Stupidity Test

For someone who hates to follow the crowd, you constantly question yourself whether a popular opinion is really wise.

Years ago, everyone kept recommending Game of Thrones as a great show. From a glimpse, it seems to have some nudity, so that would be the basis for why people love it — I suppose.

Another example, I convinced myself Android was a way better phone than iPhone. Without having an experience with one, I only imagined the hypothetical limitations of the iPhone. But a lot of people were using it.

I’m not in any way objectively saying one is better than the other. I’m only saying that if I had followed the crowd earlier, I would have made a better (personal) decision.

In my line of work, Tailwind had become the de facto way of styling web applications. But I resisted it with the excuse that it made class names longer. But almost everyone was using it and encouraging me to.

TypeScript too.

These are just a few examples where I eventually joined the multitude — not without cost. The cost of missing opportunities and wasting time and money. But I could have avoided all of that. I believe you can also count moments in your life where this has happened.

How? By using what I call the stupidity test. It’s easy. Pick a few people you admire or respect and see what they think/choose about the topic. Now, assuming everyone is stupid and they’re doing something that this person or these people you look up to are a part of, then it implies they’re stupid. But that would be contradictory — you definitely aren’t looking up to stupid people.

These people must have tested the legitimacy, so you don’t have to.

Of course, these people wouldn’t be right all the time, but those are rare instances: especially very niche situations or about a relatively new discipline where very few people have a good understanding or lack good proof for conviction.

So sometimes, when in doubt, try the stupidity test and go with the crowd.