Somebody else's problem: Difference between revisions
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per talk page threads, Adams does not seem to have coined this phrase, and calling it a "psychological effect" is excessive |
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{{about|a popular phrase|Wikipedia's attitude towards lackadaisical ethos|WP:SEP|the sociopsychological phenomenon|diffusion of responsibility}} | {{about|a popular phrase|Wikipedia's attitude towards lackadaisical ethos|WP:SEP|the sociopsychological phenomenon|diffusion of responsibility}} | ||
'''"Somebody else's problem"''' (also '''"someone else's problem"''') is a phrase used to describe an issue which is dismissed by a person on the grounds that they consider somebody else to be responsible for it. The term is also used to refer to a factor that is "[[out of scope]]" in a particular context.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://meetings.informs.org/Conf/Miami2001//TALKS/Sponsor-25.html |title=INFORMS Miami 2001 Annual Meeting – TB18.2 Minisum Location with Closest Euclidean Distances |accessdate=2008-06-07}}</ref>{{not in source|date=November 2018}} | |||
== | ==Douglas Adams== | ||
[[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) introduces the idea of an "SEP field" as a kind of [[cloaking device]]. The character [[Ford Prefect (character)|Ford Prefect]] says, | |||
{{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.}} | {{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.}} | ||
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Since the publication of {{H2G2|book|3|link=yes}}, the phrase has been used by others, such as: | Since the publication of {{H2G2|book|3|link=yes}}, the phrase has been used by others, such as: | ||
* A 1976 edition of the journal ''[[Ekistics]]'' highlighted the phrase in noting that "One major obstacle to effective bureaucratic action on housing can be called the principle of ''somebody else's problem''."<ref>{{cite book |title=Ekistics |date=1976 |publisher=J. Tyrwhitt |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0ve5AAAAIAAJ&q=%22somebody+else%27s+problem%22&dq=%22somebody+else%27s+problem%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiggY3qzfjhAhWjRRUIHeYwAAE4ChDoAQgpMAA |language=en}}</ref> | |||
* Referring to a team working on a [[computer programming]] project, [[Alan F. Blackwell]] | * 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."<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 | ||
Revision as of 20:05, 30 April 2019
"Somebody else's problem" (also "someone else's problem") is a phrase used to describe an issue which is dismissed by a person on the grounds that they consider somebody else to be responsible for it. The term is also used to refer to a factor that is "out of scope" in a particular context.[1]Template:Not in source
Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams's 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:
References by others
Since the publication of Template:H2G2, the phrase has been used by others, such as:
- A 1976 edition of the journal Ekistics highlighted the phrase in noting that "One major obstacle to effective bureaucratic action on housing can be called the principle of somebody else's problem."[2]
- 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."[3]Template:Original research inline
- 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".[4]Template:Original research inline
- 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.[5]
See also
- Buck passing
- Bystander effect
- Externality
- First they came ...
- Global issue
- Inattentional blindness
- NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard)
- Other people's money
- Sheeple
|}
References
- ↑ "INFORMS Miami 2001 Annual Meeting – TB18.2 Minisum Location with Closest Euclidean Distances". http://meetings.informs.org/Conf/Miami2001//TALKS/Sponsor-25.html. Retrieved on 2008-06-07.
- ↑ (in en) Ekistics. J. Tyrwhitt. 1976. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0ve5AAAAIAAJ&q=%22somebody+else%27s+problem%22&dq=%22somebody+else%27s+problem%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiggY3qzfjhAhWjRRUIHeYwAAE4ChDoAQgpMAA.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Negus, Christopher (2006-05-10). "Linux's roots in Unix (part 1, chapter 1, section 3)". Fedora 5 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Bible. Bible (Book 327). New York: Wiley. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-4717-5491-6. OCLC 69746564.
- ↑ Sight unseen, Catherine Schulz, The New Yorker, April 13, 2015
Template:HitchhikerMiscellanea
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