In writing recently about stupidity, I've run into a nomenclatural problem: what do we call the stupid people? We don't have a proper scientific term for them.

My mind is taken back to an episode of X-1, a radio sci-fi series from the 1950's. One episode was called "Star Bright," based on a short story of the same name by Mark Clifton (published July 1952 in Galaxy Science Fiction, new window). It was broadcast on NBC April 10, 1956. Click here to listen to the show (new window). A little girl named Star was very, very intelligent, capable of multi-dimensional thinking. So much so that while still a toddler she differentiated the people she met into three categories: the Brights, the Tweens, and the Stupids. Her father, a professor, was a Tween, but most people were Stupids.

I like the name Stupids. It sure seems demeaning, but considering the damage they can do, appropriately demeaning. 

On the other hand it doesn't seem that a name that good should go to anyone we are best ignoring. They need a dull, lumbering name, like The Intellectually Unchallenged. Yeah, Stupids is the wrong name. Still, Cipolla used it as a category. I don't know. I need to research this. I've never invented a name before.