> he must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will always only cause damage.
In observing the current dark political period, we see clearly that the energetic but stupid person can be entrusted to cause damage. He is a type of zealot or fanatic.
If you can marshal groups of such people, especially at arm's length from your own reputation and assets, such groups of energetic but stupid people can do significant damage.
I think I would re-order the Laws as stated:
THE THIRD (AND GOLDEN) BASIC LAW _ A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses. Human beings fall into four basic categories: the helpless, the intelligent, the bandit and the stupid. (The four categories are H, I, B, S.)
combines with
THE SECOND BASIC LAW _ The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
leads to
THE FOURTH BASIC LAW _ Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with
stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
leads to
THE FIRST BASIC LAW _ Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
leads to
THE FIFTH BASIC LAW _ A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person. The corollary of the Law is that: A stupid person is more dangerous than a bandit.
I'm sure he would say he isn't stupid, but that's part of the problem. No one is intelligent in all domains (contrary to the article, I'm afraid); Trump's intelligence lies in speaking convincingly to a portion of the population, which at least in November 2016 and November 2024 constituted a majority of voters who actually voted. But when it comes to economics (consider: tariffs, but also inflation and the need for scientific research to sustain our economy), science (especially medicine, in view of his choice of Lysenko Jr), world politics (doing things which push former allies away, sometimes even in the direction of China), negotiating (he's like an amateur chess player who sees a chance to take his opponent's pawn without noticing that this allows the opponent to take his rook), psychology (complete befuddlement when dealing with people like Putin, Xi and the Dear Leader), law (seeing solid cases against his personal enemies where there is no evidence, much less a real case), and...
I could go on. My point is that Trump is really only smart in one area, which he thinks makes him smart in all areas. He isn't: he's dumb in those other domains.
In observing the current dark political period, we see clearly that the energetic but stupid person can be entrusted to cause damage. He is a type of zealot or fanatic.
If you can marshal groups of such people, especially at arm's length from your own reputation and assets, such groups of energetic but stupid people can do significant damage.
I think I would re-order the Laws as stated:
THE THIRD (AND GOLDEN) BASIC LAW _ A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses. Human beings fall into four basic categories: the helpless, the intelligent, the bandit and the stupid. (The four categories are H, I, B, S.)
combines with
THE SECOND BASIC LAW _ The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
leads to
THE FOURTH BASIC LAW _ Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
leads to
THE FIRST BASIC LAW _ Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
leads to
THE FIFTH BASIC LAW _ A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person. The corollary of the Law is that: A stupid person is more dangerous than a bandit.