By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
作者: Darren Smith，Weekend Contributor
Our host on numerous occasions makes a strong case in labeling today’s zeitgeist as “The Age of Rage”. It would certainly seem to be so if one focuses on what stereotypically comes out of the news media and political figures we lend our ears to. Yet I would go a step further and suggest the root cause of some of this rage is composed of two elements: power-lust and simple human stupidity.
我们的主持人在许多场合都强烈表示，今天的时代精神是“愤怒的时代”。如果我们把焦点集中在我们耳朵所听到的新闻媒体和政治人物的刻板印象上，那么情况看起来的确如此。然而，我还要进一步指出，这种愤怒的根源部分是由两个因素构成的: 权力欲望和简单的人类愚蠢。
I believe many people fail to recognize how intertwined is the lust for power and the enabling forces of stupidity. Stupidity can be manipulated to achieve that power. It is said that money is the blood of the powerful. Yet, why spend money when too many can be so easily controlled or recruited for free simply by instead appealing to ignorant or stupid individuals.
我相信很多人都没有意识到，对权力的渴望和愚蠢的助长力量是如何交织在一起的。愚蠢可以通过操纵来获得这种力量。据说金钱是权贵的血液。然而，为什么要花钱，当太多人可以这么容易控制或招募免费简单，而不是吸引无知或愚蠢的个人。
Both sadly and obviously however, ignorance and stupidity is not limited to the news or politics, it is manifest in human society generally. The trick is to recognize and extricate it from our lives whenever possible. So in a mostly cynical and possibly comical study of the problem, I propose there are levels and flavors of both ignorance and stupidity and to apply such a study is a first step toward minimizing its damaging potential.
然而，可悲的是，无知和愚蠢并不仅限于新闻或政治，它在人类社会中普遍存在。诀窍在于，只要有可能，就要认识到这一点，并把它从我们的生活中解脱出来。因此，在对这个问题进行的一项基本上是玩世不恭的、甚至可能是滑稽可笑的研究中，我认为，无知和愚蠢既有层次也有特点，应用这样的研究是朝着最大限度地降低其破坏性潜力迈出的第一步。
If you could excuse the pretense, I might suggest this study to also be corollary to Carlo Cipolla’s “The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity“. I will then attempt to quantify Ignorance and Stupidity into both cardinal and ordinal enumerations. For those unfamiliar with Mr. Cipolla’s laws, here follows a basic primer:
如果你能原谅这种借口，我可能会建议这项研究也是卡洛 · 西波拉的“人类愚蠢的基本法则”的必然结果。然后，我将尝试将无知和愚蠢量化为基数和序数列举。对于那些不熟悉 Cipolla 先生定律的人，以下是一些基本的入门知识:
- Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
- 每个人总是不可避免地低估了流通中的愚蠢个人的数量。
- The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
- 某人愚蠢的可能性与他的任何其他特征无关。
- A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
- 一个愚蠢的人，是指一个人给另一个人或一群人造成损失，而自己却没有得到任何好处，甚至可能蒙受损失的人。
- Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places, and under any circumstances, to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
- 不愚蠢的人总是低估愚蠢个人的破坏力。特别是，不愚蠢的人总是忘记，在任何时间、任何地点、任何情况下，与愚蠢的人打交道或者交往，结果总是一个代价高昂的错误。
- A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.
- 愚蠢的人是最危险的一类人。
While I believe Mr. Cipolla’s laws provide some interesting insight, it treats stupidity as an absolute; that is, without a gradient as to how badly it manifests. So I offer to you, the reader, a possible method to quantify ignorance and stupidity so that you may successfully counter it in a reasonably measured fashion.
虽然我相信 Cipolla 先生的定律提供了一些有趣的见解，但是它把愚蠢当作一种绝对，也就是说，没有梯度来说明它表现得有多糟糕。所以我给你们，读者们，一个可能的方法来量化无知和愚蠢，这样你们就可以成功地以一种合理的方式来反击它。
The Eight Degrees of Ignorance and Stupidity
无知和愚蠢的八个等级
0: Used for reference only, zero degree represents an organism that lacks any mechanism for thought or cognition, relying only on reflex or stimulus-response to changes in its environment. Plants and simple animals comprise this level. There have been debates in some circles as to whether or not plants exhibit a behavior or communicate based upon stress or environmental challenges, though it is an interesting proposal I will leave that debate to others.
0: 仅供参考，零度代表生物体缺乏任何思维或认知机制，仅依赖于对环境变化的反射或刺激-反应。植物和简单的动物构成了这个层次。关于植物是否表现出基于压力或环境挑战的行为或交流，在某些圈子里有过争论，尽管这是一个有趣的建议，我将把这个争论留给其他人。
First Degree Ignorance: In this example a person or animal having 1st degree ignorance is where the person due to infancy or perhaps early childhood is not physically capable of understanding the facts or information presented to them due to either the transient condition of their age or stage of development or that they lack a sufficiently matured biological structure within their brain necessary to process the information. The state for which a person or animal resides in is not one to be judged as a failure or shortcoming. It is simply the nature of the person or animal at this stage in their lifetime.
第一等级无知: 在这个例子中，一级无知的人或动物是指由于婴儿期或者可能是幼儿期的缘故，由于年龄或发育阶段的短暂状况，或者由于大脑缺乏处理信息所必需的足够成熟的生物结构，他们身体上没有能力理解呈现给他们的事实或信息。一个人或动物所处的状态不是一个可以被判断为失败或缺点的状态。它仅仅是人或动物在他们一生中的这个阶段的本性。
Second Degree Ignorance: The simplest definition of this degree is that the person or animal is capable of understanding the facts but is not aware of their existence. Every person or animal living has this at some time or concerning some form of information. Not all facts can ever be known. Yet it is incumbent upon intelligent organisms to manage the known/unknown deficit to be successful.
第二等级无知: 这个程度最简单的定义是，人或动物能够理解事实，但不知道它们的存在。每个人或动物在某个时候都有这样的信息，或者有关某种形式的信息。不是所有的事实都能被知道。然而，智能有机体有责任管理已知/未知的赤字，以取得成功。
Third Degree Ignorance: At this stage the person can be taught how to recite an outcome or answer but does not fully understand the underlying reason, process, or cause for the fact or event. The knowledge the person possesses is casual and limited, and hence they can be vulnerable to situations where the outcome is defective or malformed. Yet, the person lacks the ability to correct it by repairing the mechanism.
第三等级无知: 在这个阶段，人们可以被教导如何背诵一个结果或答案，但不能完全理解事实或事件的根本原因、过程或原因。这个人所拥有的知识是偶然的和有限的，因此他们很容易受到结果有缺陷或畸形的情况的影响。然而，这个人缺乏通过修复机制来纠正它的能力。
Fourth Degree Ignorance: At this stage, the beginnings of negligence come into play, where the person or animal causes unnecessary harm to themselves or others by willfully failing to attend to learning or intellectual growth required by their environment or social station.
第四等级无知: 在这个阶段，忽视开始发挥作用，在这个阶段，人或动物故意不关注他们的环境或社会地位所需要的学习或智力成长，从而对他们自己或他人造成不必要的伤害。
Fifth Degree (Stupidity): Fifth degree separates human beings from most animals. While this degree’s definition relies mostly upon nomenclature, such as instinct versus cognitively derived strategy, it does require a certain intellectual threshold be met to transition from ordinary ignorance (inability to conceive a proper result), to stupidity (ability to conceive a proper result but willingly refusing to do so by disregarding the truth or the process of deriving truth). This is the most prevalent level of stupid among the general population.
第五等级(愚蠢) : 第五级将人类与大多数动物区分开来。虽然这个学位的定义主要依赖于术语，比如本能与认知派生策略，但它确实需要一定的智力门槛，以便从普通的无知(无法想象出一个合适的结果)过渡到愚蠢(想象出一个合适的结果，但通过无视真理或推导真理的过程，自愿拒绝这样做的能力)。这是一般人群中最普遍的愚蠢程度。
The inchoate notion of recklessness incorporates into this degree.
鲁莽的早期概念融入了这个程度。
Another form of expression within this degree is that while the person displaying stupidity might not immediately be contributing to the stupid act, it is also that the act resulted from the culmination of a series of events whereby the stupid person continually failed to exercise attention to truth and was somewhat predestined to commit to stupidity by default.
这个程度的另一种表达形式是，虽然表现出愚蠢的人可能不会立即促成愚蠢的行为，但这种行为也是一系列事件的高潮所导致的，这些事件使愚蠢的人不断地不能注意到真相，并且在某种程度上注定会因为缺席而犯下愚蠢的错误。
Sixth Degree (Unyielding Stupidity): At this stage the Unyielding Stupid express total unwillingness to accept any fact presented to them that is contrary to their own presumptions, regardless of even monumental levels of proof from all other sources. No amount of convincing will succeed in dislodging their false belief or facilitate their acceptance of truth. In fact, the strength in which they will hold their falsehood is nearly proportionate to the amount of effort wasted by others trying to convince them otherwise.
第六等级(不屈的愚蠢) : 在这个阶段，不屈的愚蠢表示完全不愿意接受呈现给他们的任何事实，这与他们自己的假设相反，即使从所有其他来源得到了巨大程度的证明。再多的说服也不能成功地驱逐他们的错误信念或促进他们接受真理。事实上，他们说谎的能力几乎与其他人为了说服他们而浪费的努力成正比。
They also tend to accept new information as “factual” based on a very low initial bar of proof, especially if presented to them by a source they blindly assign credibility. Once falsehood becomes resident in their mind it is nearly impossible to rehabilitate by contrary, yet factual evidence. From this they incorporate falsehoods into their thinking and behavior; which of course leads to feedback loops of bad decision making and the consternation of all around them.
他们还倾向于接受新的信息为”事实”，而这些信息的最初证据门槛很低，特别是如果是由他们盲目认定可信度的来源提供的。一旦谎言成为他们头脑中的一部分，几乎不可能通过相反的事实证据来恢复。由此，他们将谬误融入自己的思维和行为中; 这当然会导致错误决策的反馈循环，以及他们周围所有人的恐慌。
Normally minded individuals will certainly experience frustration and annoyance in having to be forced into proximity with the Unyielding Stupid. It is one of the rare quantifiable aspects of human emotion: the aggravation is measured as the inverse of the square of the distance the victim finds themselves from the stupid person’s mouth or keyboard. For one’s own mental wellbeing this flavor of stupid is better observed from a safe distance and at best if not at all.
头脑正常的人肯定会经历挫折和烦恼，不得不接近不屈的愚蠢。这是人类情感中罕见的可以量化的方面之一: 恶化的程度与受害者发现自己与愚蠢的人的嘴或键盘之间的距离的平方成反比。为了一个人的心理健康，这种愚蠢的味道最好从安全的距离观察，最好的情况是根本不观察。
As detrimental as these persons are, they fortunately lack high levels of motivation and tend to be rather benign in their ability to infect others’ tranquility of reason. This is not to say that they keep to themselves but their continual blundering tends to cap the damaging potential to those around them. Great care must be taken of course to guard at all costs against the entrance of the Unyielding Stupid into one’s life or worse, government and politics. That systemic degree of dysfunction which envelopes their lives usually serves as a moderator to their damaging ability. Theirs is a counterintuitive example of laziness being a benefit to others and society, or at least a buffer against damaging potential.
这些人虽然有害，但幸运的是他们缺乏高度的动机，而且在感染他人理性的宁静方面往往是良性的。这并不是说他们保守自己的秘密，而是他们持续的失误倾向于限制对他们周围人的破坏性潜力。当然，我们必须格外小心，不惜一切代价防止不屈的愚人进入我们的生活，或者更糟糕的是，进入政府和政治。这种包裹着他们生活的系统性功能障碍通常是他们破坏能力的调节剂。他们是一个反直觉的例子，懒惰是对他人和社会的利益，或者至少是对潜在破坏性的缓冲。
Also counterintuitively, these individuals are also easily manipulated by others who they’ve assigned expertise or kinship. They tend to place greater importance on the person or ideal they devote themselves to rather than the information or events presented by that person. So by extension they blindly follow a few because they both lack the ability to effectively think for themselves and that everyone else who might disagree is wrong.
同样与直觉相反的是，这些人也很容易被他们指派的专家或亲属所操纵。他们倾向于更加重视他们致力于的人或理想，而不是那个人提供的信息或事件。因此，推而广之，他们盲目地追随少数人，因为他们既缺乏有效地独立思考的能力，又认为其他可能不同意的人都是错误的。
Individuals routinely manifesting Unyielding Stupidity relegate themselves to having their sole prominent achievement as proving the Dunning-Kruger effect.
个人经常表现出不屈不挠的愚蠢，把自己唯一突出的成就归结为邓宁-克鲁格效应的证明。
Seventh Degree (Militant Stupidity): This by far is not only the worst level of a stupid person it is also the most dangerous.
第七级(军事愚蠢) : 这不仅是愚蠢者最坏的等级，也是最危险的等级。
A person espousing Militant Stupidity possesses all the traits of the Unyielding Stupid, but rather than otherwise being somewhat benign, actively prosecutes against capability and intellect while forcing stupidity upon the general population. They view the notion of free thinking, scientific methodology, reason, or working debate as existential threats that must be exterminated at any cost. They have no tolerance of any idea that is not closely held by them or their cohorts and seek the maximum punishment against those they perceive as threats or unwilling to submit to idiocy. They become unhinged easily and quickly resort to anger and shouting. In fact, they seem to be almost permanently offended or outraged when dealing with those outside their inner circle. Yet just like their lesser brethren, the Unyielding Stupid, they surrender themselves into being manipulated. And to their greater detriment, their militancy facilitates their vulnerability to be prompted into action.
一个支持军事愚蠢的人拥有不屈不挠的愚蠢的所有特征，但是并不是在其他方面表现得有些仁慈，而是积极地反对能力和智力，同时把愚蠢强加给普通大众。他们认为自由思考、科学方法论、理性或工作辩论的概念是必须不惜一切代价消灭的生存威胁。他们不能容忍不属于他们或其同伙的任何思想，并寻求对那些他们认为是威胁或不愿服从白痴行为的人给予最大限度的惩罚。他们很容易精神错乱，很快就诉诸于愤怒和喊叫。事实上，当他们与自己核心圈子之外的人打交道时，他们似乎永远感到被冒犯或愤怒。然而，就像他们那些不那么重要的同胞，不屈的愚人一样，他们屈服于被操纵。对他们更大的损害是，他们的好战性助长了他们的脆弱性，促使他们采取行动。
An auxiliary to Militant Stupidity is what is known as a “Useful Idiot”, that is a disrespected individual who can be easily summoned to blindly perform dirty-work on behalf of unscrupulous yet powerful individuals or organizations. Organizations that can thereby maintain plausible deniability of responsibility for the damage the Useful Idiot germinates. These are the most recruitable form of Useful Idiot.
“好战愚蠢”的辅助者被称为“有用的白痴”，这是一个不受尊重的人，他很容易被召集去盲目地为那些不择手段但有权势的个人或组织做肮脏的工作。组织机构能够因此对“有用的白痴”所造成的损害承担似是而非的否认责任。这些是有用的傻瓜最可招募的形式。
The Militant Stupid proffer themselves as highly intelligent and also command a delusional birthright mandate to lead others. They are completely incapable of benevolent, effective leadership but are actually otherwise sheep who believe they are wolves or the shepherd. This narcissism is the yoke from which they can be controlled.
好战的愚蠢分子自称非常聪明，并且天生就有领导他人的妄想症。他们完全不具备仁慈、有效的领导能力，但实际上他们是自以为是狼或牧羊人的绵羊。这种自恋是一种可以控制他们的枷锁。
A good laugh can be generated by easily beckoning Useful Idiots and the Militant Stupid into identifying themselves among a crowd or audience simply by voicing a generic reference to stupid people in general. Both types of creature will be the first to jump up in outrage and either demand the speaker be punished or they will also proclaim that they are the smartest people in the room. It works nearly every time and seems to stem from a hair-trigger like proclivity on their part to be irrational and easily offended—“offended” being their preferred state of being. Deep down, there might be a faint yet secret notion within some of them that they possibly are not the smartest or brightest, but they perceive this as a vulnerability that must not be revealed or exposed by others. Consequentially, they overreact to this perceived threat by attacking others with shotgun-like precision. When having provoked the Militant Stupid into identifying themselves within the crowd, some of them become so ferociously animated in their rage and screaming that you begin to wonder when the demon possessing their body will tear its way out and unleash pandemonium upon the fleeing crowd. Pitiful and annoying perhaps, but at least the drama can certainly break the monotony of an otherwise boring town council meeting or lecture. So the useful idiot does have some utility, I suppose.
通过简单地提及一般的愚蠢人群，就可以很容易地让有用的白痴和好战的愚蠢人群认同他们自己，从而制造一个大笑。这两种类型的生物都会首先表示愤怒，要么要求说话者受到惩罚，要么还会宣称自己是屋子里最聪明的人。这种方法几乎每次都奏效，而且似乎源于他们一触即发的倾向，即不理性和容易被冒犯ーー“冒犯”是他们首选的存在状态。在内心深处，他们中的一些人可能有一个模糊但隐秘的想法，那就是他们可能不是最聪明或最聪明的，但是他们认为这是一个不能被其他人发现或暴露的弱点。因此，他们对这种感知到的威胁反应过度，以猎枪一样的精度攻击他人。当激怒了好战愚蠢分子，让他们在人群中表明自己的身份时，他们中的一些人在愤怒和尖叫中变得如此凶猛，以至于你开始怀疑，占据他们身体的恶魔何时会撕开自己的路，向逃跑的人群释放出混乱。也许是可怜和恼人的，但至少这出戏肯定能打破原本无聊的市议会会议或演讲的单调。所以我认为，有用的白痴确实有一些用处。
Eighth Degree (Self-Actualized Stupidity): This seemingly contradictory and oxymoronic term nomenclates a rare and paradoxical creature of bad habit, the Self-Actualized Stupid. This strangely benevolent person lends their self to a unique form of justice and that propensity, I suspect, is hardcoded into the DNA of humanity as a form of error correction; halting further replication into the biosphere. The recessive allele of this gene expresses itself as the Self-Actualized Stupid, and the dominant expresses as the Schadenfreude Trait within the realm of human thought.
第八等级(自我实现的愚蠢) : 这个看似矛盾和矛盾的术语命名为一个罕见和矛盾的坏习惯生物，自我实现的愚蠢。这个奇怪的仁慈的人把他们的自我借给了一种独特的正义形式，我怀疑，这种倾向被硬编码到人类的 DNA 中，作为一种纠错的形式; 阻止进一步在生物圈中的复制。该基因的隐性等位基因表现为自我实现的愚蠢，显性基因表现为人类思维领域的幸灾乐祸性状。
The Self-actualized Stupid generally possess a higher than average level of general intelligence, a requisite attribute to construct and conduct their own demise. With them the endgame’s culmination of their stupidity ranges from an absolute reputation worthy of universal ridicule, to the other pole being a successful laureate for the Darwin Awards.
自我实现的愚人通常拥有高于平均水平的一般智力，这是构建和实现自我毁灭的必要属性。他们的愚蠢达到了最后的顶点，从绝对值得全世界嘲笑的名声，到另一极成为达尔文奖的获奖者。
In the former, they quickly achieve fame through misfortune by committing acts or making statements that are so preposterous and exaltedly stupid they evoke thunderous levels of laughter and elation in society, vanquishing any possible taint or perceivable threat this type of stupidity might engender. Not only is their own credibility eviscerated, but the whole of society buoys itself in joy from the occasional reminder of the humor brought forth again by the replaying of such a stupid act or statement. It is akin to the stupid creating a Big Bang of a blunder on video, with YouTube as the Cosmic Microwave Background reverberating its echoes.
在前者中，他们通过做一些荒谬而愚蠢的行为或发表一些令人发指的言论而迅速成名，在社会上引起雷鸣般的欢笑和兴奋，消除任何可能的污点或可察觉的威胁，这种类型的愚蠢可能产生的威胁。不仅他们自己的信誉受到了损害，而且整个社会都因为这种愚蠢行为或言论的重演所带来的幽默而欢欣鼓舞。这类似于愚蠢地制作了一个错误的大爆炸视频，YouTube 作为宇宙微波背景的回响。
One shining example of a ridiculed, self-actualizedly stupid person was a man who several years ago posted a YouTube video of his challenging a large cactus to a test of wills, or quills so to speak. I do not know which species of cactus this was, but it appeared very menacing—being more bush-like than tall, while wielding a ferocious arsenal of thick, inch-and-a-half long needles more accurately described as nails. He announced his grievance to the audience. As it was the cactus, being level 0, was unable to accept such a challenge, it was nevertheless clear from the beginning who was not going to get satisfaction in this duel.
几年前，一个男人在 YouTube 上发布了一段视频，视频中他挑战一株巨大的仙人掌作为意志测试，或者可以说是挑刺。我不知道这是哪一种仙人掌，但它看起来很有威胁性——它更像灌木，而不是高大的仙人掌，它挥舞着一个凶猛的军火库，里面有厚厚的、一英寸半长的针，更准确地说是钉子。他向听众宣布了他的不满。由于仙人掌是0级，无法接受这样的挑战，然而从一开始就很清楚谁不会在这场决斗中得到满足。
I suspect this need to battle the cactus was inspired from an earlier meme where lesser stupids posted videos of their forceful grappling of cactus houseplants with their bare hands and proclaiming supremacy in overcoming the ensuing pain. Not to be outdone, our Self-actualized Stupid candidate drove into the hinterlands in search of a more formidable opponent. Upon locating such, he positioned his car next to the cactus, climbed atop the car and belly flopped himself into a new definition of agony and suffering. In a way it appeared the cactus swallowed him whole in a manner similar to how a Venus Fly Trap ensnares its prey. Though his seconds managed to extricate him…there he lay, frozen in pain, shrieking in despair, reduced to being a human bed of nails begging to be plucked. Prior to this spectacle of foolhardiness he somehow managed to summon the inspiration to at least put on a facemask, boxing gloves, and goggles. Notwithstanding, he could not escape his nature; the recessive alleles prevailed and his stupendous stupidly neglected to realize that going into this challenge shirtless and in shorts would not end well for him. Dozens and dozens of quills remained impaled in his body, to be yanked out to the gruesome tune of his wailing. I admittedly was a bit disappointed the producers of the video did not provide a musical score to this act, perhaps some baroque chamber music with a harpsichord plucking a note for each quill extracted. A missed opportunity for sure, yet macabre and perhaps fitting I would say: for I came to realize after witnessing such a grand spectacle that this man was decidedly beyond all others.
我怀疑这种与仙人掌战斗的需要是受到了一个更早的文化基因的启发，在那个文化基因里，一些不那么愚蠢的人发布了他们赤手空拳强力抓取仙人掌室内植物的视频，并宣称在克服随之而来的痛苦方面拥有至高无上的地位。为了不被超越，我们的自我实现的愚蠢的候选人驱车进入内陆地区寻找一个更强大的对手。找到这个地方后，他把车停在仙人掌旁边，爬上车顶，肚子一下子陷入痛苦和苦难的新定义中。在某种程度上，它似乎仙人掌吞噬了他整个的方式类似于如何捕蝇草诱捕其猎物。虽然他的助手设法把他解救出来... ... 他躺在那里，被痛苦冻僵，绝望地尖叫，沦落成一张钉子床，乞求着被拔掉。在这个有勇无谋的奇观出现之前，他不知怎么的鼓起勇气，至少戴上了面罩、拳击手套和护目镜。尽管如此，他还是无法摆脱自己的本性; 隐性等位基因占了上风，他愚蠢地忽视了这一点，没有意识到光着膀子穿着短裤参加这场挑战对他不会有好结果。一打又一打的羽毛刺在他的身体里，随着他哀号的可怕旋律被猛拉出来。无可否认，我有点失望的视频制作人没有提供一个音乐分数这一行为，也许一些巴洛克室内音乐与大键琴拨弦为每个鹅毛笔提取。这当然是一个错过的机会，然而我要说的是可怕的，也许是恰当的: 因为在目睹了如此壮观的场面之后，我意识到这个人绝对是其他人所不能比拟的。
I observed then that this person was clearly stupider than every other individual within the Animal Kingdom. No animal, not salamander, not ape, nor thing that slithers would ever commit itself to such a depravedly foolhardy game—cactus diving—at least not intentionally. An animal would at best be sufficiently cunning to avoid such cactuses or at least if it had never previously encountered such it would approach cautiously. At a minimum, after perhaps a slight stinging to the snout the experience would impart forever in the animal’s mind a thing to be avoided. Yet it takes a human being, having a brain capable of both driving a car to approach this cactus and a mind stupid enough to deliberately leap into it with the hopes of generating more likes on a YouTube to do such a thing.
然后我观察到，这个人明显比动物王国中的其他任何个体都要愚蠢。任何动物，不管是蝾螈、猿类，还是滑行者，都不会参与这种愚蠢的堕落游戏——仙人掌潜水——至少不是故意的。一只动物最多只能足够狡猾地避开这些仙人掌，或者至少在它以前从未遇到过仙人掌的情况下，它会小心翼翼地靠近。至少，在鼻子被轻微刺痛之后，这种经历会在动物的脑海中永远留下一个需要避免的印象。然而，这需要一个既能驾驶汽车接近这个仙人掌的大脑，又有足够愚蠢的头脑，故意跳进去，希望在 YouTube 上获得更多的赞来做这样的事情。
I suppose he succeeded in affording several schadenfreude-driven people free entertainment for a couple minutes. But more importantly the damage he did was his own to suffer, and he set a precedent for lesser stupid people not to follow in his manner. For even they would break from their tradition of self-described omnipotence and recognize this level of stupidity was beyond theirs to attempt. The wider audience…they were at least offered a fleeting distraction from the constant strain of having to deal with the malignant banality of the Unyielding and Militant Stupid otherwise infesting life.
我猜想他成功地让几个幸灾乐祸的人免费娱乐了几分钟。但更重要的是，他所造成的伤害是他自己要承受的，他为那些不那么愚蠢的人树立了一个先例，让他们不要按照他的方式行事。因为即使是他们，也会打破自认为无所不能的传统，认识到这种程度的愚蠢超出了他们的企图。更广泛的观众... ... 他们至少可以从持续不断的应对不屈和战斗愚蠢的恶毒平庸的生活中获得短暂的分心。
On balance I would be remiss to not offer a degree of respect of the Self-Actualized Stupid. It is difficult, if not impossible for ordinary people, and even greatly creative thinkers, to convincingly mimic the skill level and artistic expression commanded by the Self-Actualized Stupid. We are constrained by our own sense of self-preservation and reason, and thus our capacity to conjure the ideas and thoughts of these savants will never compare. They on the other hand are unbound by caution and reasonability, modern-day Icaruses to the Suns of Social Media. Best of all, they are benign.
~+~
总的来说，如果我不对自我实现的愚人表示一定程度的尊重，那就是我的失职。对于普通人，甚至是极具创造力的思想家来说，要令人信服地模仿“自我实现的愚人”所要求的技巧水平和艺术表达是困难的，甚至是不可能的。我们被自己的自我保存和理性所束缚，因此我们想象这些天才的思想和想法的能力是无法比拟的。另一方面，他们不受谨慎和合理的约束，就像现代的 Icaruses 对社交媒体的太阳。最重要的是，它们是良性的。~+~
So I submit for your review the Eight Degrees of Ignorance and Stupidity. May God have mercy on our souls.
因此，我把无知和愚蠢的八个等级提交给你们，愿上帝怜悯我们的灵魂。
By Darren Smith
作者: 达伦 · 史密斯
Photo Credit: Uncyclopedia / Moronicus
来源：https://jonathanturley.org/2022/01/08/the-eight-degrees-of-ignorance-and-stupidity/
