I read this as ‘if you are stupid, have the decency to be lazy’. But then how are the stupid to know decency? Is this another variation of Taleb’s ‘the weak cannot be good’?
It is a question of decency, but also of damage. Such decency as is possible to the stupid consists mostly in staying out of the way.
There is the famous remark by the German officer that the intelligent and lazy became generals, the intelligent and industrious made excellent staff officers, and that even something could be done with the stupid and lazy, but that the stupid and industrious had to be drummed out of the army.
I read this as ‘if you are stupid, have the decency to be lazy’. But then how are the stupid to know decency? Is this another variation of Taleb’s ‘the weak cannot be good’?
It is a question of decency, but also of damage. Such decency as is possible to the stupid consists mostly in staying out of the way.
There is the famous remark by the German officer that the intelligent and lazy became generals, the intelligent and industrious made excellent staff officers, and that even something could be done with the stupid and lazy, but that the stupid and industrious had to be drummed out of the army.