Research
The Technological Basis of Stupidity
A major cultural factor in determining the amount and nature of work performed a society is the level and type of technology applied to the exploitation of its natural resources. Basically, technology is that aspect of culture which encompasses the tools as well as the techniques people use in meeting their material needs.1 It functions through time in its interrelations to other aspects of society so its significance must be appreciated as means to maladapt a society not only to its natural environment but to itself as well2 to the point of being tyrannically dehumanizing.3 Regardless of the level of sophistication of its technology, when a group outstrips the carrying capacity of its environment, starvation, disease and/or war will follow. This is a basic principle of life, and technology cannot alter it. Sophisticated devices and methods may expand the capacity of the environment to sustain a certain way of life, but when these new limits are exceeded, the same predictable result is inevitable but worse. In fact, without some guiding sense of the long-term impact of technoillogical exploitation of natural resources, technology serves only to build up a culture to a bigger, neurotic paradoxically induced crash when it comes.
Political Stupidity
For lack of effective, credible criticism in the slap-happy world of the media, power does indeed tend to corrupt (as Lord John Acton noted1) because stupidity is a corruption of learning. For some reason, the power to command frequently causes a failure to learn--with power being a substitute for wisdom. Worse yet, the errors of leaders are less likely to be corrected then those made followers lower on the power-ladder, so, as often noted, failure comes from the top down. Ideally, the responsibility of those in power is to govern as reasonably as possible to the mutual advantage of all. To accomplish this end, a leader has best be well informed, heed available information, be open-minded without being empty-headed2 and judge all effects of policies objectively. However, it is unusual for someone transfixed by his own power to be open-minded enough to perceive that a pet policy is having unintended, negative effects, responsible enough to admit it and wise enough to replace it with a better one.3 The principle of cognitive dissonance applied to politics would show that there is a constant push from way below and outside the powergrid to reform the system and force those in power above to live up to the ideals they routinely espouse but rarely honor and apply. Usually, such pushes are blunted by mid-level, career-minded, promotion-seeking mismanagers.
Stupidity in the Age of Reason
The Age of Reason was marked by a decline in the theological basis of knowledge due to a rise of scientific explanations of natural phenomena—trends which reflected the application of reason to philosophy, astronomy (where it was most effective) and biology. However during this era, the political life of nations continued to be shaped by power while the cognitive life of people continued to be shaped by religion, tradition and emotion, which combined to make this period as unreasonable as any other.
