Somebody else's problem

"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.Template:Not in source

Douglas Adams' SEP

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:

References by others

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."

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."

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.

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
• Abilene paradox

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