5 ms·
"never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" could go either way tbh
by whalesalad 6y ago
"never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"
could go either way tbh
- Nextgrid 6y agoWhen it comes to Facebook this statement should be reversed unless stupidity is explicitly proven or is contrary to the bottom line (as in it causes them to gather less data about people).
- stevenjohns 6y agoThat applies to individuals, not companies. With groups like Facebook it is “always assume bad faith,” because it always is.
- tshaddox 6y agoYeah, same with governments. And I think Hanson’s razor is generally a pretty bad rule of thumb, considering that negligence is essentially malicious anyway.
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y agoYeah, in some cases I have started going with "this might be malice and it might be incompetence, but since the behavior is the same either way who cares?"
- beervirus 6y ago> negligence is essentially malicious The definition of negligence is that it isn't malicious.
- tshaddox 6y agoI'm not really attempting to use precise legal terms, because those vary a lot. For instance, "actual malice" in US libel law doesn't require intention or desire to harm (the normal dictionary definition of "malice"), but can simply be negligence (making a statement with a "reckless disregard of whether it was false or not"). My point is that, if you ought to have done something, and you didn't, you're culpable. And I would certainly use the word "malice" (in the everyday sense, not in all legal contexts) to describe someone who knows they are cutting corners that might have damaging consequences, but cuts corners anyway. I think it's malicious to harm or endanger other people to make a buck.
- malloreon 6y agocompanies are groups of individuals with the same purpose and aligned incentives. don't let individuals off the hook just because they work for a particular company. if that company operates in bad faith, its employees do too.
- crispyporkbites 6y agoI thought Facebook only hires the greatest engineers known to man?
- fennecfoxen 6y agoFacebook hires many of the greatest engineers known to man, and has them build things like HHVM so that others of their engineers can hack on monstrosities in almost-PHP. You're going to see both good and bad Facebook engineers.
- TeMPOraL 6y ago"Never attribute to stupidity that which can be adequately explained by systemic incentives promoting malice." Hanlon's Handgun. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21691282 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21691282
- ebg13 6y agoI thought it got renamed! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24498134 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24498134
- Footkerchief 6y ago"Never attribute to engineering that which is adequately explained by marketing"
- bigbubba 6y agoHanlon's razor needs to die, it extoles gullibility to the delight of every abuser with more than two brain cells. Even young children instinctively figure out the 'it was merely an accident' excuse for their misbehavior. Following Hanlon's razor would have you outwitted by toddlers.
- nobody9999 6y ago>Even young children instinctively figure out the 'it was merely an accident' excuse for their misbehavior. Following Hanlon's razor would have you outwitted by toddlers. Hanlon's Razor is absolutely valid. That said, I'd posit that stupidity isn't accidental and shouldn't be excused. Rather it should be stomped on just as hard as malice since, as others have pointed out, the effect is the same.
- learnstats2 6y agoHaving worked in politics, where Hanlon's Razor is often used to excuse malice, I'd suggest it is not valid. People have reasons for acting incompetently - often those reasons are because the system is set up to enable that, in one way or another. And it's most often the case that system has been set up intentionally in that way (or has been manipulated to get that outcome) - there's malice in the organisational big picture. The effect is the same and the cause is the same as well.