# Human Nature is Inherently Stupid **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 18, 2019, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290 "2019-03-18T01:37:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/21 "2019-03-19T16:01:28Z")
What a piece of work is a man. How noble in reason. How infinite in faculty. In form and motion how express and admirable. In action how like an angel, In apprehension how like a god. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/22 "2019-03-19T16:11:59Z")
[List of Human Stampedes and Crushes](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_human_stampedes&ved=2ahUKEwi07L7Cyo7hAhXLx1kKHb95CfoQFjAAegQIAhAB&usg=AOvVaw0fei_wYwNllf-0CW9vKVeO) It can get pretty bad. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/23 "2019-03-19T16:12:48Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Also at supermarkets (and other retailers): the person who saunters down the middle of the parking-lot aisle, no matter how many cars may be inching along behind. > > This may go into the category “some humans like to feel powerful and so do quite stupid things because it makes them feel powerful.” _I am so powerful that vehicles have to inch along behind me as I saunter down the middle of the parking lot aisle! All Hail Me!_ > > Wankers. I remember some news item on a behavioral study where they measured the time it took to leave a parking spot after getting in the car. Not surprisingly, it took longer if there was someone waiting for the spot. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/24 "2019-03-19T16:43:47Z")
My personal favorite happens at toll plazas. Six open lanes, but loooooooong lines at only 1 of them. Similarly, the person without the EZPass who zooms up to the EZPass Only lane and suddenly realized that he’ll have to merge in with the line of cars waiting to pay the toll. I don’t know if it’s stupidity or just being oblivious. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/25 "2019-03-19T17:14:09Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > My personal favorite happens at toll plazas. Six open lanes, but loooooooong lines at only 1 of them. Similarly, the person without the EZPass who zooms up to the EZPass Only lane and suddenly realized that he’ll have to merge in with the line of cars waiting to pay the toll. > > I don’t know if it’s stupidity or just being oblivious. No, they’re special and don’t need to wait in line with the commoners. They get into the fast lane then force their way over at the last minute. They want you to think they made a simple mistake and got in the wrong lane but actually they are just exercising their right as an exceptional person who can avoid the social contract. Being in a vehicle is like being on the internet; when you have the protection of anonymity you can behave like an asshole with few consequences. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/26 "2019-03-19T17:24:57Z")
Actually, [Human Nature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Nature_(band)) put on a pretty good show. They have a residency at Venetian Las Vegas. Check them out! ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/27 "2019-03-19T17:36:29Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > I think it’s said that a person may be smart, but people are stupid. > > Also, there is the Wizard’s First Rule: > > “People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it’s true, or because they’re afraid it might be true. Peoples’ heads are full of knowledge, facts and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool.” What’s that from? I’d never heard of the Wizard’s First Rule. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/28 "2019-03-19T17:45:39Z")
> [@Scribble](#): > > What’s that from? I’d never heard of the Wizard’s First Rule. [I believe he’s a sociology professor at the University of Oz.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizard%27s_First_Rule#The_Wizard's_First_Rule) ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/29 "2019-03-19T18:01:50Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > [I believe he’s a sociology professor at the University of Oz.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizard%27s_First_Rule#The_Wizard's_First_Rule) Thanks! I’d never heard of the Sword of Truth series. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/30 "2019-03-19T19:05:57Z")
Your FACE is inherently stupid! ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/31 "2019-03-19T21:07:02Z")
I always imagine a pie chart of people who make these mistakes. Being in a big city, there are lots of different people from lots of different backgrounds. Some percentage were simply never taught what was proper. Unfortunate, but I know I have been in situations where I had not been taught how to react. Some percentage come from other backgrounds that have different social rules. (Walk on the right? Not in the UK, they often walk on the left, just like they drive on the left. Some cultures don’t queue up by practice.) Can’t really be mad a them. Some percentage just feel the rules don’t apply to them, and that everyone else will make adjustments for them. Ahem, steer clear of these. And finally, some percentage truly are not sharp enough to assess a situation and process the optimal strategy (I used those words on purpose! They don’t even have those words available in their vocabularies, let alone the concepts.) And steer clear of these too. Not that there is any real value in it, but deducing which category the other people fit into allow for some measure of sympathy and tempers ire. ---
**Author:** ![TheCuse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thecuse/32/2854_2.png) [@TheCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheCuse)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/32 "2019-03-19T21:44:15Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > There are TWO doors at 7-11, people! You don’t have to wait at ONE door for people coming in before you exit. USE THE OTHER DOOR! The majority of the 7-11s in my area keep one of the doors locked so there is only one to use. ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/33 "2019-03-19T21:44:45Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > What gets me is people in the supermarket. The stop their shopping carts in the middle of the aisle, rather than one side or the other, so that no one can pass. > > “Excuse me?” “Oh, I’m sorry”. Then they move the cart. Like they are surprised another shopper might be in the building. The people in my supermarket have a variation: They stop the shopping cart in the aisle across ftom what they want to look at/buy, then stand next to the cart to complete the aisle blockage. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/34 "2019-03-19T22:03:33Z")
> [@TheCuse](#): > > The majority of the 7-11s in my area keep one of the doors locked so there is only one to use. Forget 7-11. This happens for any number of doors that is greater than 1. It happens at the train station in Toronto. Eight total doors, and guess what? Everyone trying to filter through two random ones, with idiots on the other side waiting for the door to “clear”. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/35 "2019-03-19T22:09:00Z")
There’s a particular store I frequent that has narrow aisles. 2 carts will not pass. Someone has to back out to let someone pass. I’ve seen many standoffs at this place. I never use a cart in that store. So the stores human nature is stupid. I wonder who planned that place? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/36 "2019-03-19T22:19:59Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > I remember some news item on a behavioral study where they measured the time it took to leave a parking spot after getting in the car. Not surprisingly, it took longer if there was someone waiting for the spot. Oh, out of obstructionism? The pure cussed malice of wanting to keep someone else from getting something they clearly want, even though doing so provides no personal benefit? I believe it. I think most of us, nearly unconsciously sometimes, know _not_ to stand near the olives section of the supermarket aisle if someone is already there looking at the olives. We mosey a ways further on and feign an interest in the mustard brands on display—then go _back_ to the olives when the person moves on. Faster that way. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/37 "2019-03-19T22:55:15Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Oh, out of obstructionism? The pure cussed malice of wanting to keep someone else from getting something they clearly want, even though doing so provides no personal benefit? > > I believe it. I saw this a long time ago and, IIRC, one explanation was that it was a territorial thing. A subconscious “I have possession of this spot and if you’re waiting for it, you can only have it when I decide I don’t want it anymore.” ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2019, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/38 "2019-03-19T23:05:30Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > I saw this a long time ago and, IIRC, one explanation was that it was a territorial thing. A subconscious “I have possession of this spot and if you’re waiting for it, you can only have it when I decide I don’t want it anymore.” Sounds right. Look at all the other primates–with the exception of the orangutans, I believe, they do tend to fight over ‘what’s mine.’ The ‘saunter down the middle of the parking-lot aisle’ I mentioned earlier, though, does definitely have “stupid” attached to it (as well as territoriality). One slip of the foot off the break, and Mr. or Ms. _This is MY Terrain_ will own that terrain permanently, in the “flowers left on the spot” sense. ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/39 "2019-03-20T00:05:00Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > I saw this a long time ago and, IIRC, one explanation was that it was a territorial thing. A subconscious “I have possession of this spot and if you’re waiting for it, you can only have it when I decide I don’t want it anymore.” I’ve had this happen multiple times - people waiting for my parking spot - but once, I was loading my groceries into the car when a young man came up and started helping me. Very kind gesture I thought but asked him why. He told me wanted my spot. We laughed. It was in Canada so perfectly acceptable. Smart man. I’ve also had people offer to take my shopping cart and save me a trip to the cart corral in exchange for my spot. And I’ve done the same. (Canadians and most non-Americans don’t leave their shopping carts higglety-pigglety all over the show) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2019, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290/40 "2019-03-20T00:19:05Z")
Yes, Americans have a problem with parking lots. There is much animosity and angst. They are poorly planned and too small. There is a Wal-Mart lot I go to that has both sides grown up with small shopping centers and fast food joints. The Wendy’s, at one side, their parking and drive through is so mangled it’s nearly impossible to get out of. Someone has to take pity on you and just let you out. There’s no other way out. The driver then will be subjected to irate honking and road rage. I avoid it at all costs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-nature-is-inherently-stupid/831290.md?page=3)