### Arguments for stupidity as a necessary evil in democratic political systems *First published on 20240321* --- ##### TL;DR I posed a question in one of my online communities whether we shouldn't expect more from people who take up political office, including administering tests of competence such as *but not limited to* IQ tests to assess their capacity to actually perform the tasks expected of their office. I should've expected it and indeed, I heard a lot of knee-jerk reactions about how inconclusive/unethical IQ tests are. Sure, so can we find something better? Can we administer multiple tests, multi-dimensional tests? Some proposed EQ tests or ethics tests might be more salient, to which I said why not. The more tests the better. Why does it seem like getting a driver's license is harder than getting to craft nuclear policy sometimes? But strangely I heard a vein of argumentation in this entire discussion that just rubbed me the wrong way. People were actively trying to defend stupidity, as if equal representation and/or free speech demands that stupidity be protected and entrenched in the political system. Below I'm rephrasing some of the arguments I heard. ##### Arguments in defense of stupidity (in no particular order) - Stupidity isn't real. - Stupid leaders are okay too. - Stupid leaders may in fact be better. The stupider the better in some cases. - There is no good way to detect stupidity. - We should give equal opportunities for stupid people to be leaders. - The job of a public office holder is doable by stupid people too. - We get the privilege of having stupid leaders. - Stupid leaders are what we deserve. - There are no stupid people, only stupid systems. - Let’s not hurt stupid people’s feelings by telling them they can’t do tasks they are not trained for. - If a million stupid people “randomly” voted, that choice will focus their 50 collective brain cells into the best option for us all. - It's okay if the crowd votes for a stupid person because they will have expert advisors anyway. The stupid person just has to listen to the experts... *guys, can we cut out the stupid middlemen then?* - Stupid people have more EQ so that’s more important anyway. - If we piss off the stupid people who are currently in office, then they will do stupid things in spite and so let’s not do anything to keep stupid people away from positions of power. - Stupid people are implicitly good/kind and clever people are implicitly evil/selfish, unless proven otherwise. ##### Suggested References 1. Link to the original thread: https://www.facebook.com/groups/kafkapitalizme/posts/1876826769502583/?__cft__[0]=AZXHMOzMQc9KPVOtmDpg7kdWq5KY1b4MFK-c4kwwYawh02YqKnYpyxtaxB8_fdqju7BMCzVHCy4LV4iNjpW6W90_ty0X7Khtg8k37gAEZs0v2khK3fXKU3eDtCrrv_-Zg0PQVA6g7sSKZn1m5coV_Xvuw8gMDXLpFEXkDqa5zNO4QdD4d-F7m3ISBhd5bauoKlQ&__tn__=%2CO%2CP-R --- ---