Jean-François Marmion: "You can be smart and a total moron."

BarcelonaWe've all come across someone we've thought, to put it mildly, was a bit stupid. But what is stupidity? What makes someone stupid and what makes the rest of us think so? And why do brilliant minds say stupid things? These are some of the questions that French psychologist Jean-François Marmion attempts to answer in a book that brings together psychologists, philosophers, sociologists, and linguists entitled The psychology of stupidity (Peninsula).

What makes someone stupid?

— We all are. Not on every topic or in every context, but we can be stupid when we talk about politics, religion, science...

Why do we sometimes behave stupidly?

— Because it takes a lot of energy to always try to be smart. The key is cognitive biases.

Explain it.

— We're programmed to think quickly. This was studied by Daniel Kahneman, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics even though he was a psychologist. In short, we have two ways of thinking: slow and fast. But slow thinking requires a lot of brain power, so we think as fast as we can, often irrationally or incorrectly. That's why we find people we don't know more stupid.

What does it mean?

— We think someone is stupid, especially when we don't know them. In fact, when we get to know someone, we tend to think they're less stupid than we initially thought. But we make those quick judgments.

And couldn't we make an effort to think slowly?

— Imagine that every time you meet someone or have to make a decision, you have to take a thorough x-ray. Life is possible because we think quickly.

Is that why we're so bad at long-term challenges like the climate emergency?

— Yes, it's an abstract problem in our brain. We're programmed to think quickly about everyday problems. And our brains love stories. And the climate change one isn't easy because there's no single bad guy. If it were a story with Palpatine or Voldemort, it would be different.

Thinking that others are stupid also puts us above them.

— Of course, when you think someone is stupid, you basically think they are not like you.

What can we do to avoid it?

— Be aware of it. When you're stupid, you don't know and don't want to know. On the other hand, if you see it, it means you've understood the mistake and somehow promised yourself it wouldn't happen again. And there are people who may do stupid things, but they're good people and don't cause that much harm. But some are stupid people with power, who act stupidly. This is a problem.

Do you think the internet has made us more stupid as societies?

— I don't think so at all. There's something called negativity bias, which means we focus on things that seem dangerous or that make us angry, rather than on ordinary things. We notice those who shout more than those who are silent, and we end up thinking that everyone is calling. No, that's not the case. The internet is a technology, neither good nor bad: what you choose to do is good or bad. Like books. You can make wonderful books that help people, or write... Mein KampfJust because Hitler wrote this doesn't mean books make us stupid.

How do you see that we are less so?

— We care about people we'll never meet, who don't look like us, and who are on the other side of the planet. This is the first time that's happened. We care about women's rights, about animal rights. Before, everyday life was more violent, but it was acceptable or taboo violence. When I was a child, women couldn't open a bank account without their husband's consent. Until the second half of the 20th century, they couldn't vote in France. Gay people were treated with electroshocks. No, I don't think we're any stupider.

Why do intelligent people believe in nonsense?

— Because stupidity isn't the opposite of intelligence. You can be intelligent, highly educated, and successful, and still be a total idiot, because you can use it to hurt people. For me, the opposite of stupidity is wisdom, in the philosophical sense of the term.

What does it mean to be wise?

— Trying to do things in the best possible way for yourself and others. But it's difficult to define what is wisdom and what is stupidity. It's said that intelligence is made for solving problems, and wisdom is made for avoiding them. The world would be better if everyone on this planet tried not to be a problem for others.

Why did you decide to talk about stupidity?

— Because I've done a lot of stupid things, too. And I thought I wanted to understand it. So I asked a lot of smart people what they thought: philosophers, historians, linguists, psychologists... And the result has been several books on the subject, including this latest one.

Any big takeaways?

— Don't try to be perfect. If you accept, the damage is limited.