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'''Somebody else's problem''' (also known as '''someone else's problem''' or '''SEP''') is a phrase coined comedically by [[Douglas Adams]] that refers to a "[[Field (physics)|field]]" that hides objects. It has since passed into common usage, usually to refer to things people don't see, or don't want to see.
"'''Somebody else's problem'''" or "'''someone else's problem'''" is an issue which is dismissed by a person on the grounds that they consider somebody else to be responsible for it.


==Origin==
==Examples==


In [[Douglas Adams]]' 1982 novel [[Life, the Universe and Everything]] (in ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#Novels|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' [[comedy science fiction]] series), the character [[Ford Prefect (character)|Ford Prefect]] says,
A 1976 edition of the journal ''[[Ekistics]]'' used the phrase in the context of bureaucratic inaction on [[low-income housing]], describing "the principle of ''somebody else's problem''" as something that prevented progress. Where responsibility for a complex problem falls across many different departments of government, even those agencies who wish to tackle the issue are unable to do so.<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=ekistics+1976+somebody+else%27s+problem&btnG= Seventeen reasons why the squatter problem can't be solved], S Angel, S Benjamin - [[Ekistics]], 1976</ref>


{{quote|An SEP is something we can't see, or don't see, or our brain doesn't let us see, because we think that it's somebody else's problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it's like a blind spot.}}
Referring to a team working on a [[computer programming]] project, [[Alan F. Blackwell]] wrote in 1997 that: "Many sub-goals can be deferred to the degree that they become what is known amongst professional programmers as an 'S.E.P.'&nbsp;&ndash; somebody else's problem."<ref name=ppig-1997-01>{{Cite journal
 
The narration then explains:
 
{{quote|The Somebody Else's Problem field... relies on people's natural predisposition not to see anything they don't want to, weren't expecting, or can't explain. If Effrafax had painted the mountain pink and erected a cheap and simple Somebody Else’s Problem field on it, then people would have walked past the mountain, round it, even over it, and simply never have noticed that the thing was there.}}
 
==References by others==
 
Since the publication of {{H2G2|book|3|link=yes}}, the phrase has been used by others, such as:
 
* [[President of France|French president]] [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] warned the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] that "The [decline of the] dollar cannot remain someone else's problem. If we are not careful, monetary disarray could morph into economic war. We would all be victims."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto110920071500182722&page=2 |publisher=Financial Times |author=Krishna Guha |title=The world's currency could become a US problem |date=2007-11-09 |accessdate=2008-06-07}}</ref>
 
* ''[[The New York Times]]'' said that when the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah of Iran]] was exiled in 1979 he became "someone else's problem" from the point of view of [[Jimmy Carter#Presidency .281977.E2.80.931981.29|President Carter's]] administration.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE5DD1439F935A35752C1A96E948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2 |title=Someone Else's Problem |author=Marvin Zonis |date=1988-11-06 |publisher=The New York Times |accessdate=2008-06-07}}</ref>
 
* Referring to a team working on a [[computer programming]] project, [[Alan F. Blackwell]] once wrote: "Many sub-goals can be deferred to the degree that they become what is known amongst professional programmers as an 'S.E.P.'&nbsp;&ndash; somebody else's problem."<ref name=ppig-1997-01>{{Cite journal
<!-- more info on this cite may someday show up at http://www.ppig.org/workshops/ppig-1997-9th-annual-workshop -->
<!-- more info on this cite may someday show up at http://www.ppig.org/workshops/ppig-1997-9th-annual-workshop -->
|url = http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~afb21/publications/PPIG97.html
|url = http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~afb21/publications/PPIG97.html
|title = Simulating a Software Project: The PoP Guns go to War
|title = Simulating a Software Project: The PoP Guns go to War
|last1 = Blackwell |first1 = Alan F.|author-link= Alan F. Blackwell
|last1 = Blackwell |first1 = Alan F.|author-link= Alan F. Blackwell
|last2 = Arnold |first2 = H.L.
|last2 = Arnold |first2 = H.L.
Line 29: Line 15:
|date = January 1997
|date = January 1997
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081026050403/http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~afb21/publications/PPIG97.html
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081026050403/http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~afb21/publications/PPIG97.html
|archive-date = 2008-10-25
|archive-date = 2008-10-26
|dead-url = no
|url-status = live
|access-date = 2015-03-24
|access-date = 2015-03-24
|quote =
}}</ref>
}}</ref>


* Christopher Negus, writing on the origin of [[Unix]] at [[Bell Labs]] in the 1970s, described Bell Labs at the time as "a think tank where ideas came first and profits were somebody else's problem".<ref name=rhel4bib-2006>{{Cite book
==Douglas Adams' SEP field==
<!-- more cite info at https://www.amazon.com/Fedora-Red-Enterprise-Linux-Bible/dp/0471754919 -->
 
|last = Negus
[[Douglas Adams]]' 1982 novel ''[[Life, the Universe and Everything]]'' (in ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#Novels|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' [[comedy science fiction]] series) introduces the idea of an "SEP [[Field (physics)|field]]" as a kind of [[cloaking device]]. The character [[Ford Prefect (character)|Ford Prefect]] says,
|first = Christopher
|title = Fedora 5 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Bible
|chapter =  Linux's roots in Unix (part 1, chapter 1, section 3)
|publisher = Wiley
|location = New York
|via = [[TechTarget]]
|series = Bible (Book 327)
|date = 2006-05-10
|page = 6
|isbn = 978-0-4717-5491-6 <!--|isbn-10 = 0-471-75491-9 -->
|oclc = 69746564
|chapter-url = http://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/feature/Linuxs-roots-in-Unix
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131213203844/http://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/feature/Linuxs-roots-in-Unix
|archive-date = 2013-12-13
|dead-url = no
|access-date = 2015-03-25
|quote =
}}</ref>


* It has been used as a fictitious example of "psychological invisibility".<ref>[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/13/sight-unseen-critic-at-large-kathryn-schulz Sight unseen], Catherine Schulz, [[The New Yorker]], April 13, 2015</ref>
The narration then explains:


* It has been called a "psychological device".<ref>[https://openpsych.net/files/papers/Pesta_2015a.pdf Discounting IQ’s Relevance to Organizational Behavior: The “Somebody Else’s Problem” in Management Education], Bryan Pesta et. al, [[Open Differential Psychology]], May 26, 2015</ref>
Adams' description of an SEP field is quoted in an article of "psychological invisibility", where it is compared to other fictional effects such as the perception filter in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', as well as cognitive biases such as [[inattentional blindness]] and [[change blindness]].<ref>[https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/13/sight-unseen-critic-at-large-kathryn-schulz Sight unseen], Catherine Schulz, [[The New Yorker]], April 13, 2015</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Abilene paradox]]
* [[Buck passing]]
* [[Buck passing]]
* [[Bystander effect]]
* [[Bystander effect]]
* [[Externality]]
* [[Externality]]
* [[First they came ...]]
* [[First They Came]]
* [[Global issue]]
* [[Moral responsibility]]
* [[Inattentional blindness]]
* [[NIMBY]] (not in my back yard)
* [[NIMBY]] (Not In My Back Yard)
* [[Other people's money (disambiguation)|Other people's money]]
* [[Other people's money (disambiguation)|Other people's money]]
* [[Sheeple]]
* [[Sheeple]]


==References==
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
{{reflist}}
 
{{HitchhikerMiscellanea}}


[[Category:Group processes]]
[[Category:Group processes]]
[[Category:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy technology]]
[[Category:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]
[[Category:Perception]]
[[Category:Perception]]
[[Category:Problem solving]]
[[Category:Problem solving]]

Latest revision as of 02:52, 9 October 2026

"Somebody else's problem" or "someone else's problem" is an issue which is dismissed by a person on the grounds that they consider somebody else to be responsible for it.

Examples

A 1976 edition of the journal Ekistics used the phrase in the context of bureaucratic inaction on low-income housing, describing "the principle of somebody else's problem" as something that prevented progress. Where responsibility for a complex problem falls across many different departments of government, even those agencies who wish to tackle the issue are unable to do so.[1]

Referring to a team working on a computer programming project, Alan F. Blackwell wrote in 1997 that: "Many sub-goals can be deferred to the degree that they become what is known amongst professional programmers as an 'S.E.P.' – somebody else's problem."[2]

Douglas Adams' SEP field

Douglas Adams' 1982 novel Life, the Universe and Everything (in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comedy science fiction series) introduces the idea of an "SEP field" as a kind of cloaking device. The character Ford Prefect says,

The narration then explains:

Adams' description of an SEP field is quoted in an article of "psychological invisibility", where it is compared to other fictional effects such as the perception filter in Doctor Who, as well as cognitive biases such as inattentional blindness and change blindness.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Seventeen reasons why the squatter problem can't be solved, S Angel, S Benjamin - Ekistics, 1976
  2. ↑ Blackwell, Alan F.; Arnold, H.L. (January 1997). "Simulating a Software Project: The PoP Guns go to War". Proceedings of the 9th Annual Meeting of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group: 53–60. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~afb21/publications/PPIG97.html. Retrieved on 2015-03-24. 
  3. ↑ Sight unseen, Catherine Schulz, The New Yorker, April 13, 2015

cs:Seznam pojmů, osob a vynálezů ze Stopařova průvodce po Galaxii#Pole problému někoho jiného de:Hintergründe zu Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis#Problem-anderer-Leute-Feld

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