Stupidita - Zářný duch nad vodami lidských dějin – Koukolík František (2023)

František Koukolík's new book Stupidity is intended for a broader audience. It tells the story of the most widespread and influential, yet unacknowledged, denied, disparaged, and difficult-to-grasp trait of human individual and group behavior, which is stupidity. Stupidity is not an insult or a mocking label; it is not foolishness, mental retardation, ignorance, or error; it is not inattention to warning signs; stupidity is neither absurdity nor irrationality. Stupidity is a manifestation of the collapse of feedback between behavior and the environment. Through stupidity, the human mind achieves a compromise between its inability to cope directly with the information coming from the physical environment and the rewards/punishments coming from the social environment. Power elites know well that any unlimited growth ends in collapse; they are aware of the effects of nuclear weapons, climate change, and environmental devastation. Therefore, in the name of their own power, they turn off feedback: they devastate the information space with the effective help of a significant portion of their devoted subjects...