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Reverted definitition back to its original definition found of the first revision of the topic as I find it to be a much more accurate definition that the current.
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{{about|a popular phrase|Wikipedia's attitude towards lackadaisical ethos|WP:SEP}}
"'''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.


{{merge to|Diffusion of responsibility|discuss=Talk:Diffusion of responsibility#Proposed merge with Somebody else's problem|date=October 2018}}
==Examples==
'''Somebody else's problem''' (also known as '''someone else's problem''' or '''SEP''') is a psychological effect where people choose to dissociate themselves from an issue that may be in critical need of recognition. Such issues may be of large concern to the population as a whole but can easily be a choice of ignorance by an individual. Author [[Douglas Adams|Douglas Adams']] comedic description of the condition, which he ascribes to a physical "SEP field", has helped make it a generally recognized phenomenon. Somebody Else's Problem has been used to capture public attention on matters that may have been overlooked and has less commonly been used to identify concerns that an individual suffering symptoms of depression should ignore. This condition has also been employed as trivial shorthand to describe factors that are "out of scope" in the current context.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://meetings.informs.org/Conf/Miami2001//TALKS/Sponsor-25.html |title=INFORMS Miami 2001 Annual Meeting&nbsp;– TB18.2 Minisum Location with Closest Euclidean Distances |accessdate=2008-06-07}}</ref>


==Origin==
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>


In [[Douglas Adams]]'s 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,
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
 
{{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.}}
 
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:
 
* 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 28: 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
The narration then explains:
|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>
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==
{{col div|colwidth=30em}}
* [[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]]
{{colend}}


==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]]
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