Comprehension
Read the passage carefully and answer the THREE questions that follow.
Stupidity is a very specific cognitive failing. Crudely put, it occurs when you don’t have the right conceptual tools for the job. The result is an inability to make sense of what is happening and a resulting tendency to force phenomena into crude, distorting pigeonholes.
This is easiest to introduce with a tragic case. British high command during the First World War frequently understood trench warfare using concepts and strategies from the cavalry battles of their youth. As one of Field Marshal Douglas Haig’s subordinates later remarked, they thought of the trenches as ‘mobile operations at the halt’: i.e., as fluid battle lines with the simple caveat that nothing in fact budged for years. Unsurprisingly, this did not serve them well in formulating a strategy: they were hampered, beyond the shortage of material resources, by a kind of ‘conceptual obsolescence’, a failure to update their cognitive tools to fit the task in hand. In at least some cases, intelligence actively abets stupidity by allowing pernicious rationalisation.
Stupidity will often arise in cases like this, when an outdated conceptual framework is forced into service, mangling the user’s grip on some new phenomenon. It is important to distinguish this from mere error. We make mistakes for all kinds of reasons. Stupidity is rather one specific and stubborn cause of error. Historically, philosophers have worried a great deal about the irrationality of not taking the available means to achieve goals: Tom wants to get fit, yet his running shoes are quietly gathering dust. The stock solution to Tom’s quandary is simple willpower. Stupidity is very different from this. It is rather a lack of the necessary means, a lack of the necessary intellectual equipment. Combatting it will typically require not brute willpower but the construction of a new way of seeing our self and our world. Such stupidity is perfectly compatible with intelligence: Haig was by any standard a smart man.
Stupidity is a very specific cognitive failing. Crudely put, it occurs when you don’t have the right conceptual tools for the job. The result is an inability to make sense of what is happening and a resulting tendency to force phenomena into crude, distorting pigeonholes.
This is easiest to introduce with a tragic case. British high command during the First World War frequently understood trench warfare using concepts and strategies from the cavalry battles of their youth. As one of Field Marshal Douglas Haig’s subordinates later remarked, they thought of the trenches as ‘mobile operations at the halt’: i.e., as fluid battle lines with the simple caveat that nothing in fact budged for years. Unsurprisingly, this did not serve them well in formulating a strategy: they were hampered, beyond the shortage of material resources, by a kind of ‘conceptual obsolescence’, a failure to update their cognitive tools to fit the task in hand. In at least some cases, intelligence actively abets stupidity by allowing pernicious rationalisation.
Stupidity will often arise in cases like this, when an outdated conceptual framework is forced into service, mangling the user’s grip on some new phenomenon. It is important to distinguish this from mere error. We make mistakes for all kinds of reasons. Stupidity is rather one specific and stubborn cause of error. Historically, philosophers have worried a great deal about the irrationality of not taking the available means to achieve goals: Tom wants to get fit, yet his running shoes are quietly gathering dust. The stock solution to Tom’s quandary is simple willpower. Stupidity is very different from this. It is rather a lack of the necessary means, a lack of the necessary intellectual equipment. Combatting it will typically require not brute willpower but the construction of a new way of seeing our self and our world. Such stupidity is perfectly compatible with intelligence: Haig was by any standard a smart man.
Question: 1
Which of the following statements BEST summarizes the author's view on stupidity?
Which of the following statements BEST summarizes the author's view on stupidity?
Updated On: Aug 9, 2024
- Comprehending a problem by applying our existing world view is stupidity
- The inability to avoid forcing our current views on a new situation is stupidity
- Pushing our extant solution to fix an alien problem is stupidity
- The novelty of the problem, in relation to our cognitive capacity, is the cause of stupidity
- The inability to comprehend what is happening around us is stupidity
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The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The correct answer is option (C):Pushing our extant solution to fix an alien problem is stupidity
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Question: 2
Which of the following statements BEST explains why stupidity for a smart person is “perfectly compatible with intelligence”?
Which of the following statements BEST explains why stupidity for a smart person is “perfectly compatible with intelligence”?
Updated On: Aug 9, 2024
- Intelligence is poorly defined, and is usually a perception, making it compatible with stupidity.
- Intelligence, when perceived through past successes, makes any rationalization of a new phenomenon acceptable.
- Past successes make us believe that we are intelligent and capable of explaining any new phenomenon.
- A new phenomenon creates fear, rushing intelligent people to explain it to put others at ease.
- Intelligent people are scared to admit their lack of knowledge, and therefore, try to explain everything including things they do not understand.
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The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The correct answer is option (C):Past successes make us believe that we are intelligent and capable of explaining any new phenomenon.
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Question: 3
Based on the passage, which of the following can BEST help a leader avoid stupidity?
Based on the passage, which of the following can BEST help a leader avoid stupidity?
Updated On: Aug 9, 2024
- Be ready to discuss with everyone before taking a decision
- Be cautious in taking a decision until the future unfolds
- Being aware that our current answers are only applicable to the current context
- Being aware that we are short of the required resources
- Being aware that we must handle future with a different cognitive tool
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The Correct Option is C
Solution and Explanation
The correct answer is option (C):Being aware that our current answers are only applicable to the current context
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Top Questions on Reading Comprehension
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The Story of Coffee
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