relative to the observers position. If i were to stand inside a meeting with NASA engineers they would observe stupidities. If NASA engineers would stand with me in building a home i would observe the same effect. When we observe an infant attempting to walk we do not observe stupidities but recognize the challenges of learning something for the first time. The complexities of the task. For some reason we lose the ability observe this same phenomena in adults. Some times for good reason. Arrogance and lack of humility when attempting a new task establishes an observer to see attempts as stupid. The complexities of task is there just like the infant learning to walk. But what is lacking in the adult is the reflection of humility. In leadership, difficult as it is, we must look past this lack of humility and recognize, not stupidity, but rather the complexity of task. We also should see the courage the individual is displaying in even attempting something new. Failure in the first trials is immanent. I would rather appear stupid in task while i learn than become the fool that does not risk failure. When i am called stupid i realize i am in the right place.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #24
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #23
Dear Lada \ud83c\udfe1 Prkic named named the exploration and it involves probing, sensing and then responding. We become stupid when we try to outsmart complexity and trying to find cause and effect relationship that doesn't exist. So, I may so stupidity is an emerging property. You really grasped the essence of the buzz.
Lada 🏡 Prkic
منذ 4 سنوات #22
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #21
I bit you are an excellent presenter John Rylance. You are a great teller of funny stories that keep the listener and reader interested.
John Rylance
منذ 4 سنوات #20
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #19
Great feedback and quote Zacharias \ud83d\udc1d Voulgaris. Maybe the most intelligent are the stupid people who know they are!!!
Zacharias 🐝 Voulgaris
منذ 4 سنوات #18
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #17
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #16
You are right dear Jerry Fletcher in your analysis. If complexity follows a power law, as justified in the buzz, its effect may become very complex because of the feedback effect. Power Law follows a long-tail distribution and not a normal curve distribution. This means that rare events (noisy effects) could channel their effect back to the peak of the distribution and complexity reaches its tipping point. This leads to disruption. This is in conformity with what you wrote they are so sensitive to initial conditions and the butterfly effect. You are very right.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #15
CityVP \ud83d\udc1d Manjit- thank you for your comprehensive comment and for the link. My humble value-added addition to the stupidity is linking the dynamics of stupidity with the cynefin framework. This visualization makes it easier to understand such dynamics. I read the your linked article and I found that I could summarize it on a cynefin framework. This is pleasing for me. That we may apply the Pareto Rule to stupidity shows it follows a power law and hence is extensible to this framework. The movement within the framework from one domain to another such as from the obvious domain to the chaotic domain is indeed possible and your contribution here is valuable. I wrote a presentation on Stupidity Spawns Creativity https://www.slideshare.net/hudali15/stupidity-spawns-creativity In this presentation I gave example of creative products that became marketable and were developed from what seemed initially a stupid idea. Yes, as you mentioned, stupidity has an economic value.
Jerry Fletcher
منذ 4 سنوات #14
CityVP Manjit
منذ 4 سنوات #13
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #12
I am deeply grateful to you Joel Anderson.
Joel Anderson
منذ 4 سنوات #11
I am just glad I had a break in the action and truly enjoyed your post and insights herein.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #10
Thank you Joel Anderson and I am glad that the post triggered such a good action from you.
Joel Anderson
منذ 4 سنوات #9
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #8
Dear Oswaldo- yes, as you highlighted, Stupidity can be reflected in the face of those who without verifying the truth spread a message, a fact that is far from logic
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #7
There is difference between knowledge and info for the latter maybe based on false assumptions. David Snowden in the cyenfin framework elaborated how to deal with each domain whether simple all the way to chaos. Thank you dear Debasish Majumder for your unstoppable support.
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #6
I hope you have both Lyon Brave. Smart you are, and I hope richness shall be your partner.
Debasish Majumder
منذ 4 سنوات #5
Lyon Brave
منذ 4 سنوات #4
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #3
Amigo Oswaldo Enrique Diaz Delgado- this is my wish in publishing this buzz. "Lucky and different to feel life with other lives. In your own positive nature the best gift to connect and find a different sense to live fully".
Ali Anani
منذ 4 سنوات #2
from a dummy bee:))) Pascal- I thank you for sharing the buzz
Pascal Derrien
منذ 4 سنوات #1