Издания и произведения

Впервые остроумно и изящно сформулированы законы человеческой глупости — феномена мощного и извечного, как явления природы. Есть ли глупцы среди нобелевских лауреатов, чем отличается глупец от бандита, каков ущерб, который глупец наносит общему делу, много ли глупцов в популяции, как распознать и нейтрализовать их "темную силу" — ответы на эти насущные вопросы в великолепной работе историка экономики Карло Чиполлы. Одновременно "эта книжица ни в коем случае не является ни порождением цинизма, ни упражнением в пораженчестве", ибо она полна юмора (или сарказма), вполне научна и пользуется успехом у читателей по всему миру. Также под…

The five laws that confirm our worst fears: stupid people can and do rule the world. Since time immemorial, a powerful dark force has hindered the growth of human welfare and happiness. It is more powerful than the Mafia or the military. It has global catastrophic effects and can be found anywhere from the world’s most powerful boardrooms to your local pub. This is the immensely powerful force of human stupidity. Seeing the shambolic state of human affairs, and sensing the dark force at work behind it, Carlo M. Cipolla, the late, noted professor of economic history at the University of California, Berkeley, created a vitally important…

The stupid are all around us: they are in every place, in every class, ready to cause damage to others and naturally (they are stupid, are they not?) to themselves. The stupid form the most dangerous category of human beings. Woe betide those who underestimate them. The historian Carlo M. Cipolla wrote this essay in a constructive effort to detect, know, and thus possibly neutralize one of the most powerful, dark forces which hinder the growth of human welfare and happiness. And if it then proves impossible to save ourselves from stupidity, at least we can take vengeance by laughing at it.