Dumberer and Dumberest

Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe. -Albert Einstein

Not long ago I came across something that leaped out and smacked me in the face with its significance, the sort of idea that’s unique not only for its elegantly simple presentation, but for the vast scope it covers. I’ve been familiar with and considered it for years,  but paradoxically I’d never actually defined for myself nor explored in terms of its practical effects in a larger view. Oh, there’s no doubt that I’m a latecomer to this party…plenty of people know about it, I just wasn’t one of them until recently.

I’m referring to the Dunning-Kruger effect, the hypothesis detailing ‘a cognitive bias in which unskilled people make poor decisions and reach erroneous conclusions, but their incompetence denies them the metacognitive ability to recognize their mistakes.’  Fair…