Alberto Brandolini, ein italienischer Softwareingenieur, formulierte 2013 einen denkwürdigen Satz, der als «Brandolinis Gesetz» bekannt wurde: «Die Menge an Energie, die nötig ist, um Bullshit zu widerlegen, ist zehnmal so gross wie die Energie, die nötig ist, um Bullshit zu behaupten.»

Perhaps the most important principle in bullshit studies is Brandolini’s principle. Coined by Italian software engineer Alberto Brandolini in 2014, it states: “The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than [that needed] to produce it.” Producing bullshit is a lot less work than cleaning it up. It is also a lot simpler and cheaper to do. A few years before Brandolini formulated his principle, Italian blogger Uriel Fanelli had already noted that, loosely translated, “an idiot can create more bullshit than you could ever hope to refute.”